Feel free to excuse yourself to the restroom and try to stifle your laugh.
 If someone says "My mother just died," your reaction may be to laugh. Not to make fun of the person or act like you do not care about their loss, but the sudden change of subject to something sad is awkward for you, so you feel like laughing or getting out of the conversation. Although you may not notice it, something triggers you to do so. Think first, then react. Listen closely to what the person says. Imagine immediately if you were in their situation. What would you do? Would you want someone laughing at you if your mother died? Listening to the person, then putting yourself in their place will help you realize that it's not something unimportant and funny.
 If you need inspiration, the daily news is usually full of unfortunate events that will suffice to calm you down. Think about something that makes you want to cry. Although this can be unpleasant, it usually takes care of the uncontrollable urge to laugh. If sadness doesn't work, fear is also extremely effective. Think of a scene from a horror movie you just saw or a car accident. This is physically proven to work because the adrenaline (the fear hormone) released from your brain when you have these thoughts will block out the endorphins (the happiness or laughing hormone). It may take some practice to convince yourself enough of the fear, but once you have mastered it, it's very effective.
 Bite each side of your mouth together, so that the edge of your lips aren't rising up to make you smile or laugh. Hold your breath when you are about to laugh. This can act as a distraction, helping you beat the urge to laugh out loud. If you still squeeze out a smile which other people tend to notice, press your lips together so it doesn't look like you're smiling. Sometimes when you hold your breath though, it just squeezes the laugh out even louder or you laugh at yourself, so be cautious.
 Try exhaling as much of the air as possible from your lungs. This removal of the air will not allow the laugh to continue and make it stop. This usually works best when combined with the coughing technique mentioned above. A combination of techniques is often the best!


Close your mouth and breathe heavily through your nose, as if you are laughing, just without opening your mouth. It can be covered up as a cold or something of that nature.


Open your mouth wide and let the laughter out silently without smiling; this may look odd but it works.






Push your tongue against the top of your mouth, and at the same time pushing your mouth shut slightly.






Exercise your jaw muscles to relieve any tension and wear out the muscles.
 Do it gently, of course! Here are some biting techniques that may work for you:

Try biting down on your lower lip. Then, laugh all you want without opening your mouth. People will think you are crying and trying to hold it back. Try scrunching up your face, too. But, after you are done, don't just stop. Inhale a few times as if you are hyperventilating.






Bite your tongue and pull your cheeks back or, if you are at a funeral or something serious, hold your hands up to your face, and smile and laugh as much as you want but, try to make the laughing sound like you're crying.






Bite the inside of your cheeks.
 Try a method for thinking about something else, or self calming. Some approaches that may help include:

Count backwards from 10 to 1. If this doesn't work, try again. Even forward counting can help.






Do a multiplication table in your head. This is guaranteed to work, but it may require some practice. In case if you never noticed, when we hear a joke or see something funny, we keep recreating the joke/scene in our minds over and over, and that's why we keep laughing. So the best way to stop laughing is to get the joke out of your head. Doing some mental calculation will, undoubtedly, require all your attention. Just try doing a multiplication, reading a book or thinking about anything else at the same time, you'll see it's impossible. However, if you're trying to hold laughter in a school play or something of that sort, where you still have to think about what to do next, you're going to have to learn not to look down or look distant while you're doing the math, and, also, to start doing the calculations again as soon as you feel like laughing, but without stopping what you're doing.






Try to remember something, anything. Try to remember the names of all your friends and relatives, for instance, or trying to list all the songs of your favorite music album. Whatever uses your brain capacity and takes your attention away from the joke will help.






Use reverse psychology on yourself. By telling yourself something like, "This is funny! Laugh some more!", you end up finding that whatever you were laughing at, is not so funny anymore.






Sing a song to yourself and concentrate on the lyrics.
If you feel the urge to laugh or say something completely irrelevant, excuse yourself immediately, if possible.
Think before you laugh.
Think of something sad and depressing.
Try pinching yourself or causing some other strong physical sensation, such as biting your inner cheek or your tongue (don't bite too hard!).
Use your breathing to control the laughter.
Focus on your mouth to ease the laughter.
Bite yourself.
Distract yourself.
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