Well I fully agree with you, whole heartedly, but I have an insight that might explain it. First, the very annoying laughter track we became so accustomed to in shows like Friends and The Big Bang Theory is proven to make you laugh more often than you would have other wise (check out Influence by Robert Cialdini on the topic). It’s a psychological trigger that makes us relate to the world, so while it is annoying, it might just work anyway. Second, if you spend 5 minutes, or 7 years for that matter, on online dating sites looking at female accounts, you’ll come very quickly to realize that every girl’s one demand in a guy is to be funny. “make me laugh” “be funny” “don’t take yourself too seriously”…etc
I do not haha, and refuse to lol, but I have to say I do pay the price of seeming way more serious and consequently pushing away those who are in constant need of emotional affirmation. Which seems to be the larger percentage on the population.