Everyone likes to laugh.

Laughter actually is the best medicine.

Cliched, but true. Even Oprah knows that.

In all of my experiments with influence, laughter may be the most powerful tool.

A story: at school a good friend was the son of one of the most powerful lobbyists in Canada. Dinners with him were legendarily fun. Unbelievably enjoyable.

Why?

Because we laughed.

The conversation was good; the food amazing. Yet the thing that I’ll always remember was the laughter. We laughed and laughed and laughed.

And we loved him.

As an influence peddler laughter was a tool he wielded with expert precision (of course, the tool was only influential because it was sincere). I often wonder what deals were influenced simply due to the laughter.

I love to laugh. I love to make others laugh. It’s been interesting to see how influential laughter can be.

Lately I’ve observed this happen over and over: ask the question – get a response. Laugh – ask the question – laugh – get the response.

Do influential people love to laugh, or do people who love to laugh become influential?

Laughing eases, connects, and “influences the emotional responses of listeners.”

I’ve made friends because of laughter and loved because of laughter. That’s a powerful influencer.

In the past month, besides influencing conversations and impacting atmospheres, I’ve used (sincere) laughter to do the impossible: get free concessions at the movie theatre.

Most importantly, however, is that laughter has influenced what I’ve learned when I haven’t heard anything else. Think about it.

John Cleese knows how powerful that can be:

If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.