In Praise Of Drugs
Toastmasters · Carmel Valley · 92130 | If there was a pill you could take that would do what laughter does, you’d take it, wouldn’t you?

Laughter is good for you. It increases blood flow and muscle relaxation and it reduces the arterial wall stiffness associated with cardiovascular disease.
Humor uses different parts of your brain at the same time. That’s why people think you’re more intelligent when you make jokes: you are.
If you have a normal emotional response, it is confined to specific areas of your brain. But laughter is different; laughter produces a circuit that runs through a whole bunch of regions. Here we go: it starts in the left side of the cortex, where words and structure of the joke is analyzed. Then it goes to the frontal lobe and it picks up social and emotional responses and then it scoots over to the right hemisphere for the intellectual analysis required (when you ‘get’ the joke). Then you push it back to the occipital lobe to process the visual signals (you visualize the joke) right before you stimulate the motor section to get the physical response to the joke (you laugh). Also, I’m assuming that at some point it hits your funny bone. You do all of that in two-fifths of a second. Damn. I told you, super smart.
‘Fight or flight’ are your ‘basic bitch’ responses. Laughter suppresses cortisol and epinephrine, our fight or flight hormones, so you can actually deal with shit.
Laughter is intimate, it’s physical. We vibrate, it involves the whole of you. You cannot laugh without moving your body. By laughing you activate your vagus nerve and the vagus nerve will tell your gut to go ahead and digest your food and later you can sleep better (so, despite what you’ve heard, what happens in the vagus nerve does not stay in the vagus nerve).
When we laugh, our brains release dopamine, which makes us happy and lets us bond, along with oxycontin, which makes us more trusting. You believe me when I say that, right?
If there was a pill you could take that would do what laughter does, you’d take it, wouldn’t you? Of course you would, there is no downside.
The problem with drugs is the impurities and processing. It’s a filthy business, and you want a nice clean high. Where do you get that? Well, from your own central nervous system. Laughter is a ridiculously wholesome way to get lit.
Jimmy Carr’s Pete Davidson 911 Joke
JOIN US!
You Are Invited To Audit A HiFi Speakers Toastmasters Meeting
If you live in San Diego, I would love to meet you at one of HiFi’s weekly meetings in Carmel Valley (92130). Meetings are open to all, and free to attend, with or without advance notice. Bring a friend!
Location: 12790 El Camino Real, 1st Floor, San Diego, 92130
Plenty of free parking.
Meeting Time: Every Thursday, 12:00-1:00
If this is your lunch hour, bring a sandwich. Please time your bites carefully, so when the laughs hit you do not pass Jersey Mike through your nose.
You have been warned.
~Mark Whitney, President, HiFi Speakers