Laughter plays a vital role in nurturing social connections and easing negative emotions. However, the dynamics of laughter take an intriguing turn when one attempts to suppress it. The act of suppressing laughter is a valuable social skill, especially in contexts where displaying joy is discouraged. To investigate the consequences and mechanisms of laughter suppression, we conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to humorous auditory stimuli (jokes) and instructed to suppress their laughter using two emotional regulation techniques: expressive suppression (ES) and cognitive reappraisal (CR). Our findings from Experiment 1 unveiled a significant reduction in perceived hilarity during CR. This decrease in positive appraisal was also mirrored in facial expressions, where CR decreased the reactions compared to unconstrained listening, while ES entirely suppressed smiling, particularly for mildly to moderately amusing jokes. Interestingly, very humorous jokes proved challenging to suppress across all conditions. In Experiment 2, we investigated the impact of laughter mimicry and social appraisal on humor suppression by incorporating pre-recorded laughter videos alongside the jokes. Suppression of laughter mimicry proved exceptionally challenging, especially after exposure to jokes. The presence of others' laughter concurrently heightened the perceived humor of the joke. Notably, while ES didn't diminish amusement in Experiment 1, the act of suppressing laughter while others were laughing did lead to a significant reduction in amusement during Experiment 2.