I work at a grocery store. On my day off, an older lady was doing her shopping in a Mart Cart - one of those carts you can ride in. When she rode it out to the parking lot it malfunctioned and would not stop. She went up and down the parking lot at 3 mph, trying to stop the thing. Finally she circled her car a few times and rammed into it.
When they told me this I about died laughing. Then I felt guilty. Then I started laughing again. The lady wasn’t hurt, but I try to be a nice person and not laugh at the misfortunes of others.
I would have laughed at that as well.
In fact I’m laughing now just thinking about what it might have looked like.
It’s not something you see every day, how can you not laugh?
I’m one of those people who has the tendancy to laugh at innappropriate things.
This Saturday I’ll be seeing The Passion as part of a historical fiction course I’m taking. Needless to say, I’m worried.
Laughter is a defense/coping mechanism for me. I laugh at things most people would find completely and wildly inappropriate.
When I send sympathy cards it takes all the strength I have not to insert a joke or otherwise humorous line.
By the way, I think the OP would enjoy a show on SpikeTV called Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.
Most Extreme Elimination Challenge RULES!!! And Spike TV plays it all day long on the weekends! Great entertainment to have on your TV if your having a BBQ or just having a few friends over. Nothing beats beers and a little MXC!!
DONT - GET - ELIMINATED!!!
I have two examples.
I live in Rhode Island. As some of you may know, a few years ago there were all kinds of Mr. Potato Head sculptures with various themes throughout the state. Well, now they’ve been auctioned off and there is now one in front of a well known school for the mentally retarded that kind of looks like it’s mentally retarded. Cracks me up everytime I go past.
The other situation requires a small amount of background. My sister and I were both very late drivers. Well, one day I was visiting my sister at her home and we decided to go shopping with her driving. Well, we got into her car and she backed out of the garage and into the turn around portion of her driveway. As she was doing this she said, “Aren’t I getting to be a good driver?” Just as she was saying this, she backed right into her husband’s sister’s car. Dented it and everything. I could n’t stop laughing right in the face of the husband’s sister. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I’m laughing right now and it was more than 5 years ago.
One time I was walking down the street when I came across a bag lady. In her hand, she had a piece of cardboard that she was holding very gingerly. As I got closer, I noticed that what she had was a picture of a baby, apparently torn off of a box of diapers or some related product.
But she was staring and smiling at the picture, talking baby-talk to it, and gently caressing it as if it were a real live baby.
HAHAHAHA!
It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I laughed so hard that my sides ached the next day.
HAHAHA!
I think I mentioned this in an earlier thread, but it bears repeating. Some guy was whizzing across the street in an electronically driven cart. The guy was really heavy which is probably why he was riding it (related problems, probably), and the cart got stuck on the ramp going up to the sidewalk. He’d drive up it, the cart would start puttering and slide back into the cross walk. After it did it three times, he hopped off the cart, cursing and yelling, kicked it a few times and hauled it onto the curb, then plopped right back down on it. That really perked up a bad day.
A couple weeks ago I was at a Milwaukee Bucks game where they invited local Special Olympics teams to generally be a part of things. They had a Special Olympics basketball game at halftime, some Special Olympics kids got to be part of the player introductions, the Bucks made a monetary donation to the local Special Olympics group, etc. I thought they did an excellent job of everything and it was great for the kids to be part of the whole experience. However…
They had a kid sing the national anthem, and I, and MANY people there, couldn’t help but start laughing a bit when he started singing
Ohh swwway can woooooo theeeee…
He did a great job and got a huge round of applause, but boy did I have trouble keeping a somewhat straight face. It was probably funny just because it was so different than the usual singing of the national anthem at sporting events.
I was the recipient of the inappropriate laugh some years ago. I had broken my leg and was in a full leg cast. I was coming out of a bar (pretty shit-faced, I might add) and fell down the steps on my crutches. These people laughed for a good minute or so before they helped me up. It must have been hilarious to see. I was airborne for two or three steps.
I often find things hysterical when other people don’t. I am a denfense giggler I guess. Or perhaps it’s just that nobody else is in on the joke. 
Anyway, my worst one is farts. I find farts hysterical and I have no idea why. You always know when I fart because I giggle and giggle and can’t stop. I’ve had to leave shops when I’ve farted, not because of the smell, but because I cannot stop giggling to myself, and people start to stare.
I suppose now would be a good moment to mention I’m single…
I think it was Billy Rubin who said that he was in a department store when a gas attack came on. He headed for an escalator and looked around to make sure no one was near, then leaned over, closed his eyes and let fly, busting ass for several seconds. All of a sudden he hears someone yell out “Jesus Christ! You effing asshole” and he turns around and some old guy in a wheelchair had silently rolled up right behind him and caught it full in the face.
I think I would have laughed all the way to the parking lot.
I too tend to laugh at inappropriate things. Generally its when someone hurts themselves. One of the weirder times was when I was watching “Spiderman” in the theathers when it first came out. When it got to the scene where Toby Mcquire was crying by his uncle I busted out laughing. My buddy was there too and he started laughing as well. We just kept feeding off each other after that and couldn’t stop for a good 5 minutes. The look on toby’s face was just goofy.
Another case was when I was in college. We were watching a movie about brain surgury. They had this kid’s head opened up and were touching it with electric probes all the while he was reciting letters, words, math problems…etc… The kid started saying the alpahbet and then one of the surgeons probed part of his brain and the kids “D” became elongated and distorted.
“A…B…C…DDDDUUUHHHHEEEEEE…”
I started crying I was laughing so hard. I had to actually get up and walk out of room. The worst part, was NO ONE else was laughing.
I laughed at almost every story here. Am I going to hell?
I’m very bad with the inappropriate laughing. I know there’s a good example that happened recently, I just can’t remember it.
The other day I was going shopping and I see one of those H2’s out in the parking lot. It is loaded with kids, and the mom was getting ready to leave. Right behind her is a wine truck that is unloading boxes of wine bottles into a nearby grocery store.
The woman backs up, and suddenly I hear the din of screeching metal. I look over, and to my surprise the woman had backed up over the loading ramp of the truck which caused it to cave in from the H2s massive weight. The driver, a hairy man barely exceeding four feet in height, jumps out and starts screaming in Italian in a half angry, half hysterical manner, while the woman just continues backing up and leaves. I couldn’t help but laugh.
A friend, who I don’t really see anymore, partially because of stuff like this, once got absolutely furious with me because I laughed at something she didn’t think I should have laughed at.
She told me about something awful that someone had said. Her husband is from Central America, and none of her extended family is Latin. They were at some sort of family gathering. Jose walked into the kitchen, where a relative-by-marriage was washing some dishes. The relative-by-marriage said to Jose: “What am I washing these dishes for? YOU should be washing the dishes.”
I didn’t get it at first. And so she had to explain it–the guy was referring to the fact that many dishwashers in restaurants are Latino, and therefore, since Jose was Latino, he should be the dishwasher. I asked her if she was sure that’s what the guy had meant, and she said yes–Jose asked him what he meant, and he said “Y’know! You’re Spanish, and the Spanish guys are always the dishwashers!”
I totally cracked up! What an outrageous thing to say!
So, my friend snapped “I don’t see what’s so funny about it.” I tried to explain that I was laughing at the absurdity of the comment, but she got really mad at me anyway. I had to apologize profusely, and I don’t think she forgave me. Oh well.
(Oh, and in case you’re wondering, after the guy explained the comment, Jose just turned and left the room. Dude’s got a lot of self-control.)
Oh my. I left a church once because of this - the preacher asked everyone to be quet and let God speak and all of a sudden BRRRRRRAAAAAPPPPPPTTTT!!! I about wet the pew.
Just wanted to add it wasn’t me!
My father is handicapped. One day a few years ago we were at the mall and I was telling him about a male friend’s perchant for thong underwear (yes, they make it for men). Anyway, he and I both started laughing so hard about it we both fell over on the bench we were sitting on. This made us laugh even harder, and then we couldn’t do anything but lie there shaking with that type of laughter that’s so hard it’s silent. Anyway, so guy comes by, got totally horrified and said, “oh my god.” That made us go even harder. Soon people began to stare. Then it was time to leave the store, quickly.
“It’s a sad day here WJM as we announce the death of Chuckles the Clown…” A classic sitcom episode,[Mary Tyler Moore Show] and one that underscores the intent of the OP. I always have to chuckle at people talking on cell phones. It strikes me funny that there can be NO privacy anymore, and some folks carry the instrument for potential intrusion into their lives. Once two folks were walking abreast, each talking on a cell phone. I had to wonder if they were talking to each other, rather than face to face. The funniest ones are the folks that have the hands free models, so when you first notice them it appears they’re talking to themselves. Perhaps some of them actually are.