--- title: Comedy Club Facial Recognition Software Makes People Pay Per Laugh description: Teatreneu Club in Barcelona is using facial recognition software to charge patrons by the laugh canonical: https://time.com/3490653/comedy-clubs-facial-recognition-software-for-pay-per-laugh-system/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-10T19:31:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:43.833Z og:title: Comedy Club Facial Recognition Software Makes People Pay Per Laugh og:description: Taking all of the fun out of comedy og:url: https://time.com/3490653/comedy-clubs-facial-recognition-software-for-pay-per-laugh-system/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Comedy Club Facial Recognition Software Makes People Pay Per Laugh twitter:description: Taking all of the fun out of comedy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Comedy Clubs Are Using Facial Recognition Software So They Can Charge Per Laugh by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 10, 2014 7:31 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 10, 2014 7:31 PM UTC Spanish comedy clubs are about to become very sullen places. The [BBC reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29551380) that Barcelona’s Teatreneu Club is using facial recognition software to charge patrons by the laugh, inspiring curmudgeonliness in the name of thrift. Tablet devices are attached to the back of seats to gauge people’s amusement, charging 0.30 euros (.38¢) per laugh at a cap of 24 euros (about $30). As if performing comedy wasn’t daunting enough without have an audience that is incentivized not to laugh. While the endeavor may seem like a publicity stunt — the theater partnered up with ad agency Cyranos McCann — the BBC reports that it has proven effective and other clubs are starting to implement it around the country. The pay-per-laugh system was adopted to fight fledgling audience numbers, but it has resulted in increased overall ticket costs by 6 euros (about $7.50). Surely, that makes up for the thousands of dollars spent in tablets. Send in the clowns, because this all sounds pretty depressing to us. Comedy Club Facial Recognition Software Makes People Pay Per Laugh ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3490653/comedy-clubs-facial-recognition-software-for-pay-per-laugh-system/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3490653/comedy-clubs-facial-recognition-software-for-pay-per-laugh-system/"},"headline":"Comedy Clubs Are Using Facial Recognition Software So They Can Charge Per Laugh","datePublished":"2014-10-10T19:31:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:43.833Z","description":"Taking all of the fun out of comedy","url":"https://time.com/3490653/comedy-clubs-facial-recognition-software-for-pay-per-laugh-system/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology","entertainment","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3490653/comedy-clubs-facial-recognition-software-for-pay-per-laugh-system/","name":"Comedy Clubs Are Using Facial Recognition Software So They Can Charge Per Laugh"}}]}] ```