Of Loud Unprovoked Laughter. And The Suffering It Causes

January 6, 2012

Ted Obvious writes from London: You can spot these people at once. They are always part of a group, producing bursts of loud, unprovoked laughter at regular periods. They’re having fun and in their perception fun is something that should be accompanied by loud, hysterical laughter. Otherwise it’s not fun. And so they laugh, often forcing themselves to do it, so that later they can tell their friends that they’d had a ‘great time’, and laughed a lot. ‘We laughed so much, you know,’ they’d say. ‘We nearly wet ourselves.’

Loud unprovoked hysterical laughter has become a trademark of having a good time. It’s now practiced by a growing number of people, who have perfected the technique of roaring for hours, without any evident provocation. It’s intended to alert the people around to the fact that the person, who generates all that laughter, is an easy going fun-loving sort of bloke or bird who knows how to enjoy him/herself and picks up hints of humour when others are still trying to figure out what the joke or pun were about.

Collective loud bursts of laughter are more common among groups of women rather than men. I have personally witnessed scenes in bars and other places of social intercourse when groups of young women managed to laugh hysterically for hours on end, without any apparent reason. I would even go as far as saying that these persons would not have been able to recall later waht it was they were laughing about.

Loud laughter as a form of mating cry is on the rise as well, when both men and women of average appearances and limited intelligence use this form of emotional release to attract the attention of the opposite sex. With the loud unprovoked laugh comes the message: ‘I’m an easy going, open minded individual. I’m fun to be with and the fact that I haven’t had a shag for ages guarantees that I’ll be an enthusiastic partner. Not to mention that the chances of me carrying a veneral disease are very slim indeed.’

Some of the live audiences at comedy stand-up routines and recordings of TV or radio comedy shows have demonstrated amazing abilities to produce loud bursts of laughter – for no apparent reason. Absolute drivel, that would not have raised a giggle under any other circumstances, generates loud laughter that sometimes reverberates for a full minute. It is a phenomenon that deserves a looking into by the best minds in medical science.

In the current festive season it would very easy to become a victim of loud, sporadic, unprovoked laughter, as people would tend to get into large groups more often and ‘have a good time’. There are no known ways to cope with the trauma that is caused by such an attack on the nervous system, apart from getting smashed and not caring about anything – or simply leaving the hostile laughing environment. Using ear plugs could help, but would not really let you enjoy the company of people you are with.

As idiocy spreads and becomes a cool thing, loud unprovoked hysterical laughter will become more and more widespread and the only way to avoid it would be to stay at home as much as possible and keep fewer friends. Another option would be to become a hermit and spend your life in solitude. Which is not a simple solution, but still beats listening to that idiotic loud laughter.

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Tags: having a good time, laughter, live audiences, parties