Restraining My Laughter

I watched the detective comedy, WHITE CHICKS on a flight to Holland last year. Seated by the aisle, I could see the adjacent passenger watching the same flick.



The movie was such a riot that my friends and I couln't stop laughing throughout the movie. Oddly, the movie wasn't inducing a single laughter from the adjacent passenger (maybe he was plain bored). As a matter of fact, he glared at us when we started laughing. Half the passengers on board were probably watching White Chicks but no one else seemed to be having a good laugh. Were they restraining from bursting into laughter? While I had a good laugh on the plane, I found myself behaving differently in a similar situation back home.

With public buses outfitted with TV Mobile, commuters get to watch episodes of JUST FOR LAUGHS and CANDID CAMERA.







Being a captive audience, I soon found myself looking at the screen to kill time. Some gags were genuinely funny but I could not bring myself to laugh out loud.

A couple of strangers seated opposite me were restraining themselves too. It's almost like stifling a sneeze with your face going into a slight spasm.



I figured I restrained myself from bursting into laughter because I was afraid of public scrutiny within a confined space. The plane may also be a confined space but chances are you won't get to see the same passengers ever again and one could relish the anonymity and laugh out loud. And in a cinema with the lights out, you can laugh your head off with everyone else. Laughing loudly in public transports seems like a taboo.

Imagine the person seated beside you bursting into laughter intermittenly.



And if you are one of those who become flushed easily and are slow in 'recovering' from a laughter, it's going to be pretty awkward too.



Meantime, when faced with a predicament as such, I'll switch to nap mode.