It's World Laughter Day!
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
World Laughter Day is celebrated annually on the first Sunday of May (May 3, 2026) to promote global peace, wellness, and the positive health benefits of laughter, initiated in 1998 by Dr. Madan Kataria.
Madan Kataria, founder of the worldwide Laughter Yoga movement. Dr. Kataria, a family doctor in India, was inspired to start the Laughter Yoga movement in part by the facial feedback hypothesis, which postulates that a person's facial expressions can have an effect on their emotions.
This World Laughter Day, you might want to: watch a funny movie or TV show, go to a comedy show, tell jokes or make up your own. Why not see how many people you can make laugh today?
Ones to Watch
If you've not seen it yet, Last One Laughing is worth a watch as famous comedians are locked in a space - a bit like the Big Brother style space and the last one to not laugh becomes the winner of the series. It's fascinating to see what our funniest people think is funny and how they stop themselves from laughing. The current UK title is held by the amazing Bob Mortimer of Vic and Bob fame. The show started in Japan in 2016, and the UK is the 28th country to take it up. You can see it on Amazon Prime.
Another favourite for me is The Good Fight, a spin-off of The Good Wife, episode featuring joke cards (Season 5, Episode 4). In this episode, the firm is vetting a comedy special and, to avoid offense and potential lawsuits, they adopt a system where employees are given "cards" allowing them to tell specific off-colour jokes about taboo subjects, which can be haggled or traded like trading cards. It's worth a watch and something you might like to try among friends and colleagues.
Local comedy this month can be found in a variety of Comedy Club settings at the Regent Theatre, Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, and Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek Comedy Club and Gnosall Comedy Club for future comedy nights in Staffordshire.
If you've not seen CC's latest cartoon - we think it's pretty funny...
And Finally
How many journalists does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Three. One to cover it as a brilliant government initiative to illuminate the underprivileged. Another to view it as a plot to rob people of darkness. And a third to claim that the electricity company was responsible for breaking the light bulb initially. - Unfortunately, no one ended up changing the light bulb!
It's World Laughter Day! - created 3rd May 2026
