Emergency Question: What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you at a funeral? | Edinburgh Fringe comedians answer © Cottonbro/Pexels

Emergency Question: What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you at a funeral?

Edinburgh Fringe comedians answer

Every day until the end of the Fringe, we're asking one of Richard Herring's Emergency Questions from the RHLSTP podcast to comedians. Here's today's batch of insights... RHLSTP is also at the Assembly Rooms at 13:00 from August 3 to 14. Tickets.


A dozen old people who did not know my grandmother sat through her funeral service just so they could follow us to the reception to take the free food. And that's how I learned about Funeral Groupies. Kylie Brakeman whose show Linda Hollywood's Big Hollywood Night is on at Gilded Balloon at 7:00pm

My dad didn't make the hole big enough for the cat, so kinda like snapped Scruffy in. Faye Treacy whose show Where's Your Head At? is on at The Globe at 7:15pm

As the curtains closed on the coffin at the end to be cremated, the song feeling Hot Hot Hot came on and we walked out in a conga. Hatty Ashdown whose show The Worry Drawer  is on at Voodoo Rooms  at 2:00pm

It was the most tragic funeral I've ever been to, of someone I loved and died too young in tragic circumstances. All you could hear was sobbing, The door burst open and the town drunk stepped in with a bag of cans, pointed into the open casket and said "who's the dribbly fool now?' He then started crying as if what he said was profound. He was escorted out.  Alison Spittle whose show Wet is on at Pleasance Courtyard at 4:45pm

At a zoom funeral during Covid, the rabbi asked if the father of the deceased could 'please find a way towards unmuting yourself.' Rebecca Kaplan whose show Arielle Dundas and Rebecca Kaplan: Parfait is on at Laughing Horse @ City Cafe at 12:05am

At my friend's funeral, they played the Blackadder theme song as they brought the coffin in. The song was too short, so it went round on a loop, and started playing twice Tom Mayhew whose show Trash Rich is on at The Stand at 9:20pm

My friend and I were late to a funeral and we couldn’t figure out how to get into the church. We went around trying to find a door that was unlocked and ended up knocking on one very loudly to see if someone would let us in. What we didn’t realize was that the door was made of one way glass and it was located directly behind the open casket in the sanctuary. The packed service had already started and one of the pallbearers awkwardly manoeuvred around the casket to let us in. Cringe.  Stephanie Dodd. whose show The Fremonts: The Failure Cabaret is on at Underbelly Cowgate at 9:05pm

I couldn’t handle the tension at my brother’s funeral so I started a food fight. I’m not joking.  Jake Cornell whose show Man & Woman is on at Assembly at 6:15pm

I farted and shat myself at the funeral of his Royal Highness, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. I blamed the smell on Camilla. Tom Little whose show Tom Little Has Good Reviews So Prepare to Be Impressed is on at Subway at 3:45pm

It was at my mate’s dad's funeral. An old family friend did a reading from the bible. He was very nervous. He started to read some proper hell and damnation stuff before stopping himself and saying 'I'm sorry folks this is the wrong bit'. He then flicked a few pages and started reading 'blessed are the meek'. Jamie MacDonald whose show Reasonably Adjusted is on at Gilded Balloon at 7:45pm

A family friend's father died. The son was a bit older than me maybe like 4 or 6 years older I would have been around 5 years old at the time.  It was an open casket. I must have annoyed the son because he stole my beanie baby out of my hands and put it on his dead dad's chest, knowing it would freak me out. And I cried and cried and as soon as the parents came he snatched the beanie baby off his dead dad's chest and put it on the floor. So I just looked like a brat. I didn't see the humour at the time but this was some high level trolling. Erika Ehler whose show Femcel is on at Monkey Barrel  at 9:40pm

My show features a funny funeral story, but I don't want to spoil that. My second funniest funeral story happened when I was at the funeral of a colleague. He'd planned his funeral, flowers, music etc...as the curtains came around prior to cremation the music from the Hamlet advert played.  Justin Moorhouse whose show Stretch & Think is on at Gilded Balloon at 7:30pm

Nick: At my grandmother’s funeral an old man we’d never seen before got up and addressed the whole church. He said he never knew my grandmother but he felt certain she would care strongly about 'the very real environmental threat that is erosion'. And then proceeded to give us a 10 minute lecture about erosion. I guess he goes wherever a crowd is and publicly speaks about this.  Brian McElhaney whose show BriTANicK is on at Assembly at 7:45pm

Saw an entire congregation simultaneously check their hairstyles in the reflection of the hearse.  Luke Rollason whose show Bowerbird is on at Monkey Barrel at 12:30pm

Someone exit-flyered a comedian's funeral for their own upcoming show. I say someone. It was me. Iain MacDonald whose show Pundemic is on at Three Sisters at 10:45am

They played Greensleeves at my grandfather's funeral. The man only hated three things in life: garlic, gays and Greensleeves. Given that I was there too, we might as well have filled the coffin up with cloves and hit the trifecta. Cerys Bradley whose show Sportsperson is on at Gilded Balloon at 4:40pm

The priest called my friend Dane "Dale" for the first 15 minutes of his funeral. And this was someone who died very young. At first it was infuriating but then it honestly was very funny. Marcia Belsky whose show Man & Woman is on at Assembly at 6:15pm

Published: 2 Aug 2022

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.