I, myself, have problems with joking, most likely on my own saliva.
When I lay down, on my bed, I elevate my head with two pillows, and every once in a while, I will start choking, which leads to coughing, which can last several minutes.
When I sit up, it slowly will go away. However, once it stops, many times, when I lay back down, it resumes again. My wife, gives me cough syrup, because she thinks I have a "cough", but it's not a cough, if you know what I mean.