The popular comedian Buster Keaton would often do insane, death defying stunts simply to elicit a laugh. The most famous was when he had the front of a 3 story house collapse on him. The only reason he survived was because of a single window through which he fit.
#22, "...engineers had worked out the fall of the facade so that the window would be in just the right spot to miss Buster, but it was far from an exact science and any deviation in the fall of the facade would have probably killed him. Buster, who was dealing with severe depression at the time, was indifferent to the danger." -guitcad1 on youtube