Corpsing

Corpsing is a theatrical slang term used to describe when an actor breaks character during a scene by laughing or by causing another cast member to do so.[1] Though the origin of the term is unknown, it refers to almost literally murdering the scene.

I made this show in Alsager and this girl kept laughing and I said keep laughing and every time she did it she kept laughing. And she just got stuck. Everytime I did it I believed her. Whether it was just incredible acting or it was real. I believed her. The other girl would say ‘What are you laughing at you twat?’ And she kept laughing. It once happened to me in a show where I couldn’t stop laughing. I kept laughing and I felt horrible afterwards. This would be for me the way to do it. I would pass a piece of paper. I wrote on one of them ‘My girdle is killing me.’ Tim wrote on the back of the cards something funny. Or a word that reminded him of something funny. It’s happened to me loads where I’ve written something to make people laugh. And it had the opposite effect.