 On _"Inside the Actors Studio" (1994)_ (qv), director  Mike Nichols (I) (qv) claims that the final "sobering" emotion  that Benjamin and Elaine go through was due to the fact that he had  just been shouting at the two of them to laugh in the scene. The  actors were so scared that after laughing they stopped, scared.  Nichols liked it so much, he kept it.