Hilarious jokes, impressions, or other repartee can cause someone to laugh themselves to death. For super comedians like Kapil Sharma or Vir Das, having death by laughter insurance might help.

What Is Death by Laughter Insurance?

Death by laughter insurance is a policy designed to protect comedians, stand-up comics, or anyone else who runs the risk of killing someone through their comedy. Though comedians love to make their audience members laugh, there is a chance that their comedy could do fatal harm.  

How can Laughter kill?

It is said that death by laughter is an ideal way to go. This may be true – one can die laughing. The following laughter-related complications can result in death:

• Ruptured brain aneurysms: Bulging blood vessels in the brain run the risk of rupturing if someone laughs hard. A ruptured brain vessel can lead to cranial bleeding, brain damage, coma, and death.
• Asphyxiation: Uncontrollable laughter can lead to difficulties with breathing, especially if someone has a preexisting condition affecting lungs.
• Gelastic seizures: A unique type of seizure that begins in the hypothalamus called the gelastic seizures. They occur due to uncontrollable laughing or giggling.
• Asthma attacks: Severe asthma attack may happen by laughing too hard, leading to cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.
• Syncope: Fainting due to a lack of proper blood flow to the brain is syncope, and can be triggered by excessive laughter. The loss of consciousness may not be fatal, but fainting in public can be dangerous.  
• Cardiac arrest: Complications brought on by the mixture of preexisting conditions and hard, uncontrolled laughter can result in cardiac arrest.

It is no laughing matter, laughter can be a killer.

The origins of Death by Laughter Insurance

In the early 1900s, a group of giggly cinemagoers approached the Lloyd’s of London to request a policy that would cover them for death by laughter.  

In the 1970s, a man named Alex Mitchell reportedly died laughing while watching the comedy show, The Goodies. His death was due to a rare hereditary heart condition, triggered by uncontrollable laughter.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) once reported that a comedy troupe approached Lloyd’s of London for a death by laughter insurance policy.

What does Death by Laughter Insurance cover?

Death by laughter insurance is a liability coverage, designed to handle claims from laughter-related deaths. It may provide coverage for the following:

• Legal fees for claims made against a comedy act or venue in the event of death by laughter: Legal fee includes court, Lawyer’s, administrative, and settlement fees.
• Public relations protection: In the event of an audience member’s death during a comedy show, death by laughter coverage might pay the news media to keep quiet about the incident, to protect both the performer’s image and the victim’s privacy.
• Medical fees: Coverage might pay for victim’s medical costs, ambulance, hospital, and autopsy fees, in the event of death during a show.

How to get Death by Laughter Insurance?

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