Eyewitness claims to have seen Bret “Hitman” Hart laugh
A self-described eyewitness has come forward with the extraordinary claim that Bret “Hitman” Hart, widely regarded as the most serious man in professional wrestling history, once laughed out loud.
The witness, who for the sake of anonymity asked to be identified only as Val V., says the incident happened backstage during the Attitude Era, when Hart was reading a particularly funny Sherman’s Lagoon comic strip. “I know what I saw, and I know what I heard,” said Val V. “It was a laugh. Short, but a laugh. Then he folded up the newspaper, looked around the room and said, ‘Nobody saw that.’”
Wrestling historians have long dismissed such claims. Urban legend holds that Hart laughed exactly once early in his career, at some in-ring flatulence by Bad News Allen. Stu Hart reprimanded his son so harshly that the young Hitman vowed never to laugh again, a vow historians believe he has kept for more than four decades.
The vow has been tested over the years. Rumours circulated that the Hitman “chortled slightly” when he saw his portrayal on The Simpsons, though people close to Hart insist it was a cough. More recently, Hart reportedly came within a whisker of a chuckle when his parakeet, Goldbird, flew into a window. “He caught himself in time,” said a family source. “The bird is fine. Bret is fine. Nobody laughed.”
Reached for comment, Hart stared silently at our reporter for 11 minutes before saying, “I am the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be at not laughing.” He then walked away.
