You’re at a networking event or maybe just sitting through a painfully unfunny story from your partner’s boss. You need to laugh. Not because you want to, but because social glue requires it. But here’s the problem: most people are absolutely terrible at it. They do that weird, sharp "ha!" that stops abruptly, or their eyes stay dead while their mouth does all the work. It’s awkward. It’s transparent. Honestly, it’s probably better to just stare blankly than to give someone a laugh that screams, "I am pretending to enjoy your presence."
Learning how to fake a laugh isn't actually about the sound you make; it’s about understanding the physiological mechanics of genuine joy. Real laughter is an involuntary physical reaction. When you try to manufacture it, you're fighting against your own nervous system. Most people fail because they think laughter starts in the throat. It doesn't. It starts in the diaphragm and reflects in the tiny muscles around your eyes. If you can’t get those two things right, you’re just making noise.
The Duchenne smile and why your eyes are snitching
Back in the 19th century, a French neurologist named Guillaume Duchenne figured out something that still haunts every bad actor today. He discovered that a "true" smile of enjoyment involves two specific muscles. You’ve got the zygomatic major, which pulls the corners of your mouth up. That one is easy to control. You can do that on command. But then there’s the orbicularis oculi. These are the muscles that reach up and crinkle the corners of your eyes, creating those "crow’s feet" we all try to hide with concealer.
Unless you are a literal sociopath or a very high-level method actor, you probably can't flex those eye muscles voluntarily. This is why a fake laugh looks so creepy—the bottom half of the face is partying, but the top half is just watching. To fix this, you have to manually squint slightly. Think about "smiling with your eyes," a concept Tyra Banks made famous as the "smize," but keep it subtle. If you overdo it, you look like you’re having a localized seizure. Just a slight tension in the lower eyelids is often enough to bridge the gap between "fake" and "believable."
Stop laughing with your throat
Listen to a real laugh. It’s messy. It’s breathy. It’s often inconsistent. Most importantly, it involves a massive expulsion of air. When you try to how to fake a laugh by just saying the word "ha," you aren't actually exhaling. You're just vibrating your vocal cords. This results in a hollow, melodic sound that sounds nothing like a human being experiencing mirth.
Real laughter is basically a series of "spasms" in the diaphragm. To mimic this, you need to push air out from your stomach. Try this: exhale sharply while making a silent "h" sound. Do it three times fast. That rhythmic puffing of air is the foundation of a real laugh. Once you have the breath right, you can add a tiny bit of vocalization. But keep it quiet. Real social laughter—the kind used to acknowledge a joke that wasn't actually that funny—is usually 80% breath and 20% sound. If you're going for a full-on belly laugh, you’re going to need to commit to the physical movement of your shoulders and chest too.
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The "Look Away" technique
One of the best ways to sell a fake laugh is to not let them see your face for the first second of it.
- Tilt your head down or turn it slightly to the side.
- Start the "breath" part of the laugh.
- Bring your hand up to your mouth or rub your eye for a split second.
- Turn back to the person as the laugh is "fading."
By the time they actually get a good look at you, the most difficult part of the performance—the initial burst—is already over. You’re just showing them the "tail end" of the laugh, which is much easier to fakingly sustain. It feels more organic because real laughter often causes people to lose their physical composure. If you stay perfectly still while laughing, you look like a ventriloquist's dummy.
The psychology of the "Phatic" laugh
We should probably talk about why we do this in the first place. Linguists call this "phatic communication." It’s speech or behavior that doesn't actually convey information but exists solely to perform a social function. Small talk is phatic. Saying "bless you" when someone sneezes is phatic. And the social laugh is the king of phatic gestures.
Robert Provine, a neurobiologist who spent decades studying laughter, found that most laughter isn't actually about jokes. We laugh to say "I'm with you" or "I'm not a threat." Knowing this takes the pressure off. You aren't trying to win an Oscar; you're just signaling social alignment. Most people are so desperate to be liked that they won't even notice your laugh is 10% "off" as long as the timing is right.
Timing is everything (literally)
If you laugh a second too late, you’ve missed the window. If you laugh while they’re still in the middle of the setup, you look like you’re mocking them. The sweet spot is immediately after the "punchline" or the perceived end of the anecdote.
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But here is the pro tip: the "extended" fake laugh is what gets people caught. Keep it short. A two-second burst of breathy chuckles followed by a wide, lingering smile is ten times more effective than a ten-second forced "HAHAHAHA." Real laughter usually dies down into a smile anyway. If you just jump straight to the smile after a quick chuckle, you’re safe.
Avoiding the "Uncanny Valley" of humor
There is a concept in robotics called the Uncanny Valley—the point where something looks almost human, but just "off" enough to be terrifying. Fake laughter lives here.
To avoid it, stop trying to make "perfect" laughing sounds. Real laughs have snorts. They have weird pauses where the person has to catch their breath. They sometimes involve a little bit of a wheeze. If you can throw in a tiny, accidental-sounding "pfft" or a quick nasal snort, you’ve basically won. It adds a layer of "uncontrolled" realism that is almost impossible to fake if you’re overthinking the "ha-ha" sounds.
Also, watch your posture. People who are genuinely laughing don't usually sit with perfect, rigid posture. They lean forward. They slap a knee. They might even look at someone else in the room to share the moment. If you're wondering how to fake a laugh effectively in a group, look at the person next to the storyteller while you laugh. It diverts the storyteller's direct gaze away from your eyes, which, as we established, are the hardest part to fake.
Practical exercises for the socially awkward
If you’re genuinely worried about your ability to pull this off, you can actually train for it. It feels stupid, but it works.
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- The Mirror Test: Stand in front of a mirror and try to make your eyes crinkle without moving your mouth. It’s hard, right? Now, try to do it while thinking of something actually funny—like a cat falling off a sofa. See the difference? Try to memorize that feeling in your eyelids.
- The "Haa" Drill: Practice exhaling all the air out of your lungs in short, sharp bursts. Do it until your stomach muscles feel a bit tired. This builds the muscle memory for the diaphragmatic movement needed for a convincing chuckle.
- Analyze the Greats: Watch talk show hosts. Guys like Jimmy Fallon or Graham Norton are professional laughers. They have to be. Watch how Fallon often leans forward and hits the desk. That physical movement distracts from the fact that he might be laughing at his 400th celebrity anecdote of the week.
Knowing when to stop
Sometimes, the best fake laugh is no laugh at all. If someone says something truly offensive or just so profoundly unfunny that a laugh would feel like a lie to your soul, just go for the "polite smile."
A polite smile is just the zygomatic major (the mouth corners) without the eye involvement. People recognize this as "I heard you and I’m being civil, but I’m not entertained." It’s a valid social tool. It’s better to be seen as "a tough crowd" than as a "fake person."
However, if you're in a situation where the laugh is mandatory—like a job interview or a first date with someone who is trying really, really hard—focus on the breath. Forget the sound. Just push that air out, squint those eyes, and lean in.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Social Event
- Observe before you act. Spend the first ten minutes of any event watching how other people laugh. Is the room loud? Is it a "polite chuckle" kind of vibe? Match the room's energy.
- Focus on the exhale. Before you make a sound, make sure you are actually pushing air out of your lungs. This prevents the "tinny" vocal sound of a fake laugh.
- Squint, don't stare. Engage your lower eyelids. If your eyes feel wide and "surprised," you're doing it wrong.
- Move your body. A slight lean forward or a small head toss makes the laugh look like a physical reaction rather than a scripted one.
- Exit the laugh early. Don't try to sustain it. Transition into a warm smile and a comment about the story ("That's wild," or "No way") to move the conversation along.
By treating laughter as a physical sequence—breath, then eye movement, then physical lean, then vocalization—you strip away the anxiety of "performing." You're just executing a series of biological cues. Most people won't look twice, and you'll navigate the social minefield without anyone ever realizing you were actually thinking about your grocery list the whole time.