1. In Wayne’s World, at one point, Dana Carvey, as Garth, asks Mike Myers’ Wayne if he’s ever found Bugs Bunny as a girl attractive. This was an ad-lib, and Myers’ guffawing laughter is real.
2. The girls take Kitty to a strip club in a funny clip from That ’70s Show. In this scene, Mila Kunis can’t stop giggling. It looks from the bloopers (at 0:25) that the laughter wasn’t staged, but rather was a blooper that was left in. At the conclusion, Kunis also seems to be attempting to cover her face.
3. Ludacris once revealed that it was his suggestion for the Rock to say this line in Fast & Furious 6, but he didn’t think Dwayne would do it. When he did, he spit out his drink and laughed in genuine surprise and glee.
4. In a similar vein, The Rock and Jason Stratham in the scene below from The Fate of the Furious were not supposed to chuckle as they insulted each other. The Rock acknowledged that Stratham “completely broke character” on X (previously Twitter), but his joke about a toothbrush was so amusing that it broke both of them. Our chemistry in real life is what makes it fun.”
5. In this scene from The Vampire Diaries, where Caroline laughs at Nora’s old-timey dress, Candice Accola’s laugh is genuine. Showrunner Julie Plec revealed that first AD Tony Griffin was actually pulling a prank on Accola, walking out in the dress instead—Accola’s response was to him.
6. Robin Williams was known for improvising, so it was no surprise that he did so during Good Will Hunting. In one of the most memorable scenes, Williams’ character talks about his late wife and reveals she used to fart in her sleep. The dialogue was improvised, and Matt Damon’s laughter was genuine. It even seems like the camera operator is laughing as the camera appears to wobble.
7. Although Bob Odenkirk’s delivery of this sentence in this moment from Better Call Saul was scripted, it was so funny that Rhea Seehorn, who plays Kim, started giggling. In Season 2, Saul brushes his teeth with Kim’s finger and remarks, “Wait till you see what I floss with,” which makes Kim giggle. In response to a fan on Twitter, Seehorn noted that she laughed at the phrase on every take and that her laugh was genuine.
The sequence is about 31 minutes into Season 2, Episode 1, but I can’t seem to find it online. Netflix is where you may view the show.
8. It doesn’t look like Seth Rogen ever confirmed this, but you can clearly see him trying not to laugh throughout this scene from This Is The End, where Danny McBride and James Franco argue about the magazine, but the most obvious moment is at the end when you can see Rogan’s shoulders shaking.
9. Ethan Hawke revealed that the scene where his character lectures his kids on sex education in Boyhood was genuinely awkward, given how long he’d known the actors playing his kids. Many of the lines were improvised, and the uncomfortable laughter was real.
The moment is around an hour and seven minutes into Boyhood, which you can see on the Roku channel, but I couldn’t find it online.
10. Though it’s a brief scene, Charlie can be seen beginning to giggle in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia when Dennis continues to reject the papers that are offered to him. “I hand one to you right at the very end, and your reaction gets me, and I have to look down because I’m laughing,” Charlie Day’s actor said to co-star Glenn Howerton during an episode of The Always Sunny Podcast. Day just chose to give him documents while filming; that wasn’t how he was meant to do it.
The scene, which takes place at approximately 15:20 in Season 5, Episode 6, isn’t available online. Hulu is where you can view the show.
11. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the laughter after Hermione insults Ron for having the “emotional range” of a teaspoon is apparently real. Emma Watson, in particular, appears to lose it as Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe chuckle.
12. On their podcast Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey revealed that John Krasinski would often break character and laugh on The Office. One of my favorite examples is when Michael accused Toby of being the man who flashed Phyllis and asked him to reveal his penis, leading to a VERY uncomfortable silence, and John Krasinski just about losing it.
On the show, Krasinksi has frequently broken character—mostly in bloopers—and has openly acknowledged it, saying, “I’m the least professional actor you can meet when it comes to breaking.” I’m always laughing.”
13. The scene from The Office where Kevin sits on Michael’s lap (when he’s dressed as Santa) was so funny that multiple cast members lost it. You can see Mindy Kaling get the giggles here.
Ed Helms can also be seen scuttling out of frame to conceal his chuckles. He’s just beginning to smile, and in the following wide angle, he’s gone. The cast didn’t stop laughing, so it looks like this was take thirty.
14. In the scene where Ross plays bagpipes for everyone in Friends, you can actually see Jennifer Aniston breaking character as Phoebe starts singing. In the bloopers, you can see it wasn’t just Jen — they all burst out laughing and then struggled to keep it together, but Rachel’s laughter was the only one kept in.
15. The same thing happened when Ross played the keyboard, and again, Aniston’s reaction was kept in.
16. Murderville — as an improv comedy — saw plenty of guests breaking character and laughing. But it was rare to see Will Arnett, the main character in every episode, do the same, which is why it was especially funny to see Kumail Nanjiani get him to laugh in the below scene. When Nanjiani started squawking, Will Arnett lost it.
17. Adam Scott similarly couldn’t keep it together in this Parks and Recreation moment when the Eagleton people unveiled their fake park idea, and Leslie told them to leave in a demonic voice. You can see him struggling not to laugh, and the camera quickly zooms in to get him out of the frame.
18. In the live episode of Will and Grace, the cast broke quite a few times. At one point, Debra Messing and Sean Hayes couldn’t stop laughing when talking about Jack being a “woman of quality.”
19. They also cracked up onscreen when Jack unveiled his missing eyebrow to Grace.
20. In Pretty Woman, Richard Gere slamming the necklace case on Julia Roberts’ hand was not in the script. Director Garry Marshall said it was his suggestion. “I said, ‘Richard, hit her with the box! Bang the box on her finger.’ And [Roberts] laughed so honestly that we left it in the picture.”
21. On Supernatural, after Bela stole from Dean and Sam again, Jensen Ackles improvised yelling “SON OF A BITCH!” Just before the camera cuts, you can see Jared Padalecki start to crack up.
22. Mark Curry was absolutely hilarious when he guest-starred on The Jamie Foxx Show as a traffic school instructor. He caused the actors to break multiple times. In one example, he slid and almost tripped as he ran toward the front of the room, and a bunch of the actors started laughing. The shot was kept in.
23. Curry even references the laughter in this scene where he trips while walking in, saying, “If one of y’all laugh, you ain’t gonna graduate,” while Foxx and another actor are clearly losing it.
There’s also another scene in which Jamie Foxx completely turns around, perhaps laughing, at a suggestion made by Curry’s character that an elderly man looks like Ben Kingsley. You can watch Season 2, Episode 10 of this hilarious episode on HBO Max.
24. Speaking of Foxx — he flubbed his lines on Live in Front of a Studio Audience, making the whole cast (and the audience) crack up. While this wasn’t intentional, Foxx went with it and made the moment funny.
25. While this certainly isn’t a comedy, this scene where Ernest clearly misunderstands Mollie insulting him (she calls him a coyote) in Killers of the Flower Moon was a funny improvisation that Scorcese kept in the film. Lily Gladstone’s laugh at Ernest’s attempt at flirting was real.
26. In an old example, Don Knotts kept laughing during this scene on The Andy Griffith Show — they had to reshoot it 20 times because he couldn’t keep a straight face. In the final cut, he keeps it together, but you can see Andy Griffith laughing.
27. And finally, I have to end with my absolute favorite example, which comes from Saturday Night Live. Ryan Gosling could NOT contain himself at Kate McKinnon’s lines during this skit about an alien encounter that feels a little ~off~ to McKinnon’s character.
As the skit progresses, Aidy Bryant and Bobby Moynihan find it increasingly difficult to contain their laughter; at this point, Gosling is trembling in his chair.
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