Shriek.

I love it when people laugh. There’s not enough laughter in our world today, but making people laugh or hearing people laugh gives me a such a happy feeling. It’s so energizing.

You know who had an awesome laugh? Michael Landon. He had a hearty laugh that was often heard in both “Bonanza” and “Little House On The Prairie”. He had an honest laugh. It wasn’t something forced, it came from the heart and that’s probably why so many people still speak so fondly of him to this day.

Once in a while I’ll hear a laugh that is more startling than anything. Watching the clip from “The Golden Girls” above, around the 47 second mark you’ll hear a woman screaming in a very odd way. I don’t find it part of the laughter. It doesn’t give me a happy feeling. Maybe she was expressing her appreciate of Bea’s humor in the only way she knew how. Or perhaps she was making unnatural sounds to be remembered on an episode audience track until the end of time and eventually make it to my blog over 35 years later.

When I hear someone make unnatural sounds like that on a laugh track I have to wonder what that person is like in real life. Admittedly, I wonder what noises they make during sex. Do they scream like fire alarms? Do they make cattle restless? Does their amorous partner don ear plugs as part of the foreplay? Will I end up next to a person that screams like this at a movie theatre? I hope they’re not having sex then.

I guess honest expression of laughter are what fill me with happiness. Shrieks are more startling than happy. Perhaps after getting over being startled I’d laugh in a nervous sort of way while eyeing the room for evidence of some sort of psychotic action.

Laugh along with Bea. Don’t shriek at her.