It’s a British study…
… so maybe it doesn’t apply to Yanks.
Scientists at the University of Glamorgan found that men and women begin to suffer a sharp decline in their sense of humor and get increasingly grumpy after the age of 52.
While teenagers are the age group most likely to laugh at other people’s misfortunes, they laugh on average just six times a day.
Things get even bleaker in what should be the relatively carefree twenties, when we laugh four times a day.
Maybe that’s why college gigs suck so much.
We find the conclusions of the scientists to be unbelievable. Perhaps Brits are as glum and reserved as the stereotype indicates. And we Americans are positively giddy by comparison.
Our own experience is that, at least as far as comedy club audiences go, the over 50 gang laugh as heartily, if not more so, than any other group.
3 Responses
Reply to: It’s a British study…
My experience with college audiences (so far) has been great.
We’ve had some great experiences with colleges. Particularly engineering schools or schools with emphasis on practical or technical subjects. But college audiences are often sullen, inexperienced and suspicious. (Mind you, we don’t care. They can be as miserable as they want to be. But they’re often too self-conscious to be good comedy audiences.)
Jeff Garlin’s bit on who many times we laugh per day as we get older is a classic, and I think his take is better than theirs.