While discussing reports that Broadway audiences have been laughing at inappropriate moments during serious productions, Ripa confessed she suffers from what she called the “tragedy giggles.”
“Maybe it’s nervous laughter,” Ripa suggested after Mark Consuelos brought up complaints about theatergoers laughing during dramatic plays.
‘I Have the Tragedy Giggles’
Consuelos noted he hadn’t experienced the issue himself despite recently seeing Death of a Salesman, which stars the couple’s son Joaquin, 23. “No one’s laughing during the pretty serious moments,” he said.
Ripa then revealed the awkward trait runs in the family.
“Well, I have the tragedy giggles, and we have a child that inherited that from me,” she explained. “So you don’t want to sit in between us at a funeral because we truly find the absurd.”
‘It’s Bad’
The daytime star elaborated that emotional speeches can sometimes trigger uncontrollable laughter.
“Sometimes people will speak poetically about the departed, and it always leads to tragedy giggles,” she admitted. “It’s bad.”
Ripa even recalled being separated from Live producer Alyssa Shapiro at funerals because the two couldn’t keep it together.
“She and I sat next to each other at a couple of funerals, and people were like, ‘Okay, you two can’t sit next to each other,’” she joked.