ZAGREB: A new museum of laughter is offering to put people through the spinner to wash away the negativity of modern life.

Visitors to the HaHaHouse in the Croatian capital Zagreb are blasted with a puff of white smoke once they step inside to blow away their worries before climbing into a “giant washing machine”. The “centrifuge of life” then whips them away Willy Wonka-style down a twisting slide into a pool filled with little white balls where their journey to a happier place starts.

Its creator Andrea Golubic said she had the idea for the museum during the pandemic when many were feeling down, depressed and isolated.

“I realised that I had a mission ù to heal people with laughter,” added the upbeat 43-year-old. The idea “came straight from the heart”, Golubic said, and on that very day I listed 78 exhibits... that’s how the HaHaHouse began.” Golubic said it was her carefree seven-year-old self that inspired her — “a picture of me as a first-grader, with wide teeth and dying of laughter. I was constantly joking as a kid,” she said.

Visitors press a button to be “disinfected from negativity” as soon as they step inside the museum, which has eight interactive zones. One has a rubber chicken choir cheerfully cackling out hits like ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”, there is a karaoke room with distorted voices and a “Sumo Arena” for wrestling in puffed up costumes.

There is also some serious history of humour from ancient to modern times told through theatre, film or the net. The museum also explains humour styles, from word play, slapstick, toilet and dark humour to satire with the help of some choice one-liners.

“I’ve had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware,” is one of the featured zingers from US comedian Joan Rivers.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025