"It only hurts when I laugh" is a punchline of a joke which exists in numerous versions since at least 19th century. A typical setup is that someone badly hurt is asked "Does it hurt?" — "I'm fine. It only hurts when I laugh."^[1][2]

The phrase has been used as a title of various works:

• It Only Hurts When I Laugh (album), by Jann Browne, 1991
• It Only Hurts When I Laugh, an autobiography by Stan Freberg
• Boli tylko, gdy się śmieję… [pl] ('It Only Hurts When I Laugh...') in the correspondence of Stanisław Lem

• Only When I Laugh (disambiguation)
• "It Only Hurts When I'm Laughing", a song by Mi-Sex
• It Only Hurts When I Cry
• It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing