Are Presidential Debates Funnier Than Sitcoms?

Ready for election season to be over? Maybe it's time to curl up with a good sitcom and wait this thing out. Except new research out of Australia suggests that, sometimes, we actually find the presidential debates funnier than sitcoms. Through non-invasive procedures, such as monitoring the muscles used in smiling, researchers determined that subjects laughed more on average during popular sitcoms but that the intensity of laughter was higher in moments of the presidential debates. (Obama's zinger about Romney having a big pension rated high on the funny scale.) No word on if they'll renew the debates for another season. [PhysOrg]