Man, a lot of people seem to really blow it when they attend a funeral. I remember church being the hardest place NOT to laugh while growing up. It was literally next to impossible. That will be addressed later in this article.

These 23 AskReddit users share their tales of laughing at extremely inappropriate times.

1. Quite a shock

At Christmas my grandpa was talking to my dad’s girlfriend at the time. Her sister was recently struck by lightning and was killed instantly. When my grandpa was told this, completely not meaning to joke around, he exclaimed, “Thats awful! That must have been a huge shock to you and your family!” My brother and I died laughing and nothing could stop us. We were told to go outside for a while.

2. English class

Watching The Crucible in English class. Abigail is confronting John Proctor, reminding him of the time they slept together, trying to do it again. Kind of a big deal, sort of a serious scene. It comes back into the plot later during the witch trials.

Abigail says “Speak soft words to me.”

My friend whispers in my ear “Cotton.”

I lost it. Dirty looks were received from around the room.

3. At least they stopped fighting…

My parents were having an ‘end the relationship’ sort of fight and dragged me into it and I started laughing. Hysterically. I couldn’t stop and it actually got them to stop fighting because they thought I might need to go see someone.

4. Oatmeal

I was in high school English class and our teacher was talking about Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the dude who wrote “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” among other things. Anyway, she was going on about the guy’s life and then she got to the point where everything went downhill for him because of his tragic opium addiction. I started giggling, and I couldn’t stop. Kids were looking at me like dude, why?

Well the thing is, my teacher had kind of a twangy Texas accent, and when she said “opium,” to me for some reason it sounded like “oatmeal.” So I could have sworn she was going on and on about Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s oatmeal addiction, and the thought of some guy blasted out of his mind on oatmeal just cracked me up. Took me about ten minutes to figure out that I’d just heard things wrong – but what a crazy burst of hilarious alternate reality I experienced in those ten minutes.

5. “Actually his mom”

A boyfriend’s mother had walked up on us chatting in the kitchen late at night and he said ‘oh, meet my mom’… I thought he was joking because the quick glance I took it looked like a 9 year old in a wig and goofy glasses and I burst out laughing. It actually was his mom though.

6. Not laughing in church is next to impossible

I was at a school mass and the priest decided that he was going to sing the homily. He had an absolutely terrible singing voice and my buddy next to me started cracking up which then caused a chain reaction of 8th graders trying not to piss themselves from laughing. The whole church was staring at us but somehow we never got in trouble.

7. Struggling

My wedding vows. Husband got through his, then hit a giggle loop that had me struggling to get through mine. To the point where I was a little late on a few responses and my Dad asked Mom “is she crying?” “No. No. She’s laughing.”

8. Plumpers

Was at a grocery store. Standing there looking at hot dogs contemplating purchasing a package of those abominations. When a woman and a little girl walked up. The mom picked up a package of ‘Plumpers (they plump when you cook them) and the kid said ‘aww I don’t like it when they get bigger!’

Busted out laughing. Mom was glaring at me with laser beams. Kid was confused. Had to walk away still laughing.

9. “Jesus…”

At my grandmother’s funeral mass. When the Father (who had a super bad cold/congestion) told the story of the last supper. He said (in the throatiest, most gangster way ever) “Jesus said, ‘you’re gonna take this bread, and you’re gonna EAT IT'”

I hysterically lost it right on the spot. Thankfully I was a few rows back from the front, so when my mother-in-law threatened to take me outside, nobody heard.

10. Confused the folks

When my parents told my sister and I they were getting divorced. They obviously hated each other for years and it was a long time coming. My sister and I looked at each other and we both just started laughing. Never seen two people so confused in my life.

11. A graceful fall

When my cousin fell down our back doors steps. It was beautiful. Graceful. Almost choreographed. We were around 12 years old, right at that awkward age when you do not want to stand out and garner any attention. When you still have to wear the clothes that your Mom picks out and buys.

It was a Sunday, right after church. She was wearing a pale pink frilly dress with pleats (1960s). And for whatever reason she just rolled head over heels down the steps, just like an Olympian tumbler. A perfect 10. It happened in slow motion. She landed on her feet. I wanted so bad for her to throw her arms straight above her head, chin raised in triumph, and bow, but I just looked at her and laughed.

12. Not a joke

I was at a beachside restaurant in Mexico and the unusually cheery waiter asked if I wanted to go down the beach to see some crocodiles. As we’re walking down the beach I ask if the crocodiles have ever eaten anybody. In a cheery tone, the waiter said that the crocodile had almost eaten a girl the previous year and that he fought the crocodile to save her. Thinking he was joking due to his tone I laughed. He gave me a look and then I saw that his arm was covered in bite scars and he was missing some fingers. I felt like a terrible person.

13. Completely inappropriate

My significant other and I went to a funeral of a friend; she died of lung cancer. We showed up late and walked in after the service had started. Of course, it was the classic scene of the squeaky door opening and every single parishioner turned around to stare at us. We found a spot on the back wall and settled in. About 10 minutes later, my significant other’s phone started buzzing… he forgot to silence it. Without thinking he blurted out the words, “Jesus Christ”.

Completely inappropriate and horrifying yet I busted out laughing, which made my significant other start laughing.

I think we were both uncomfortable attending the funeral because my significant other had just learned he had cancer. It was bizarre timing and I think if we didn’t laugh we would have fallen apart.

14. Gunshots

My grandpa had a military funeral. But we didn’t know when they’d shoot the guns.

So it scared the crap out of everybody. My grandma FELL OUT OF HER CHAIR in FRIGHT and then laid on the ground crying hysterically as they shot off the guns

I laughed so hard. I was 12 years old.

15. One foot in the grave

Went to my grandmother’s funeral, and me, my mom and dad were walking around just chit chatting. Well this was at the burial, and they didn’t have her casket in the ground yet, so there’s this gigantic hole in the ground for the grave. My mother steps back, not realizing and step backwards right into the open grave, and falls and is hanging onto the edge, laughing hysterically. I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING, and neither could she. I had her hanging onto my hand so she wouldn’t literally fall 6 feet deep, and I couldn’t pull her up because we could not stop laughing.

Dad ended up calling us “dorks” as he helped her out of the grave… Rest of the family was not amused.

16. Vegetarian

Went to a high school dance with a vegetarian. Dinner was with a large group. Vegetarian tells everyone not to eat veal because it’s inhumane how they raise veal. Close to the end of dinner there’s a bunch of commotion from another room and minutes later guys come through the restaurant carrying an elderly lady in a chair. She looks unwell. Someone at the table says, “Damn! She must have had the veal.”

17. Harry Potter humor

Right after my father passed, I had to speak with the JP and confirm all his identifying marks. I told her that he had a Deathly Hallows tattoo, and she asked me what that was. I explained that it was from Harry Potter, and that the person that possessed all three items became the master of death and couldn’t be killed. Then I busted out laughing and said “he proved that wrong, didn’t he?” The poor JP was so shocked and appalled that I had to apologize, all while my uncle is holding his breath to keep from laughing as well. My dad would’ve loved that moment.

18. What can you do?

I have a bad habit of laughing when I’m nervous, which is fairly often. When I went on a youth beach trip in 9th grade, I was hanging out with a group of girls I didn’t know well on top of a bunk bed and we started talking about grandparents. There was an awkward pause in conversation, so I made the terrible judgment call to break the silence with “all of my grandparents are dead…but what can you do?” I then shrugged, looked around at their startled faces, and burst into hysterical laughter. They all stared at me in horrified silence as I failed to contain myself.

19. High pitch

I worked at an overnight summer camp. My table finished dinner early, so I kept the kids entertained by singing. One suggested we sing The Star Spangled Banner. She started, and we joined in. Too late, I realized that we’d started too high. By the time we got to “the rockets red glare” we were struggling, and failing, to keep on key. This caused us to laugh.

I got a chewing out by my boss after the kids were asleep. She was sure we were making fun of our National Anthem. I apologized, but assured her we were singing patriotically, but laughing at our inability to sing on key. I was not allowed to sing that song with the kids in the future.

20. Health class

I daydreamed a lot when I was in school. One day in health class the teacher was talking about how his daughter passed away, and as usual I was just not there mentally speaking. I end up laughing out loud at whatever I was thinking about and the whole classroom just goes silent, and the teacher stops to ask me if I found something funny about his story.

Things didn’t smooth over when he became the principal the next year.

21. Not a bad joke, actually

A long time ago in World History in high school I was half asleep watching a documentary about Chernobyl and the side effect of radiation on the people.

They then showed an infant, born with its brain outside of its skull literally in a sack of skin next to his head for some reason I mumbled to myself, “so that’s what they mean by thinking outside the box.” The girl next to me looked mortified then I snickered more at my own joke, teacher heard, girl tattled and that’s how I got my first high school detention.

22. More bad singing

My school did a talent show when I was in fourth grade. I was sitting down with my mother and all the acts had been good so far… then the choir went up on stage. Each kid had their own solo, but there was just this one kid that sung SO bad. I’m talking bombing every note to the song, singing offbeat, etc. So naturally, being 9 years old, I died laughing. However, there was this lady next to me that just kept glaring. She ended up being his mother.

23. “Feeling like a jerk”

Back in elementary school, I was visiting my best friend’s grandmother’s house. She made us something to eat and as she was walking over, she hit her leg off of the corner of the coffee table and let out a huge moan. Obnoxiously, I started laughing my butt off and soon realized that no one else was laughing but running to help the poor lady. At that moment, I just sat there awkwardly feeling like a jerk and still regret it to this day…