I Love to Laugh Mr. Wigg, is said to float because of an excess of "laughing gas", although it is clear that the term is not used in the chemical sense. So-called "laughing gas" (nitrous oxide) was one of the earliest effective anaesthetics developed in the Nineteenth century. it was popularised by dentists, for pain-free tooth extractions, as well as by showground novelty booths. Customers at the booth would be gassed and, as they were recovering from the drugged sleep they often felt euphoric and giggly. Hence the name. A famous 1931 British comedy sketch starring Cicely Courtneidge, called "Laughing Gas", was based on
Laughing Clowns on "Kissin' Cousins" for that band's debut album, "(I'm) Stranded" (February 1977). Ben Wallace-Crabbe had played in a Melbourne band, The Love, with Wegener, and completed the initial line-up. A proposed single by The Saints, "Laughing Clowns" / "On the Waterfront", through EG Records was not recorded by that group due to the difference of opinion between Kuepper and Bailey. Each track appeared elsewhere: "On the Waterfront" on The Saints' first post-Kuepper EP, "Paralytic Tonight, Dublin Tomorrow" (March 1980) and "Laughing Clowns" provided Kuepper's new band's name and their self-titled six-track mini-album in May that year. Laughing Clowns made their