Amusement and pleasant surprises – and the laughter they can trigger – add texture to the fabric of daily life. Those giggles and guffaws can seem like just silly throwaways. But laughter, in response ...

There's way more to our giggles and guffaws than simply thinking something is funny. We asked a laughter expert to explain. No vocalization is more universal (or unifying) than laughter. There are no ...

When I was little, I tended to fall into bouts of uncontrollable laughter. Basically, once I started laughing, I found it very difficult to stop. The problem was particularly acute in contexts where I ...

A clip from Inside the Actors Studio shows Robin Williams making a woman laugh so hard, he stopped his own interview.

From time to time, most of us experience bouts of laughter that just seem to explode from within. We sometimes describe these episodes as having "busted out laughing." These instances lead many to ...

Laughter can be pleasurable for its own sake — a way to bond with others or even signal who belongs in a group and who does not. It may also improve health. Mental and physical health affect one ...

Critically reviled. Hopelessly dated. Forever near extinction. Yet in a TV landscape full of brutally realistic hits, sitcoms with background laughter are not only still popular, but have become ...

A new study showed that laughter is a better indicator in determining friendships than even speech. Volunteers were able to pinpoint groups of friends versus strangers by listening to their laughter.

Melanin Bee curves her spine like a stretching cat as she lets out a maniacal, forced laugh. The quick-fire pattern of manufactured giggles —“oh, hoo hoo hoo, eeh, ha ha ha”— soon ripples into genuine ...

My husband, Don, likes to say that he needs to laugh every day (but only cry once or twice a year). I appreciate and admire his good nature, and I’m sure his ability to see the humor in life helps him ...