Laugh Naturally on Cue

While learning to laugh on cue can seem daunting, experienced actors can tell you it’s possible. Whether you're an actor yourself or simply don't want your friends to catch on that you didn't get a joke, you might need to learn how to laugh on cue. To convince others your laugh is genuine, you’ll need to find the right trigger, then perform the laugh accurately.

Steps

Finding the Right Trigger

  1. Find humor in your daily life. With the right mindset, you’ll find that your daily life is full of triggers you can use when you need to laugh. To do this, you need to actively look for these funny triggers.[1]
    • To help you learn to see the funny side of life, try asking yourself in various day-to-day situations, "What's funny about this?" or "What might other people see as being funny in this?"[1]
    • Approaching your life with a more positive outlook can help you find humor in the most unlikely situations.
  2. Memorize funny jokes and references. You’ll find an abundance of jokes in standup routines, but you’ll also want to watch comedies and online videos. This exposes you to a wider variety of humor, giving you a better range of possible triggers. With a wider repertoire, you’ll have better jokes to cycle through in your head, which will help if you find yourself having a hard time laughing on cue.
    • One of the best ways to trigger a laugh when needed is to think of a joke you find particularly funny as your cue comes.
  3. Laugh with other people. Though it may seem strange, some people find that laughing with other people - say, in a comedy club or in a group of comedic friends - can actually teach people how to laugh more naturally.[2] That's because laughter is contagious, and evolved as a social phenomenon allowing early humans to bond.[3] It may not work for everyone, but for most laughing in a social setting may help elicit a more natural laugh.[2]
    • Spend time with funny people. Not only will they make you laugh, you'll also have the opportunity to observe the way others laugh.[2]

Performing Laughter

  1. Make your resting face a smile. Many default to a blank expression or a scowl for their resting face, which isn’t particularly conducive to laughter. Laughter tends to be preceded by a smile, and making sure you smile often can make it easier for you to laugh convincingly.
    • You can practice this by smiling at strangers proactively.[4] This will help to put you in the right mindset, while ensuring you don’t feel as awkward when you need to laugh on cue.
  2. Immerse yourself in the situation. If you're an actor, you may be able to conjure up a sincere laugh by submerging yourself completely in the scene around you. Be completely in character, imagining their response to the jokes or physical comedy happening around you. This will make your reaction more organic. Similarly, if you're trying to fake a laugh when your friend tells a joke, try following the joke a little more closely. You may end up finding something funny in it and having a real, genuine laugh about it.
  3. Watch comedies and standup. In addition to learning quality jokes, watching a comedy show will expose you to more laughter, which can help you pick up performance tips for making your own laugh more genuine. Watch how other actors, especially comedians, seemingly laugh on cue. Pay attention to their mannerisms, which can help you put on a more convincing laugh performance.[2]
  4. Choose an appropriate response. There are many different types of laughter, ranging from a brief personal chuckle to a side-splitting fit of laughter. Before you attempt to laugh on cue, it's important to determine up front what size and type of laugh would be most appropriate.
    • If you are expected to laugh at some situational element, a little chuckle is probably sufficient.
    • If you're supposed to laugh at a humorous story, you may need a bit more emphatic laughter than just a chuckle. Aim for medium- to large-sized laughter (what some might call "inappropriate" levels of laughter), depending of course on the situation and the specific story being told.
  5. Recall something funny. If you can't find any humor in the actual situation around you, try thinking back to a funny joke you heard or read, or a comedy routine you watched. Use the triggers you’ve accumulated to spark laughter when your cue comes. Your laughter will be more natural if it flows from an event you actually find funny, rather than a cue. Don’t try to force a specific laugh, but instead use whatever bubbles up naturally.[5]
  6. Be aware of your breath. To an untrained ear, fake laughter might be indistinguishable from real laughter. There is one key difference to an expert: the person's breath. A real laugh is usually more "breathy" than a fake one, meaning that the most convincing laughs balance breathiness and the sound of laughter.[6] Practice this if you need to laugh on cue and try to add a bit of an exhale to your laugh.
  7. Find the right cue. Think back to the last time you enjoyed a deep, sincere laugh after hearing a joke. Did you laugh in the middle of the story, or was your natural response to a joke at the end of the anecdote? More likely than not, your laughter came at the end. This is "the punctuation effect:" people generally give an effective expression (such as laughter) almost exclusively at the end of a speech or during a pause/phrase break in that dialogue.[3] That means your cue will usually be found at the end of the joke.
    • If you try to force a laugh while someone is still telling the joke, it will come across as fake or forced. Instead, wait until the end of the joke (which is usually where the punchline comes in any way).[3]
  8. Practice the belly laugh. This will add some breathiness to your laugh and make it seem more genuine. Try laughing while lying down, with a hand on your stomach, and notice how it moves and contracts when you laugh. That’s the process you’re trying to replicate.[4]
  9. Practice laughing on your own. A well-practiced laugh will feel and appear more natural than a fake laugh attempted on the spot. That's because the human body recognizes its own muscular responses to laughter.[7] If you're preparing to laugh naturally on cue, it's best to practice at home, preferably in front of a mirror.
    • Try raising your eyebrows to initiate laughter. Some people find that raising the eyebrows helps kickstart a bout of laughter. This is caused, in part, by the contortions of the face that take place during real, deep belly laughter.[7]
    • Use your humorous triggers during your practice. Not only will this get you used to the process, but it will allow to determine which ones work best to provoke laughter.

Tips

  • Don't think of the same stories too often or they’ll quickly stop being funny. Try to keep a few stories on hand so if one doesn't work you can always use another.
  • If you have someone in your group of friends that usually makes most of the jokes, try to understand his or her style of humor and relate it to your own sense of humor. Finding ways to relate to the joke(s) will make it even easier to laugh.
  • Search online for jokes or funny stories. These will improve your sense of humor and will give you the option of reading it several times if you don't get the joke at first.

Warnings

  • Don’t use these tips to laugh at your own jokes, hoping you’ll get your audience to laugh. That’s not really how it works.
  • Don't force yourself to laugh at everything. This can make you seem less serious and unprofessional.
  • Don’t force it. If you try to force a laugh, it won’t seem natural or genuine. You’re looking to trigger something similar to your laugh, not force an artificial one.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-ways-to-laugh-when-you-want-to-cry/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 http://www.drfranklipman.com/comic-relief-7-simple-ways-to-laugh-more-every-day/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200011/the-science-laughter
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.edgestudio.com/blogs/how-laugh-cue-secret-don%E2%80%99t-wait-cue
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Fuh3yLw0A
  6. ↑ http://www.npr.org/2014/05/08/310794138/how-to-tell-when-a-laugh-is-real-the-answer-is-in-a-breath
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-saving-philosophy/201206/laughing-meditation-you-bet
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