There were fears for the future of the comedy industry today as the price of laughs fell once again to an all time low in early trading. A Barrel of Brent Crude now stands at $30 per barrel down from highs of $105 in January.
Some analysts are blaming the slump on a glut of jokeworthy news stories in recent months which has led to a surplus of laughs with many amateur and semi-professional comedians increasing production dramatically. US President Barack Obama has predictably blamed BP for the problem despite many commentators attributing the fall to a wider range of comedic stories such as the Coalition Government, several murderous gun rampages and Peter Mandelson.
Hopes had been raised earlier in the year that with the cancellation of Last of The Summer Wine and Jonathan Ross the cheapness of laughs had reached Bottom. A major spill of laughter from the Have I Got News for You studios in June had also been expected to help halt the slide but new series of That Mitchell and Web look and My Family have since only helped to depress both the price and most viewers.
In a worrying development today the BBC has announced it will be taking advantage of the cheap laughs to commission new series of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Big Top.
