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[–] reshp1 [S] ago  (edited ago)

Laughter is a social thing, biologically speaking. You're much more likely to laugh when you're around other people, especially if they're laughing. A dead pan comedian especially can benefit from it. The thing that I hated about his audience was how over the top enthusiastic they were, they would regularly disrupt the timing of jokes, which is half the art to Colbert's act.

Edit: radiolab explains the social aspect of laughter: http://www.radiolab.org/story/91588-laughter/

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[–] jeegte12 ago 

i definitely understand things like contagious laughter, and laughing with a group. when watching something with a laugh track, it feels like i'm laughing in spite of the group. the laugh track laughs at every damn thing they can, so when i laugh with them it makes me feel uncomfortable, like i'm one of the sheep.

i appreciate the link, but i can't listen to audio. i have to read stuff to learn anything.