A Joke That Proved Too Funny for This Fan
Alex Mitchell, who enjoyed a good laugh, waved his killjoy missus away. However, on that particular evening, he might have been better off had he gotten off the couch and romanced her rather than continue to watch the TV. When the episode’s star attacked a kilt-wearing Scotsman with a stick of black pudding, and the Scotsman defended himself with a bagpipe, Mitchell lost it. He began to laugh uncontrollably, and after 25 minutes of nonstop laughter, he slid off the sofa, the victim of a fatal heart attack.
Mitchell’s death became quite famous at the time. His widow eventually wrote The Goodies a letter, to thank them for making her deceased hubby’s final moments so pleasant. In 2012, it was discovered that Mitchell had probably suffered from Long QT Syndrome when his granddaughter was rushed to the emergency room after a heart attack and was diagnosed with LQTS. The disease, which is hereditary, causes the heart beat to become irregular if the afflicted person undergoes continuous exertion or stress – such as nonstop laughter for 25 minutes. The irregular heartbeat can trigger a cardiac arrest, and that is probably what did in Alex Mitchell.
