History Corpsing / LiveActionTV

* The question writers of the UK game show ''Series/TheChase'' frequently make the presenter Bradley Walsh try desperately not to burst into laughter with the immature multiple-choice questions they get him to read out. For instance, one such question was "In what sport did [[UnfortunateNames Fanny Chmelar]] compete for Germany?". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1Zfz-Widc Witness the results here.]]

* Stephen's follow-up, his tenure on ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'', still has plenty of breaking. Especially when Laura Benanti is involved, playing Melania Trump.

* The December 5, 1986 telecast of ''[[Series/{{Pyramid}} The $25,000 Pyramid]]'' had host Creator/DickClark playfully pressuring celebrity player Vicki Lawrence to pick the category hiding the Mystery 7 card as the prize it offered was a new car. Vicki turns to him and deadpans "You're just really being a (''deleted'') today, aren't you?'' Dick was looking for a place to hide but tried to regain his composure as Vicki selected the category "Loosen Up." When Dick read what the category was about--"Things that are stiff"--Vicki corpsed so hard she was crying. Dick fared no better.
* Any attempt at maintaining composure was futile in the ''$10,000 Pyramid'' show where Tony Randall was a celebrity player. After a commercial break, Dick Clark commented on how well Tony knows the game and asked what is the one thing you don't do. Tony: "You don't say shit!" (This was a broadcast master that's on [=YouTube=]; it was obviously altered for TV).

* On ''Series/TheXFactor'', if the audition is mind-bendingly horrible, you can start to see the judges beginning to crack and lose their composure. Part of the reason that Music/CherylCole became so popular on the show was that during her first series as a judge, she absolutely could not keep a straight face and broke into giggling fits. She's gotten better at maintaining her composure, but she remains the one judge who was most likely to crack first.

* On ''Series/TheXFactor'', if the audition is mind-bendingly horrible, you can start to see the judges beginning to crack and lose their composure. Part of the reason that Cheryl Fernandez-Versini became so popular on the show was that during her first series as a judge, she absolutely could not keep a straight face and broke into giggling fits. She's gotten better at maintaining her composure, but she remains the one judge who was most likely to crack first.

** Bradley, in turn, sometimes tries to corpse the Chasers. It was, however, a contestant who got Shaun Wallace to break character. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8yVKFLhxVA#t=1115s Seen here.]]

* Given the clue writers' affinity for puns and shout-outs, it's not unusual to hear Creator/AlexTrebek crack a laugh when reading a clue on ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' There have also been instances where he has done this when interviewing the contestants. One notable example is when a contestant said that she had a goat who died by eating a bag of Quikrete; Alex asked whether it was a 60-pound or 80-pound bag, the contestant snarked "Alex, you're being insensitive!" and Alex laughed so hard that he turned to the next contestant and said "I don't wanna talk to you!"

* For a man known for being a DeadpanSnarker, Richard Dawson has an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNoV_kSe7Dk absolutely epic fit of uncontrollable laughter]] during the infamous "September" Fast Money round of ''Series/FamilyFeud''.

** The tradition continues as Steve Harvey has also been shown to break down in bouts of laughter every once in a while when a contestant says something outrageous for an answer.
*** On ''Series/LateNight'', Steve even said that one answer made him laugh on the floor for 15 minutes straight, but most of it had to obviously be cut due to time constraints.

* The recurring ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'' segment where celebrities read Mean Tweets gets reactions that can be put into the categories of dirty looks (like Creator/JessicaAlba and Creator/CateBlanchett), responding in kind (like Elisabeth Moss and Creator/LarryDavid), playing along (like two of the other Jessicas - [[Creator/JessicaBiel Biel]] and [[Creator/JessicaChastain Chastain]]) or [[ActuallyPrettyFunny finding it amusing]] (like Creator/LisaKudrow and Creator/KurtRussell)... or Corpsing like Creator/ArianaGrande. Most readers remain calm and collected but Ariana couldn't read that particular tweet without laughing hysterically. [[https://twitter.com/arianalouboutin/status/669609089685655553 As you can see just from the still.]]

* The recurring ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'' segment where celebrities read Mean Tweets gets reactions that can be put into the categories of dirty looks (like Creator/JessicaAlba and Creator/CateBlanchett), responding in kind (like Elisabeth Moss and Creator/LarryDavid), playing along (like two of the other Jessicas - [[Creator/JessicaBiel Biel]] and [[Creator/JessicaChastain Chastain]]) or finding it amusing (like Creator/LisaKudrow and Creator/KurtRussell)... or Corpsing like Creator/ArianaGrande. Most readers remain calm and collected but Ariana couldn't read that particular tweet without laughing hysterically. [[https://twitter.com/arianalouboutin/status/669609089685655553 As you can see just from the still.]]

** Ryan actually manages to break both Wayne Brady and Drew in an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3uAismSOxk Irish Drinking song]], though Colin's "[[RunningGag Meow]]" broke him too.

* The introduction to the game show ''Series/WinLoseOrDraw'' usually had the host (Vicki Lawrence on Creator/{{NBC}} daytime, Bert Convy on syndication nighttime) reveal caricatures of that day's celebrity guests during the intro. While listing off said celebrities, announcer Bob Hilton would frequently break into fits of laughter as each caricature was revealed. Bob was also prone to this on the road show episodes, particularly if Convy's intro went awry (such as an episode taped in Central Park where the horse pulling the hansom cab with Convy on it refused to go through the gate, or another where Convy fell in the water when trying to exit the boat that brought him on-set).

** Tony Slattery manages to get ''himself'' in the British version during a round of Hoe Down, when the final line of his verse was set to be excessively risque ''[[UpToEleven even for him]]''.

** In 1965, the record for longest continual laughter in live TV was definitely set thanks to Johnny's guest, actor/singer Ed Ames, who claimed that, in the course of his work, he had learned how to throw a tomahawk. Carson produced a human outline on a board, and Ames lobbed the tomahawk at it. It hit the board successfully, but slammed in right at the [[GroinAttack figure's crotch]], starting the thunderous laughter. When the laughter started to die down, Carson quipped "I didn't even know you were Jewish!" starting it all up again. (Even funnier still was Carson's followup remark: "Welcome to Frontier Bris!")
*** Adding to the hilarity, the tomahawk's handle was jutting up as if it were the figure's penis, and when a flustered Ames started to walk towards the target to pull out the tomahawk, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L5QC9ZJkM8 Carson grabbed his arm and stopped him]], barely stifling his own laughter as he realized how bad (and funny) it would look if Ames were to grab and pull on the figure's erection.

* At one point, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wys_JmrK5e4 during a Red Sox game airing on NESN]], they went to a crowd shot as they were coming back from a mid-inning break. At one point, during the shot, one of the men reaches over and grabs the breast of the woman next to him. Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo immediately go quiet as the camera cuts back to play. Eventually, Orsillo, who's the play by play announcer, has to say what's going on, and cracks up halfway though the phrase "Called strike one". They then lean on the cough button more until Orsillo says, gasping for air, "This used to be a family show".

* Quite often during the presenter interludes on ''CBBC'' (BBC childrens television) this is often because of mistakes made by other presenters or puppeteers, or unrehearsed lines, especially the puppeteer of 'Hacker. T. Dog' as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjEBxRk-9j4 in one of the funniest links made in CBBC history]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSFWgKl-O-A This clip]] from a Belgian sketch show is all about corpsing. A talk show host is interviewing people who have had operations go wrong, including a woman in a wheelchair and a man who had his tonsillectomy botched. Unfortunately, the procedure affected his vocal chords, giving him an extremely high-pitched voice. The host desperately attempts to keep it together as the man tells his sad story, only to repeatedly break down in laughter whenever he talks. The high-voiced man is offended, but whenever he tries to complain, the host only laughs more. Finally, a man from the audience decides to speak up in protest...it turns out that a botched operation gave ''him'' a deep, gravelly voice. Cue the host completely losing all composure and shaking with laughter.

* In the late 70s, Atlanta TV station WATL had a kids show called ''Officer Don and Orvil'' (the latter being a puppet dragon) and often Orvil (Terry Kelley) would crack something that would cause Officer Don (Don Kennedy) to corpse or just burst out laughing. This goes back to their days on ''The Popeye Club,'' which aired on WSB there in the 60s.

** Ryan also had to turn around and hide his face several times during the infamous "The Cat" round of Impossible Mission.

* The introduction to the game show ''Series/WinLoseOrDraw'' usually had the host (Vicki Lawrence on Creator/{{NBC}} daytime, Bert Convy on syndication nighttime) reveal caricatures of that day's celebrity guests. TheAnnouncer, Bob Hilton, would frequently break into fits of laughter as each caricature was revealed. Bob was also prone to this on the road show episodes, particularly if Convy's intro went awry (such as an episode taped in Central Park where the horse pulling the hansom cab with Convy on it refused to go through the gate, or another where Convy fell in the water when trying to exit the boat that brought him on-set).