Funerals are meant for mourning and sadness. But for these people that have passed away their humor goes beyond the grave. Prepare to laugh at a subject normally reserved for sadness.
Honoring the Dead? Not so Funny.
“I am a stand up comedian/funeral celebrant, I had to fulfill the last request of the deceased to deliver essentially a roast. The family were aware of his wishes but sadly no one else was. I had a woman spit at me after the service for disrespecting the deceased. 9/10 would do it again” (Source).
What Goes Around
“My late husbands family kind of froze out me and our 10 month old daughter. I wasn’t invited to help plan the funeral. His ex-wife, their 3 older children, and brother had ‘He did it his way’ engraved on his headstone. I plan to be cremated so I won’t be buried next to him but – I bought a spot next to him for a memorial stone that will have my name, loving wife, my birth and death dates, and ‘That’s what I let him think’ with an arrow pointing back to his stone. Wish I could see their faces when they find it. lol” (Source).
One Last Dance
“Funeral director here, had a long time polka singer ask that everyone dance one last polka at his wake. So we took all the chairs out of the room and everyone did. His sons danced with their mother/his wife” (Source).
One Last Drink
“I’m from a small town (325). The local big shot, affectionately known as big john, had a request that his coffin be stood up (at a slight angle) during his wake. He had also put money aside to buy drinks so everyone could have one last drink with him. Even in death, he was the life of the party” (Source).
In a Galaxy Far Far Away
“We had a request for a Star-Wars-themed funeral where the pall bearers were dressed in costume as Star Wars characters (including Darth Vader). The organist played a medley of movie themes from the series during the service, with people in attendance humming or whistling along in sync. It’s a funeral no one will ever forget – an upbeat celebration of the person’s life. Per the widow’s request, nothing was lugubrious or mournful” (Source).
Aloha!
“My dad always wore Hawaiian shirts. It was decided for his funeral that everyone would do the same and wear a Hawaiian shirt. Not really that crazy, but it was nice and helped lighten the mood” (Source).
And a Marching Band Shall Lead Them
“At my grandmothers funeral last year, my uncle who used to be a mummer (famous and hilarious marching band here in Philadelphia) had a troop of them play ‘The Saints Go Marching In’ and led the procession as we carried her coffin out of the church, all while we were dancing. She was so fun and such a big fan of them and figured she didn’t want us all crying the entire funeral and just wanted us to celebrate her. Miss her every day” (Source).
Funeral Goes to the Birds
“Both of my grandparents had in their wills that birds be released during their funerals, doves for my grandmother and an owl for my grandfather both times it lead to a huge fiasco(one of the doves got trapped after flying into the open window of a parked car and the owl understandably freaked out swooped and started attacking the funeral goers). So in the spirit of having to pause a funeral to deal with aggravated animals my father wants an alligator or similar aquatic reptile released so all the bereaved can bond over having to subdue it” (Source).
Slipping and Sliding
“My step-mom was meeting my dad’s family for the first time. Unfortunately, it was at the funeral for his grandfather. Great Grandpa was a funny old guy from Czechoslovakia and lived in Omaha, which had a pretty huge Czech population. At one point, the family members come up one at a time to throw a flower into the open grave. It had been raining recently and my step-mom got too close and FELL INTO THE GRAVE. She was scrambling to get out but kept getting getting handfuls of mud. My family eventually helped, but only after they were able to stop laughing. Later, Great Grandpa’s brothers shared their Becherovka with her and she was officially part of the family” (Source).
All That Glitters
“Not a funereal director, but my friend is. She got asked to put a glitter bomb in the casket and play ‘thanks for the memories’ by fall out boy. She did it” (Source).
An Eternal Positive Attitude
“My uncle had a good friend that happened to be Irish with a super positive and optimistic way to see things. He’d frequently say ‘As long as I’m on the right side of the grass, everything’s fine’ so my uncle asked if they could lay some grass under the coffin before lowering it so he could be on the right side of the grass as he had always been” (Source).
Graveside Shots
“My 86-year-old great aunt died a few years ago. She was such a character and a big drinking fan. Her big request was that everyone done shots at her graveside and that her coffin was sprinkled with Jamerson instead of holy water. The ultra- Catholic priest was having a hissy about it but we carried on out her wishes regardless” (Source).
Telling Stories
“When my grandfather died, he requested that instead of the usual sad and macabre speeches people give, he wanted his family and friends to share their favorite memories. Many laughs and silly stories to mark the end to the life of a silly and goofy man. One of his final requests was to make the funeral as small as possible and have a party with the money instead” (Source).
Shocking Past
“1- The deceased had been well known for being ‘fashionably late’ aka never on time for anything. Her immediate family wanted us to bring her urn into the chapel twenty minutes after her service was supposed to start, so that they could joke about her still being fashionably late. That one we refused. 2- Elderly lady had been a burlesque performer in her youth, and had always said that was the best time of her life. So her family asked for her to be buried in her old spangled undergarments, corset, and pasties. It was an open casket service. That was a fun one for everyone, except maybe the grandkids” (Source).
Although It’s A Sad Occasion, They Still Made People Chuckle!
Find these stories hilarious? We’ve got even more humor on Storyblend.com! Check out more funny stories here.
Rocky Mountain High
“I think my favorite was this native witness cremation I performed. One of the friends had brought a leather bag with all of his favorite trinkets. I asked him if there were any batteries, he said no and the family allowed him to place the trinkets with the deceased during cremation. After it began and we had all exited the room the man smiled and said it was a big bag of weed. He thought he was hilarious, I would have let him put the bag in there either way. I’ve also had a couple burials with different types of drinks” (Source).
Finding the Humor
“Slightly off-topic, but still funny: When I was 19, my grandmother passed away. She was a real firecracker of a lady, and we were really feeling the loss. It was such a bummer because the only person that could have cheered us up was the dead lady. We were pretty good friends with the couple that owned the mortuary in town. They were in their late 30s at the time, and they were super cool people. Dang near every moment of meeting with them the day she died was hilarious. Here are some of the highlights: ‘I’m so sorry for your loss. While we wait for my husband to join us, can I get you any refreshments? Soda? Bottled water?’ ‘Now for the music for the service. We have a number of musicians we can call if you prefer live music. There’s Amanda, she’s a cellist. There’s Jessica, the pianist. Then there’s my good friend Rob Halford. Did your grandmother like Judas Priest?’ ‘Sorry I’m running late. Your grandmother is a very…passionate woman.’ ‘If you’d like to scatter her ashes, we can certainly accommodate. Some of our popular options include a trip out on the ocean or a serene desert location. But if you really want to give her a special send off, and if this is too costly just say the word, we can have her ashes spread out on a table while Justin Timberlake rolls around in them in the undressed. I know how it sounds, but I promise you that it’s very artistic, very dirty, but also very beautiful. It’s a very popular option here.'” (Source).
People Say the Funniest Things
“My mum used to be a funeral director. The family wanted a full family photo with their deceased loved one, propped upright, in their coffin. Of course dead people tip forward when stood upright, so my mum had to crouch behind the coffin and keep it angled back slightly, whilst the rest of the family gathered around, and the other funeral director took the photo. As to why they wanted this Victorian-esque photo, she didn’t think it was polite to ask… Another one was explaining why ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’ was a poor song choice for a cremation. The family were truly oblivious, they weren’t even trying to be ironically funny. She had the same problem with the family who wanted Duran Duran’s ‘A View To A Kill’, which contains the repeated lyrics of ‘Dance into the fire’. One man insisted on having ‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead’ for his wife’s funeral song, adamant that his late wife would ‘find it funny’. Their sons disagreed.
Not a request, but one mourner came to view her husband’s body in his casket and said to my mum: ‘Wonderful! He looks so much more alive now than when he was alive!’ Another non-request was the deceased’s wife and the deceased’s mistress getting into a full-on fist fight at the graveside, and then the vicar trying to break it up and all three of them falling into the open grave. And, again a non-request, my mum was leading the funeral procession and walking in front of the hearse, and a kid on the side of the street shouts “‘Hey lady! You’re going to get run over!’ She had to bite her lip to stop herself giggling, and the kid kept shouting: ‘There’s a car behind you! You’ll get run over!'” (Source)
A Little Too Close to Home
“Hello! My father has been a funeral director for 39 years, including owning his own business for 32 of those years. I am not directly in the business with him, but I am a licensed apprentice and I assist with things from time to time. I do not help with arrangements or the funerals themselves, but I am definitely involved with the business. The region we service is largely rural. There are a lot of old-fashioned folks, lots of simple and straight-forward things. And one thing most people don’t know is just how often the surviving family members will ignore or elect to skip non-standard wishes. There are, however, some I will never forget. Right at the top of the list was a woman who died from complications related to MS. I had met her several times over my life as she was both local and likeable. She loved Queen, and various other groups of the same style. She took special care to call my father when the end was near and let him know that she was totally serious when she said she wanted ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ played, blasting from the herse, on the drive from the funeral home to the cemetery at the edge of town. Her two little sh-t entitled children said no once, my father reminded them it was a personal request, and then they didn’t have anything more to say. Her closest family laughed and knew that it was ‘very her’ to ask for that. Most of the other attendees either didn’t know (because they couldn’t hear it), or kept awkwardly quiet and said nothing while there” (Source).
A Drinking Send Off
“Funeral musician here been doing weddings and funerals for about 15 years now. The funniest thing I’ve seen at one of the funerals– was a family friend. His brother did the eulogy and had a bottle with him. Keep in mind this was a church service. After the toast, he drank a shot in honour of his brother. It was quite fitting. The family sure loved their drinks. The coolest funeral I played at was for a former RCMP officer. I had 10 men in full uniform standing behind me as I played. One leaned right in to sing from my music book. As a female, let’s just say it was a pretty cool experience. The hardest funerals I performed at – my aunt (400 people), my grandfather and my mother” (Source).
Planning a Haunting
“Not a funeral director, but I loved what my grandma-in-law did. She knew she was dying, and let her kids know that there was a box that they needed to open when planning her funeral – but not to open it before she died. In said box, she had some instructions about what she wanted. Some of it included the usual (this hymn sung, that dress, etc). But there was also a handkerchief that she had cross stitched to say ‘If you don’t bury me with this, I will haunt you’. So the funeral director made sure that not only was she buried with it, but that it was prominently displayed in her hand so all of the guests could read what it said when they said their goodbyes” (Source).