Hi Laughter Lovers! Well, it’s a scandal that could wipe the smile from your face. During a recent Senate Estimates hearing Australian Senator Mitch Fifield was not amused when he learned that Centrelink (the Government organization that looks after the unemployed in Australia) had spent 2660 taxpayer dollars on a staff workshop that focused on, wait for it folks, laughter. Fifield demanded to know who was responsible for this frivolous squandering of public coffers. Wilting under the full frowning force of Senatorial interrogation Department Deputy Secretary of Enabling Services, Barbara Bennett, admitted to the committee that, yes, this instance of organized jocularity had indeed taken place on her watch. Bennett pleaded her case that the laughter workshop served as an ice-breaker for a two day Centrelink program on leadership and was “designed as a way to have an informal moment to get to know each other better.” Fifield would have none of it  .. Read more of Laughgate! - The Story that Rocked a Nation (sort of)

Hi Laughter Lovers, Walking through King’s Cross, Sydney yesterday I took a short cut through a back alley. There I was confronted by a shady looking character who whispered to me: “Hey, dude, wanna get high? I got some really good stuff. You’re gonna love my punchlines. C’mon, I got all the funny you need, my man – jokes, riddles, cartoons, one liners. Wrap your laughing gear around some of my amusing anecdotes and hilarious witticisms, my friend, and you will be on a humour high that will have your nucleus accumbens jumpin’ for joy!” This guy was obviously acquainted with the research of Dr. Allan Reiss, director of the Stanford Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory. Reiss and his colleagues were the first to discover that the part of the brain that responds to the enjoyment of humour is the same reward centre that responds to the pleasure of drugs such as methamphetamines and cocaine. No wonder people love to laugh. And .. Read more of Laughter - Drug of Choice