You have probably heard the age old adage that “Laughter is the best medicine”. 

Proof that laughter can produce amazing positive affects on the human body has been scientifically demonstrated by Dr. Lee Berk’s original research study called “Modulation of Neuroimmune Parameters During The Eustress of Humor Associated Mirthful Laughter”.

Yet, despite such revealing evidence produced at the lowest possible laughter levels, relatively little headway has been made in the realm of establishing laughter therapy as the powerful therapy that I believe it to be.

So, why isn’t more happening in the laughter therapy arena? That’s an easy question for me to answer.

I believe the primary reason that laughter therapy is not more prolific today — in spite of the research supporting its potential therapeutic value — is because no one has really yet figured out how to turn laughter therapy into a marketable commodity.

What would you say if I told you that I firmly believe that laughter therapy could be relatively easily established as a salable and marketable health therapy?

Using Dr. Berk’s groundbreaking research as a foundation, below is a brief description of the criteria I would use to initiate a new study that could establish an adult laughter therapy process as a viable and salable adjunctive therapy product:

Criteria #1: Amplified laughter generation using group dynamics. In Dr. Berk’s study, it appears that individuals participating in his study were exposed on an individual basis — not on a group basis — to a 60 minute video tape of the comedian Gallagher in order to obtain the amazing results identified in the study.

I know as a stand-up comedy professional that individual viewership of a stand-up comedy video will produce the absolute lowest quantity of mirthful laughter or belly laughs over any time period.

Assuming that more frequent and longer duration laughter during a given period will further amplify the profound positive physiological and biological results found in Dr Berk’s study…

I would initiate a new study utilizing group dynamics (ie: 30 participants in a closely seated environment) to amplify individual (and group) laughter generation from watching a preselected stand-up comedy video.

Criteria #2: Correlation of actual accumulated laughter duration with resulting physiological and biological responses. In Dr. Berk’s study, there was no direct correlation made between the actual accumulated duration of laughter generated on an individual basis and the recorded physiological/biological results.

By making the direct connection between the accumulative duration of laughter (for a given time period) to the resulting physiological and biological responses, researchers would be able to easily determine a largely predictable neuroimmune response range (among other measurable responses).

I would incorporate these criteria into a new study that is specifically designed to determine a predictable laughter “dose”.

The Need For A New Study

In a perfect world, the study I would propose would consist of 3-5 groups consisting of 30-50 people each, with near equal distribution of male and female participants.

Note: Near equal male to female ratio of participation by study members is needed to maximize laughter generation. Comedians know that all male groups tend to laugh far less than mixed or all female groups.

Each group would have initial testing done to establish their physiological and biological baselines prior to involvement in the study.

One group would function as a control group, doing nothing more than having their blood drawn every week for the duration of the study. Every other group outside the control group would be exposed to a preselected stand-up comedy video at varying frequencies in an optimum group environment. For example:

Group 1: One 45 minute stand-up comedy video viewing session per week.
Group 2: Two 45 minute stand-up comedy video viewing sessions per week.
Group 3: Three 45 minute stand-up comedy video viewing sessions per week.

And so forth, with groups participating in up to 5 controlled stand-up comedy viewing sessions per week for 8-12 weeks.

An audio recording of the actual group laughter response would be produced for each stand-up comedy viewing session. This recording would be evaluated using Comedy Evaluator Pro to measure the actual quantity of laughter in minutes experienced by each respective group during each video viewing session.

These measured laughter quantities would then be compared to the actual physiological and biological results experienced by each individual.

Note: My patent application for Comedy Evaluator Pro includes the process I have just described for medical applications.

Actual minutes of group laughter accumulated for each session can then be correlated with both high and low individual physiological and biological responses experienced by those participating in the study.

In other words…

At the end of the study, one should be able to demonstrate with objective metrics that if a person is engaged in high level laughter for X minutes per day, X days per week, then they can expect X range of physiological and biological impact from that laughter exposure.

Creating A Salable Laughter Therapy Product

You can’t sell a single pill or medicine that doesn’t have an established dosage that is correlated with specific medicinal response ranges. The same can be said of laughter therapy.

The study I have proposed in this article is significant because by establishing a high and low range of physiological and biological results from actual measured laughter exposure…

It would then be possible to prescribe salable laughter therapy sessions as a valid and accepted adjunctive medical therapy known to produce a range of favorable (and predictable) responses based on the quantity of laughter experienced.

Probably one of the most appealing features of my study proposal is that there is no FDA approval needed to prescribe laughter sessions that could potentially improve the effectiveness of established medications used for disease processes and have a significant impact on a patient’s health.

So there is no need to wait years wading through the FDA approval process in order to set-up and deliver a viable and marketable laughter therapy program for adults.

Your comments are welcomed.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.