No joke, laugh tracks do make us laugh

But it’s better if it’s real laughter, study suggests.

It’s annoying to have to report this, but is seems “laugh tracks” work. They even make really corny “dad jokes” seem funnier. Double annoying.

The only upside is that the added laughter is more effective when it is spontaneous rather than posed.

We know this thanks to research by Sophie Scott and colleagues from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, published in the journal Current Biology.

Scott’s team wanted an implicit measure of the effect of laughter.

The first step was to establish baseline ratings for how funny 40 jokes were perceived to be. All were intentionally groan-worthy; eg, “What do you call a man with a spade on his head?” Answer, “Doug”.

Next, a professional comedian recorded two versions of each: one accompanied by a short burst of canned laughter and the other real, spontaneous laughter.

The results showed that the addition of laughter made the jokes funnier, with the addition of spontaneous laughs earning higher funniness ratings.

An interesting part of the research was that they tested the jokes on two participant groups: neurotypical and autistic. The only difference between the groups was that those with autism gave all 40 jokes an increased funniness rating when laughter was added.

This may be because neurotypical adults were more aware these “dad jokes” are considered childish and uncool, whereas autistic adults are more open to such jokes, the researchers say.

“This might suggest that comedy and laughter are more accessible to people with autism than typically considered to be,” Scott says.