Canadian Wins World Laughing Championship by Laughing Really Hard at Himself
Kelly Podlubny of Vancouver has been crowned the 2025 World Laughing Champion, earning top honours in a competition dedicated not to strength, but to contagious laughter.
Podlubny, who is also the Canadian Laughing Champion, survived nine gruelling and possibly hilarious laughter challenges, including The Best Diabolical Laugh, The Sexiest Laugh, and the Laugh at the State of the World category. He won narrowly over the Russian Laughing Champion, Anzhelika Ilechenko of Yakutsk, Russia. The Canadian Laughing Champion also edged out American Laughing Champion Bobbi Gould and South African Meagen Swain, who won in the Sexiest Laugh category.
Contenders advance based on the contagious effect their laugh has on the live Zoom audience.
The decisive moment came in the final face-off against the Russian contender in the Laugh at Yourself Challenge. Podlubny, who used laughter to help him recover from substance use, was inspired to laugh at himself.
“I’ve got a lot of material,” he said. “And I just went for it.”
Canadians are often known for self-deprecating humour.
This is the 5th World Laughing Championship, and the first win for Canada.
The World Laughing Championship was founded by Laughologist and filmmaker Albert Nerenberg, after he saw MMA fighters crack up during a fight.