Some people believe that laughter truly is the best medicine! And the purpose of National Let’s Laugh Day is simply to bring out the best in everyone by reminding them to laugh together.
This day acts as a siren call to encourage everyone to bring out their giggles, chuckles, howls, roars and guffaws because taking things too seriously just can’t be tolerated on such a day.
It’s time to enjoy National Let’s Laugh Day!
National Let’s Laugh Day Timeline
Earliest Recorded Joke
A proverb from ancient Sumer, recorded on a cuneiform tablet, is considered one of the world’s oldest written jokes and shows humans using humor thousands of years ago.
Aristotle Analyzes Humor
In the now-lost second book of his “Poetics” and in surviving works like “Rhetoric,” Aristotle attempts one of the first systematic philosophical accounts of comedy, wit, and why people laugh.
Greek Old Comedy Flourishes
Playwright Aristophanes stages political and social satires in Athens, demonstrating how public laughter and comedy can challenge leaders and bond audiences.
“Praise of Folly” Popularizes Satirical Laughter
Desiderius Erasmus’s satirical essay “The Praise of Folly” circulates widely in Europe, using wit and irony to criticize social and religious abuses through laughter.
Birth of Film Comedy
The Lumière brothers’ short films and, soon after, early screen comedians like Max Linder lead to cinematic slapstick, bringing shared laughter into motion picture theaters.
Television Laugh Track Invented
Sound engineer Charles Douglass develops the “Laff Box,” a mechanical device that adds recorded laughter to TV shows, shaping how audiences experience televised humor.
Gelotology and Humor Research Advance
Psychiatrist William F. Fry Jr., often called a founder of gelotology, publishes work on laughter as “internal jogging,” helping establish the scientific study of laughter’s effects on the body.
History of National Let’s Laugh Day
Laughter has a history that probably dates back as far as humankind. In fact, the world’s oldest written joke may come from as far back as 4000 years ago.
Because it is a reaction that brings about the release of hormones that keep people happy and healthy, laughter is not only mentally good for the human condition, but it is also healthy for the physical body.
In 2019, the candy company, Laffy Taffy, acted as a sponsor of National Let’s Laugh Day. The beloved candy company has been doling out jokes on its candy wrappers for around 50 years.
That year, the folks at Laffy Taffy took a survey of at least 1500 Americans where they aimed to learn all about laughter. Through the survey, Laffy Taffy discovered that 98% of the Americans surveyed enjoyed making other people laugh.
National Let’s Laugh Day gives everyone a special opportunity to not only be joyful themselves, but to spread joy to many other people in the world.
Tell a joke, share some comic relief through a meme online, or watch a hilarious comedy show or movie. Whatever way people choose to celebrate, there is tons of fun to be had for National Let’s Laugh Day!
How to Celebrate National Let’s Laugh Day
There are probably millions of fun ways that people could find to celebrate National Let’s Laugh Day! Come up with some of your own ideas or try out some of these:
Share in Laughter
National Let’s Laugh Day is a great day to wake up in a good mood and consider how that might be shared with other people.
Search online for some silly, one-liner ‘Dad jokes’ that can be shared at work or with the family. Watch a laugh-out-loud comedy movie or show with friends. Or book tickets to attend a live performance of a stand-up comic.
Learn Laughter Benefits
National Let’s Laugh Day is a great time to be reminded that humor is healthy!
Remember that laughter can bring stress relief, stimulate the organs, soothe tension, improve the immune system, relieve pain, improve mental health and so much more.
Practice Laughter Yoga
One great way to celebrate the day is by joining a group of people who are practicing laughter yoga.
Even forced laughter can be really good for people so this type of practice combines the stretching and poses of yoga with the delight of deep belly laughter. Join in on a Laughter Yoga class in celebration of National Let’s Laugh Day!
Facts About National Let’s Laugh Day
Laughter Changes Stress Hormones Within Minutes
Controlled experiments have found that genuine laughter can measurably shift stress chemistry in the body within a short time.
In one randomized study, people who watched a humorous video had significantly lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and higher levels of the “feel‑good” hormone beta‑endorphin compared with those who watched a neutral video, suggesting that laughter can quickly tilt the body’s response away from stress and toward relaxation.
Your Immune System Responds to a Good Laugh
Researchers have reported that hearty laughter is linked to short‑term boosts in several parts of the immune system.
In a classic study, people who watched a comedy showed increased activity of natural killer cells, higher antibody levels, and changes in immune cell counts, while those in a control group did not, indicating that positive emotional states may temporarily enhance immune defenses.
Laughter Alters Pain Perception Through Endorphins
Scientific evidence suggests that social laughter can raise pain thresholds by triggering the release of endorphins in the brain.
In one experiment, participants who watched comedy in groups were able to tolerate significantly more discomfort on a pain test afterward than those who watched neutral programs, and the effect was strongest when laughter was frequent and sustained.
Humans Are Not the Only Species That “Laughs”
Comparative research has identified laughter‑like vocalizations in at least 65 non‑human species, including chimpanzees, rats, and dogs, often during play.
These sounds are acoustically different from human laughter but appear in similar social contexts, which supports the idea that laughter evolved as a way to signal safety and playfulness long before language developed.
Laughter Predates Writing in the Historical Record
The oldest written jokes that survive today, including a Sumerian proverb about flatulence from around 1900 BCE, show that people were recording humorous thoughts thousands of years ago.
Scholars who have cataloged these early jokes note that many of the themes, such as bodily mishaps and social embarrassment, are still staples of modern humor, suggesting that what people find laughable has remained surprisingly consistent over millennia.
The Brain Handles Humor in Separate Stages
Neuroscience studies using functional MRI have found that the brain processes humor in at least two distinct steps: understanding the joke and then feeling amused by it.
The first stage engages regions such as the temporal and frontal lobes that handle language and incongruity, while the second stage activates reward and emotion centers like the ventral striatum and amygdala, which are associated with pleasure and motivation.
Laughing Together Strengthens Social Bonds
In social psychology experiments, people who share laughter during a conversation report feeling closer and more satisfied with the interaction than those who do not.
Moment‑to‑moment recordings show that shared laughter predicts greater feelings of similarity and support, which helps explain why people often use humor to build friendships, ease tension, and create a sense of belonging.
