We all seek happiness. Books and thinkers ruminate on what brings us joy, whether it be the yearly 100K salary, falling in love or spiritual nirvana.  Ideas like moderation, freedom and faith have offered philosophical solutions; self-help books recommend eliminating clutter, meditation and a focus on positivity. The TV documentary, Laughology (directed by Albert Nerenberg), suggests that laughter may be one of the key factors.

The doc is part of his growing oeuvre of films such as Stupidity, Let’s All Hate Toronto and the forthcoming project, Boredom. In Laughology, Nerenberg explores the idea that laughter is not the symptom of happiness and jokes, but rather the starting point. Laughter, built in our DNA, from our inception, is programmed to arouse happy chemicals, which also promotes healthiness. “Laughter protects people against heart disease, strengthens immunity and fights depression.” The director and journalist explore this thought-provoking concept to discover that laughter, in its essence, is life affirming, effusive and uplifting.

Laughology debuted at Hot Docs, and since then, Nerenberg has travelled the world promoting the film. As a further testament to his film, he also hosted laugh contests, including the Montreal Laugh Contest, and as a laugh expert he taught classes on the virtues of “laughercize”, an excersise that promotes health and happiness through laughing. The class is predicated on the theory that we instinctively mirror each other, so when one person laughs, it contagiously spreads.

Awhile back, I styled director and journalist Albert Nerenberg, for Idea City, Moses’ Znaimer’s seminar for intellectuals, artists and scientists. I got a chance to speak to him afterwards about life, laughter and film.

I remember you calling “laughology” the new “rock and roll,” the genesis is laughter, not the joke….

NERENBERG: I believe laughter is the new rock ‘n’ roll. That’s because the new approach to cultured laughter could change pop culture. The new laughter methods like laughter yoga, were nonexistent fifteen years ago, now they are some of the fastest growing health movements in the world. Laughter is the basis of fun. The laughter movement, I believe, turns a basic concept on its head, that we have no control over our emotions. When in fact, we can control, excercize and develop intensely joyful, hilarious emotions, essentially on command. I know it sounds weird, but rock ‘n’ roll sounded weird when people first heard it.

Laughter can change the world. How?

Laughter changed the world before. Laughter is the original peace signal, which allowed humans to play instead of fight. This probably unleashed the greatest revolution in human history turning humans into imaginative fun-loving peaceful inventors, instead of vicious competitive monkeys. But, there are people who see the promotion of contagious laughter as a genuine peace movement, as laughter creates a play override over hostile instincts. The Ultimate Laughing Championships came out of the observation that cage fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championships often crack up during stare downs. That’s because one of the triggers for laughter is proximity and eye contact. But, it shows that even in the most hostile situations laughter is trying to get us to lighten up.

Best moment in the laughing tournaments?

Laughter paralysis, when people are laughing so hard they can’t move.

We were talking about how laughter is linked to culture. Who are the happiest and conversely, the unhappiest?

I don’t connect laughter to happiness, as happiness is difficult to define, but I do connect it to joy. If the question is who are the most joyful people, I would suggest Africans. Particularly, African kids can be crazy joyful but, children in general.

Do you think that too much optimism might be bad, aka. the inability to see negativity? Or is laughter mostly a mood enhancer?

I do see too much optimism as being bad. It clouds judgment and it can impede people from seeing reality. There are studies that even suggest it’s dangerous as it could cause you to walk foolishly into traffic. I think there is a new positivity emerging thanks partially to new science and the laughter movement. It’s the idea that you can culture or exercize positive moods and thought patterns the way you might excercize anything else. You can get lot more joy in your life. The new laughter techniques really work, and this is coming from someone who was initially seriously skeptical.

Best part of your job? Worst part?

Going to distant countries and laughing with total strangers. There really is no worst part that I can think of.

Tell me about your upcoming documentary, Boredom-  the roman calendar and how we deny our right brain because we’re stuck in the rat race?

Working on a doc that says we are much more bored that we realize.

Does boredom generate creativity as Russell argues or is it the result of overworking?

There’s good boredom and bad boredom. A little boredom is not a bad thing, institutional boredom is a terrible thing and perhaps, the bane of our existence.

As a film director, how would you describe your films and what are you trying to say (broadly I guess)?

I usually do “one word” films:. Stupidity, Laughology, Boredom.
I would like to do a film called “Jerks,” the idea that people like consider other people jerks.

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To check out more of Nerenberg’s projects, visit: http://albertnerenberg.com/