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

Hi Laughter Lovers! We’re used to the cost of living going up but alarmingly the cost of laughter is heading north too! Humour consultant Malcolm Kushner has been compiling a Cost of Laughing Index since 1987. Kushner tracks the prices of 16 leading humor indicators, including such items as rubber chickens, Mad magazine and tickets to comedy clubs. Over all the cost of these essentials has risen a saddening 3% in the last year. And I hope you’re sitting down folks because I have to tell you that the cost of Groucho glasses has shot up by a staggering 60 percent in just two years and they are now $24 a dozen! But have you ever stopped to consider the high cost of not laughing? Sure the emotional, psychological and social costs of a laugh-deprived life are tragic but let’s talk dollars and cents. Let me tell you folks, the punchline affects the bottom line – and you can take that to the bank. In case you weren’t casually sitting .. Read more of Laugh Yourself Rich!