Inside the World of Competitive Laughing

The writer goes to the Canadian competitive laughing championship, and examines the benefits of laughing:

“We’re trying to demonstrate that laughter is a sport,” Nerenberg tells the crowd. “Why would we do that? Well, punching people in the face is a sport, poking people with sticks is a sport … so why not have a sport about the pursuit of human joy?”

“‘Laugher’ is not a proper English word because the idea of being an active laugher was inconceivable until this point. We want to put laugher in the dictionary.” The crowd, which fills the lower half of the room and is already feeling loose from a warm-up laugh led by Kataria, erupts after this. They continue to cheer, and the 10 contestants walk onto the stage to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” The ceremonial first laugh is led by a 103-year-old Toronto resident. He exits the stage with one line: “Let’s get ready to jubilate.”

Author: Sam Riches
Published: Nov 14, 2013
Length: 8 minutes (2,130 words)
Read the story