Therapeutic clowns bring joy to Cuban patients.

A stranger proffers a smile. A friend tells a joke, eliciting a hearty laugh. Without realizing it, you’re singing along to a song on the radio. Who hasn’t felt the pick-me-up of a smile, song, or laugh? In 1971, Dr Hunter “Patch” Adams, (with tongue fi rmly in cheek), founded the Gesundheit Institute to promote laugh therapy as an important component of comprehensive clinical practice. Once considered an unconventional—and in some circles, unconvincing—approach, today, this method is taught and employed in countries as diverse as Russia, the United States, Afghanistan and Cuba.