Humoristic Incontinence (HI) is any involuntary leakage of humour. It is a common situation which may have a profound impact on quality life of the subject and those in the surroundings. HI can be divided into two main forms: active HI and passive HI.

Passive HI

Passive HI is any involuntary manifestation of giggle or laughter, being the most common form of HI. Although it may vary, passive HI is in most cases uncontrollable. This concept was firstly introduced as The Giggle Loop in BBC’s Coupling:

Active HI

Active HI is any involuntary manifestation of joke or prank, being the less common form of HI yet more controllable. Active HI manifests itself as funny ideas popping up in the mind, being the decision to verbalize them ultimately taken by the subject.

Case Study

There are no statistics to show the magnitude of the problem. It’s estimated that most of the population worldwide suffers from at least one form of HI.

Erik Hartman, the Belgium Boemerang TV show host was one of the victims of severe passive HI. Allegedly the conditions to provoke its state were artificially set up.

Watch Humoristic Incontinence Playlist on YouTube for more cases. Are you a victim as well?

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