Fatal Hilarity

This week in "The Stranger," the column Dear Science tackles the subject of why laughter makes you weak. Cataplexy, or the "sudden physical collapse caused by experiencing strong emotions or laughter," is only fully present in subjects when they are truly laughing--not just exhaling or fake laughing.

Besides teaching me a new word, the column reminded me of the Monty Python "killer joke" sketch.* Michael Palin plays an early twentieth century joke-writer, who comes up with a joke so funny that it kills him. It then kills a handful of other people ("No one could read it...and live"), until the British translate it (one person doing one word at a time, of course) and use it as a weapon against the Germans, to great success. The joke itself is gibberish, of course, but that's what makes the concept so funny.

Turns out the idea of "fatal hilarity" has been around a while. Generally, it involves death by asphyxiation or some kind of cardiac arrest, which makes sense because laughter both elevates the heart rate and expands and contracts the thoracic diaphragm. For instance, the Greek stoic philosopher Chrysippus died of laughter in the 3rd century B.C., after giving his donkey wine and attempting to feed it figs...purportedly, anyway. It all seems very mythological, but think back to the last time you laughed so hard you could barely breathe. Creepy, right?

* This is the longer version from the episode "Whither Canada" on "Flying Circus," not the shorter version from the movie "And Now For Something Completely Different." The longer one is funnier but the shorter one is more beautiful (strangely enough).