Radio Scope reviews: Inside Out, RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday July 25th, 8.02pm
Believe it or not, rats laugh. Yes, when the critters are not busy spreading plague or urinating in canals, they like to have a good old chuckle if you tickle them or when they play with their friends. That's one of the more bizarre offerings in the final programme of Inside Out, an eight-part radio series looking at human expression.
"Tonight, it's all about laughing," says presenter and producer Siobhán Mannion. Her measured tone soon becomes the thread that holds together an engaging and thoughtfully crafted programme that weaves in and out of expert interviews and raids a rich jukebox of musical snippets.
"Is there truth in the statement that laughter is the best medicine?" Mannion wants to know.
It appears the most concrete answer is that laughter is linked to a strong immune system.
Research suggests that happier people get sick less, explains the reassuringly down-to-earth immunologist Prof Luke O'Neill of Trinity College Dublin.
"People who laugh more often have better immune systems and they can fight infection better," he says. But whether laughter bolsters the immune system or whether being in rude health simply makes you feel happier is still anyone's guess, it seems.
We hear from clinical psychologist and contributor to this supplement, Marie Murray, that laughter has many ingredients and it helps to form social bonds, particularly between children who like to giggle together.
Cue some jokes delivered by young students at Claddaghduff National School in Galway.
Christmas-cracker staples, such as "Why do giraffes have long necks? Because they have smelly feet", might leave adults stone cold, but they inspire uproarious laughter in the other children in the classroom. Maybe you had to be there. Or maybe you had to be less than seven years old and with a big gang of your friends.
We hear about laughter therapy, laughter as a coping mechanism and how laughter is expressed through acting and art.
We visit Dublin Zoo to find out how chimps show their happiness, and of course we discover that those pesky rodents like a bit of a laugh with their pals. We just don't notice because we tend not to interact with rats under conditions that make them laugh, according to zoologist Dr Nicola Marples, again from Trinity College Dublin.
Despite the subject matter, this is quite a sober programme. But all is forgiven thanks to the final musical clip, in which Elvis Presley gradually succumbs to a fit of the giggles during a performance of Are you Lonesome Tonight?. The sound of the King dissolving into unfettered laughter while trying to keep the song going is infectious and can't help but raise a smirk in the listener. And, in answer to Mannion's question about laughter as medicine, I feel better for having heard it.
Other programmes in the Inside Out series look at blushing, smiling, screaming, yawning, kissing, trembling and crying. You can listen to the entire series online at www.rte.ie/radio1/insideout/1095493.html