Sometimes TV and movie scenes are so funny, it’s a shock that actors can even hold it together. But as bloopers reveal…sometimes they don’t.
Here are 17 funny TV and movie scenes that the actors kept laughing during, in some cases ruining take after take.
1.
In 2021, Jerry Seinfeld revealed that “the hardest scene to film on Seinfeld without laughing” was the scene in which a “library cop” interrogates him about a book he didn’t return. “It was just so ridiculous that he was interrogating me in my own apartment about a book. I just kept cracking up,” Seinfeld said. “So that scene that you see is made up of about eight different times we shot it. We took the pieces that worked and put it together because I messed that one up a ton.”
2.
In a funny This Is 40 scene, Melissa McCarthy’s character berates and threatens Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, and Joanne Baron.
But as an extended version of the scene that plays during the credits reveals, McCarthy said a ton of stuff that wasn’t in the final cut. And Mann and Rudd absolutely could not keep it together.
3.
One funny moment from Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy is when Luther farts in the elevator, garnering disgust from his siblings. Aidan Gallagher (who plays Five) said filming it was the funniest on-set moment of the season, Tom Hopper (who plays Luther) said that David Castañeda (who plays Diego) couldn’t film it without laughing. “The elevator scene up to the tiki bar always sticks in my head. I mean, I don’t actually think we got a clean take with David.”
You can get a taste of what it was like to film the scene in one of the bloopers, where Robert Sheehan, as Klaus, did a little improv and the whole cast broke.
4.
In one of Jason’s best lines on The Good Place, the always evil Shawn refuses to work with the group, and Jason claims that Shawn has “changed.”
But the bloopers reveal the cast could barely get through the line without laughing, and Mark Schur, the show’s creator, said the actors were laughing at the line “for three and a half minutes” straight. Apparently, Ted Danson laughed so hard, he cried.
5.
And when Shawn finally does agree to work with them, he hilariously struggles to say it out loud to his subordinates.
As you can see, Marc Evan Jackson, who played Shawn, also had trouble getting through the line — because he kept laughing at his own attempts at gagging and struggling through the line.
6.
The cast of Parks and Recreation did lots of improv, and while a lot of it did end up in the final cut, not all of it did. Take this scene where Andy and April go to the doctor, and Andy lists a bunch of concerns he has.
In the bloopers of the scene, Andy says much more, including this great line about “wiping a marker” — it’s so funny that Aubrey Plaza, as April, has to turn away from the camera, then completely gives up at the end and laughs as the crew starts laughing too.
7.
Similarly, Retta couldn’t get through this scene with Ben Schwartz, who played Jean-Ralphio, where he describes what they’ll do at the club together.
8.
One last Parks and Rec one: There’s a funny line in a later season where Craig announces that his young friend drove him to work (despite being underage and unable to drive).
The scene was much longer in the bloopers, with the other actors goading Craig into saying the line over and over again. Except for one problem: None of them can keep a straight face.
9.
In Season 2 of Stranger Things, there’s a scene where Hopper decides to tell Mike there’s something wrong with his grandma and he needs to go home immediately, purely because he’s annoyed with Mike and El’s behavior.
The scene is funny in that we know there’s nothing wrong with Mike’s grandma and Hopper’s just being Hopper, but David Harbour seemed to find it MUCH funnier than anyone else. He could barely get out the words “It’s your grandma,” causing his young castmates to crack up too.
10.
In another normally serious show, Better Call Saul, there’s a lighter moment in Season 2 when Saul uses Kim’s finger to brush his teeth. He then says, “Wait till you see what I floss with,” which causes Kim to laugh. Answering a fan on Twitter, the actor, Rhea Seehorn, said her laugh was real and that she laughed at the line every single take.
11.
In The Usual Suspects, the lineup scene was meant to be serious. “We were supposed to be very stoic, very unimpressed, unintimidated,” Kevin Pollak, who played Hockney, said. But “we would lose it over and over and over.” Pollak also claimed in the DVD commentary that part of the reason they laughed was that Benicio del Toro “farted like 12 takes in a row.”
12.
In an old example, Don Knotts kept laughing during this scene on The Andy Griffith Show — they had to reshoot it 20 times because he couldn’t keep a straight face. In the final cut, he keeps it together, but you can see Andy Griffith laughing.
13.
On their podcast Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey revealed that John Krasinski would often break character and laugh — particularly during one episode: “The Secret.” In the episode, Michael (played by Steve Carell) knows Jim (Krasinski) has a crush on Pam and keeps trying to talk to him about it. “This whole episode, John had to do a lot of scenes with Steve and he really loses it,” Fischer said, pointing to the scene when Michael tries to talk to Jim at the venting machines while Stanley is there.
14.
While you can’t see it in the final cut, he also kept laughing when Michael put his foot on Jim’s desk to ask him to lunch. “John lost it,” Fischer said. “And part of it, too, was that desk is so high and it was not easy for Steve to put his leg up there, but he was super committed to the bit. It was something he just came up with, and it made John laugh, so he just kept doing it.” Krasinski also kept laughing at the end of the episode, when Carell hugged him. “John couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t handle it,” Fischer revealed.
15.
Ed Helms had the same problem in a different episode of The Office. When Kevin is sitting on Michael’s lap when he’s playing Santa, Helms kept laughing, and in the final cut, he said, he actually ended up ducking behind a plant to hide it. You don’t see the plant, but you can see him smile, and then, in the next wide shot, he’s not there anymore. This was apparently also the 30th take because the cast kept laughing.
16.
One of the most well-known scenes on Friends is the “Pivot!” couch scene. Well, it turns out that the actors found it just as funny.
In bloopers for the scene, all three actors keep laughing as they try to do the scene, with David Schwimmer imitating his “Pivot” line and collapsing in stitches.
17.
And finally, in the scene where Ross plays bagpipes for everyone in Friends, you can actually see Jennifer Aniston breaking character as Phoebe starts singing.
But in the bloopers, you can see it wasn’t just Jen — they all burst out laughing and then struggled to keep it together.
What’s your favorite line or scene that even the actors cracked up during? Let us know in the comments below!
