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Michelle Hurst: Laughter - it really is the best medicine

By Grimsby Telegraph  |  Posted: August 27, 2014

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TIM Vine – brother of BBC2’s Jeremy Vine – has done it again, scooping the best joke award at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

So, was it funny?

You tell me ...


To be fair, it did make me laugh, and I’m a sucker for a one-liner.

And Tim is so good at them. He won the coveted comedy crown in 2010 with the joke “I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.”

But could you do funnier?

Here’s a couple doing the rounds today that have caused a few chuckles:


“I was walking down the street this morning when a stranger threw some cheese at me. I thought how dairy.”

And what about this ironic humour sent in by reader Mike Mason, on the subject of “Why?”.





Why can’t women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don’t you ever see the headline Psychic Wins Lottery?

Why is abbreviated such a long word?


Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavouring, and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?



Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?

Of course, humour is subjective. One man’s laugh is another man’s Frankie Boyle.

You might prefer real-life tales, like the phone call that our chief reporter took recently:

Woman: “Can you come and cover my charity head shave?”

Chief reporter (CR): “Sure... What name is it?”

Woman: “Rudland”

CR, checking the spelling: “So R U double D....”

Woman interrupts, sounding rather miffed: “That’s a bit personal, isn’t it!”

Clarification soon turned into chuckles!

So, why all this jocularity?

Well, I’m a big believer in laughter being the best medicine, and we don’t get enough of it in our everyday lives.

In fact, did you know laughing 100 times roughly equals 15 minutes on an exercise bike? Vigorous laughter increases the heart rate, deepens the breathing rate, and uses muscles in the face, stomach, and diaphragm.

Aside from improving our moods, laughter can reduce stress, help fight infection and reduce pain.

The levels of two stress hormones, cortisol and epinephrine, which suppress the body’s immune system, will actually drop after a dose of laughter.

Researchers also found, after watching an hour-long video of slapstick comedy, that an antibody that seeks out and destroys malignant cells attacked tumour cells in test tubes. And the effects lasted up to 12 hours.

So what are we waiting for?

And I’m starting by making it my mission to spread a little happiness every Sunday with a new feature online at www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk, by posting a funny video or picture that I’ve come across – or been sent by you, the reader – under the heading Sunday Smile.

This Sunday’s is a video of some giggling babies that are so infectious you can’t help but join in. So, if they don’t make you laugh, then stick to the exercise bike!

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