Top Iconic Laughing Gas Scenes from Movies to Cartoons

Few things in comedy are as instantly satisfying as a well-timed burst of uncontrollable laughter—and nothing delivers quite like a puff of laughing gas. Across movies, TV shows, and comics, this classic gag has turned ordinary scenes into moments of pure chaos, sending heroes, villains, and hapless bystanders into fits of hilarity. From cartoon mayhem to slapstick misadventures, laughing gas has a way of exposing the silly, the absurd, and the delightfully unpredictable side of every character. ùIn this article, we dive into some of the most outrageous and side-splitting scenes where a whiff of this mischievous substance turns the ordinary into the unforgettable, proving that a little gas can go a very long way in making audiences laugh.

Thanks to manjumemajeur and Laughing Gas Zone for the sources provided.

Comics

Metal Men

The Gas Gang debuted in Metal Men #6 (1963), published by DC Comics and created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru. They are a bizarre group of robotic villains built by Doc Magnus as experimental creations, later corrupted into enemies of his heroic Metal Men. Each member of the team represents a different type of gas, personified with unique abilities and personalities.

The Gas Gang’s most ironic member is Helium, who weaponizes laughter in a twisted way. By releasing bursts of helium, he forces victims’ voices into high-pitched squeals, often reducing them and their allies to helpless fits of laughter. 

Joker Gas

Joker Gas, also known as Joker Venom or Smilex, is the Joker’s signature weapon, appearing in most of the character’s appearances in comics, television series, cartoons, films, and video games.

There are different versions of the toxin, but it is generally a chemical compound in liquid or aerosol form that induces a state of uncontrollable convulsive laughter in victims, until death by asphyxiation occurs. Depending on the case, victims may end up with white skin and green hair. The toxin also causes a state of aggression in victims, accompanied by convulsive laughter.

Batman ‘66

In the Batman ’66 comics, the Joker has a device called the Brain Regulator that makes people laugh against their will, giving them an unnatural sense of amusement. Among those forced to laugh are Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, and Harleen Quinzel. 

Movies

A Policewoman in New York (1981)

A canister of laughing gas is opened in a bar during a fight, causing the policewoman protagonist and her attackers to laugh while they fight.

Bio-Dome (1996)

In Bio-Dome (1996), the laughing‑gas scene occurs during one of the film’s chaotic science experiments inside the enclosed ecological dome. The protagonists, Bud and Doyle, accidentally trigger a release of gas intended for the animals or lab experiments, but instead, it affects the humans. Almost immediately, everyone inhaling the gas erupts into uncontrollable, infectious laughter.

Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)

The protagonist uses “hilarious mushrooms” to make a prisoner laugh and confess, but he spits them at the ninja and a girl, making all three of them laugh.

Diabolik (1968)

In the 1968 film Diabolik, the laughing gas scene occurs during one of Diabolik’s heists. Diabolik uses a gas that incapacitates or confuses his targets, but in this case, it produces an unexpected side effect: uncontrollable laughter. The scene shows the victims suddenly breaking into fits of hysterical giggles, unable to respond or defend themselves properly, while Diabolik moves with his usual calm precision. Their exaggerated reactions—falling over chairs, clutching their stomachs, and gasping between laughs—contrast with Diabolik’s composed demeanor, turning a dangerous situation into a visually comedic moment. The scene mixes tension with slapstick-like humor, as the laughter makes the normally serious heist appear absurd and chaotic.

Doctor in Clover (1966)

Horrible Bosses 2 (2014)

Laughing gas (1914)

In Charlot – Laughing Gas (1914), the scene centers on Charlie Chaplin’s iconic tramp character encountering a dentist’s office. During a routine visit, Charlot is exposed to nitrous oxide (laughing gas), and its effects take hold almost immediately. He begins laughing uncontrollably, his body twisting, jerking, and collapsing in exaggerated, cartoonish motions. Each inhale sends him into more dramatic fits of hilarity, rolling over chairs, clutching his stomach, and staggering across the room. The other patients and the dentist become caught up in the chaos, either trying to contain Charlot or accidentally succumbing themselves. Chaplin’s mastery of physical comedy turns the otherwise ordinary dental procedure into a sequence of escalating, absurd gags, blending precision timing, facial expressions, and slapstick collisions, making the laughing-gas scene a classic example of early film comedy.

Inspector Gadget 2 (2003)

Dr. Claw releases laughing gas that makes everyone laughs.

Lethal Weapon 4 (1988)

In Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), a brief but memorable scene unfolds in a dentist’s office where Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) confront a suspect. When the situation turns chaotic, a tank of nitrous oxide is accidentally opened, flooding the room with laughing gas. As the fumes spread, Riggs, Murtaugh, and everyone else inside begin laughing uncontrollably while trying to keep control of the interrogation.

Little Shop Of Horror (1986)

Mary Poppins (1964)

In Mary Poppins (1964), the closest equivalent to a “laughing‑gas” scene appears during the sequence with the tea party on the ceiling. While there isn’t literal nitrous oxide, the scene uses magical chaos to induce uncontrollable laughter and silliness among the characters. Mary Poppins, Bert, Jane, and Michael are literally defying gravity, floating around the ceiling as they sip tea. The children giggle, Bert laughs heartily, and even the adults are drawn into fits of joy at the absurdity of the situation. Their exaggerated expressions, the tumbling teacups, and the playful music combine to mimic the effect of laughter gas: inhibiting seriousness and making everyone act in delightfully over-the-top ways. The scene blends physical comedy, visual spectacle, and musical cues to create a sense of joyful, contagious hilarity that dominates the moment.

Night of the Comet (1984)

Party Plane (1991)

Tank Girl (1995)

Taxi (2004)

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

The Skeleton Twins (2014)

The characters Kristen Wiig (Maggie) and Bill Hader (Milo) go to a dentist’s office where nitrous oxide is used; under the gas their conversation becomes silly, with jokes about farting and a loose, improvised tone

Three Stooges (short)

In the Three Stooges shorts that feature laughing gas, the setup usually involves the Stooges—Moe, Larry, and Curly (or Shemp, depending on the era)—in a medical or scientific setting, often at a dentist’s office or a hospital. One of them accidentally inhales or administers nitrous oxide, triggering uncontrollable fits of laughter. The effects spread to the others in a domino effect, with everyone succumbing to silly, exaggerated giggles. Physical comedy dominates: characters collapse on tables, roll on the floor, slap each other in classic Stooge fashion, and get into chaotic mishaps, often ruining carefully arranged experiments or medical procedures. The scene combines verbal gags, pratfalls, and over-the-top facial expressions, turning the laughing gas into a comedic device that drives the Stooges’ trademark chaotic humor.

The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)

In The Return of Captain Invincible (1983), the film’s eccentric villain, Mr. Midnight, unveils his latest weapon: a “hypno-ray” that releases clouds of laughing gas to subdue the population. In one memorable sequence, he gleefully demonstrates the gas’s power, filling the air with it as people around him collapse into uncontrollable laughter. The scene blends campy comic-book style with dark satire, showing how something as harmless as laughter can become an instrument of chaos in the hands of a madman.

TV Series

Ark II (ep. 1)

In Ark II (1976), Season 1, Episode 1 (“The Ark II”), the laughing‑gas scene happens when the crew encounters a group of post-apocalyptic scavengers who have set up a trap using a gas intended to incapacitate intruders. As the Ark II team investigates, the gas is released, and instead of rendering them unconscious, it provokes uncontrollable laughter. 

Battlestar Galactica (S3X15)

Oxygen deprivation causes the characters to have uncontrollable fits of laughter.

Charmed (S3X16)

In “Charmed” (season 3, episode 6), Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) received the gift of empathy. While at the dentist to book an appointment, she starts laughing hysterically even though she claims to be in pain from a toothache, because she has absorbed the urge to laugh from a woman who has been given laughing gas.

Deadly Games (ep.3) (1979)

In the episode “The Boss”, the mis‑chief begins when the villainous boss‑character (modeled after the hero Gus’s former real‑life employer) appears with an outrageous scheme to terrorize humanity’s hopes and dreams. 

During the course of his plan he deploys a gas (or gas‑like attack) in a corporate boardroom setting. The gas is introduced via the ventilation system as the unsuspecting executives gather for a routine meeting; its effect is immediate. As the pale haze fills the room, one by one the board members begin giggling uncontrollably, their faces slack, their poise dissolving into absurd laughter.

Within minutes, the laughing board members collapse over conference tables, topple laptops, clutch their sides, and struggle to speak. One executive tries to cry “Stop it!” but only hiccups into giggles. The devil‑boss strolls in, raises a pink‑slip launcher (his signature weapon), and fires an exploding “You’re Fired” notice into the fray. Meanwhile, Gus disrupts the ventilation damper, causing fresh air to flood in; the laughter begins to subside, and the boardroom returns to shocked silence.

Desperate Housewives

Diagnosis Murder (S2X9)

Dr. Mark Sloan attends a medical convention and is involved in the award presentation of a prominent plastic surgeon, Dr. Elliott Valin, who is described as arrogant and dismissive of his peers.  Soon thereafter Valin is found dead; the cause is determined to be an overdose of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) pumped into his office.

Ellen (S2X1)

After the tooth‑chipping accident, Paige refers Ellen to a dentist whom she recommends (and notes is handsome). Ellen goes for the appointment partly because of the physical issue but also with some hope of personal interest.

Friday the 13th: The Series (S1X18)

In Friday the 13th: The Series – Season 1, Episode 18 (“Faith Healer”) – the story briefly features a chilling yet darkly comic scene involving nitrous oxide. In a women’s shelter, a deranged dentist uses laughing gas on one of the residents under the pretense of treatment

General Hospital Night Shift (S1X1)

In General Hospital: Night Shift — Season 1, Episode 1 (“Frayed Anatomies”) — the opening scene features a paramedic crew arriving at the hospital in chaos. Their ambulance swerves to a stop, and it’s quickly revealed that a leak in the medical system has filled the vehicle with nitrous oxide. Both paramedics stumble out, giggling uncontrollably and barely able to stand, laughing through their attempts to explain what happened. The moment adds a brief streak of absurd comedy to the tense medical drama setting.

Honey I shrunk the kids (S2X2)

In Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Season 2, Episode 2, the laughing‑gas scene occurs during one of Wayne Szalinski’s chaotic inventions gone awry.

The home computer locks the mother and her two children inside a cylinder into which it pumps “giggling gas” to keep them under control. The three realize that the oxygen will soon run out, but all they can do is giggle.

Hope & Faith (S3X5)

In the episode, Faith cracks a tooth and reluctantly allows her brother-in-law, Charley (a dentist), to treat her, despite their antagonistic relationship. While under the effect of laughing gas, Faith makes some surprising admissions

Laverne & Shirley

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (S2X15)

In Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Season 2, Episode 15 (“Return of the Prankster”), there is a scene involving laughing gas. In this episode, the villain, the Prankster, uses a device that releases nitrous oxide gas to incapacitate people or cause them to laugh uncontrollably. 

Kakuranger (ep.22)

The story goes like this: the Kakurangers help a girl developing a solar‐powered car. A youkai named Enraenra is behind some of the disruption—he needs exhaust fumes to survive, so he attacks by releasing “laughing gas” (and later “crying gas”) into the city, making people laugh uncontrollably, then cry.

Masters of Horror (S2X9)

Mom (2X19)

Bonnie is at the dentist, and the dentist offers her nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) to ease pain from a sensitive tooth. The dentist is also someone Bonnie is romantically interested in, which complicates things.

Prisoner: Cell Block H

She Spies (S1X6)

In She Spies — Season 1, Episode 6 (“Ice Man”) — the trio of undercover agents find themselves in a dentist’s office during a fight with a group of criminals. Amid the chaos, a canister of laughing gas is accidentally knocked open, quickly flooding the room. As the gas spreads, both the spies and their enemies dissolve into uncontrollable laughter, struggling to continue the fight while doubled over and disarmed by hysterics. The sequence plays as a playful, over-the-top blend of action and slapstick comedy.

The Avengers (S4X9)

In The Avengers — Season 4, Episode 9 (“The Hour That Never Was”) — John Steed and Emma Peel uncover a strange mystery at an abandoned RAF base. During the investigation, they trigger a hidden canister that releases laughing gas. As the vapors fill the room, both heroes burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter, their sharp composure melting into giddy chaos. The scene contrasts the show’s usual cool elegance with a surreal moment of delirious humor, as the two spies struggle to regain control while laughing helplessly amid the danger.

The Naked Truth (1992)

The release of laughing gas inside an airplane makes everyone laugh and causes some people to jump out of the plane without parachutes.

The Lost Saucer (S1x11)

The Flash (1X22)

the villain The Trickster (James Jesse) is on trial and a fake stenographer secretly releases a gas‑filled teddy bear under the desk, causing mass laughter and chaos in the courtroom.

Cartoons and Anime

Betty Boop

Brave Witch (ep.7)

In the midst of the cold Orussian winter, as the crew of the 502nd prepares for the Saturnus festival, the witches are under strain — supplies are low, morale is fragile, and one of their own, Hikari, is laid low by illness. 

To lift spirits, Krupinski distributes wild mushrooms she claims will make a “delicious soup”. The unsuspecting witches eat them in relaxed camaraderie. But the mushrooms turn out to induce uncontrollable laughter. When a sudden attack by the Neuroi occurs, most of the squadron finds themselves incapacitated by giggling fits — unable to coordinate, their weapons mis‑fire, communication breaks down, and the festive mood turns chaotic.

Code Lyoko (ep. 15)

The plot revolves around an unusual attack orchestrated by X.A.N.A., the show’s recurring antagonist. X.A.N.A. unleashes a gas that affects both the Lyoko Warriors and the people in the real world, causing uncontrollable laughter and extreme silliness. The characters lose their usual composure, breaking into fits of giggles and behaving in exaggerated, over-the-top ways that make it difficult for them to focus on their mission. Scenes often show characters stumbling, collapsing in laughter, or reacting in comically dramatic ways, highlighting the contrast between their normally serious problem-solving demeanor and the chaos the gas creates. The episode combines humor with the tension of trying to counter X.A.N.A.’s schemes, making the laughing gas both a playful and disruptive element in the story.

Dennis and Gnasher (ep 22)

Enigma (S1X17)

A man develops a device whose gas causes anyone who inhales it to laugh hysterically.

Final Fantasy Unbounds (S1X3)

The antagonist releases pollen from flowers that has a laughing gas effect on victims (a young boy mentions feeling ticklish).

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (S1X42)

In G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero — Season 1, Episode 42 (“Twenty Questions”) — Cobra tests a batch of experimental gas weapons, one of which is a canister of laughing gas. During a chaotic skirmish between the Joes and Cobra forces, a tank of the gas is accidentally ruptured, releasing clouds that engulf both sides. Soldiers from each faction suddenly collapse in hysterical laughter, unable to fight or even stand. The absurd spectacle of enemies doubled over in uncontrollable giggles briefly halts the battle, adding a rare moment of surreal humor amid the show’s usual high-stakes action.

Naruto (episode 186)

Shino drinks a substance that causes uncontrollable bursts of laughter.

Oggy and the Cockroaches – Laughing Gas (s02e16)

The roaches (Joey, Marky, and Dee Dee) find or concoct some “laughing powder”‑type chemical in a lab setup/in Jack’s device. Joey blows some of the powder at Dee Dee: Dee Dee starts laughing uncontrollably after inhaling it or being hit by it. Marky also sniffs a bit of it and laughs. Jack tries a drop with an eyedropper, causing an explosion of a teddy bear, while the roaches laugh at the chaos

She-Ra

Pollen causes characters to laugh.

Spirou 36

The Amazing Spiez (S1X9)

The three young protagonists are exposed to a powerful laughing gas that leaves them in fits of uncontrollable laughter as several menacing robots approach to attack them. One of them manages to destroy the machines despite the urge to laugh.

The Magician (S1X15)

An evil clown uses laughing gas to make people who don’t appreciate his humor laugh.

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