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So I believe that you told me that this was your favorite record, right?

I believe, and I've said many times, and I stiffened my back whenever I do,

that the OK laughing record is the greatest record ever made. Period.

That's my own personal feeling about it.

This is Ian Nagoski, a guy who's heard a lot of records.

Ian's label, Canary Records, puts out all kinds of ephemeral material, most of which

he has personally researched. In season one, our episode Diaspora covered his work preserving

the music in stories of Ottoman Empire refugees working in the early recording industry of the

United States. In 2015, Canary re-released the subject of today's program, the OK Laughing Record.

If you were going to explain to somebody very quickly what the OK laughing record is,

it's a side of a record where people laugh for three minutes.

And that's it, basically.

I've listened to it hundreds and hundreds of times.

There isn't that shock of the novel that happens the first time you listen to it for me anymore.

But you play it for other people, and some people will immediately get it and laugh along and just love it with all their hearts.

Other people, and it's not at all uncommon, will get freaked out and go, yeah, no, I don't like that at all.

Like, please don't make me listen to that again.

That was uncomfortable for me.

We will play the OK laughing record, and you can make up your own mind about it.

But first, some thoughts on the nature of laughter.

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