Often a writer will feel the need to show that a group is getting on really well. One way to do this is to have them sit around over dinner or some other private social gathering and just talk, tell jokes, stories, and so on.

One common shorthand for this is to have the whole group sit or stand around, just laughing, often in a really over-the-top way and generally with no actual laughter heard (though it may fade in at the end just before somebody says something), while the camera pans about. This can be incorporated into a montage of clinking glasses and little snippets of conversion, but this trope is mainly about a slightly rarer variant where the group just sits around laughing hysterically at nothing. This generally comes over as extremely forced and may incorporate an "Oh you!" hand-gesture or two. The fact that we are, essentially, seeing a group of people pretending to split their sides at some joke we haven't heard at all, and are essentially falling out of their chairs with laughter, can be more than a bit unsettling or mood-breaking for some viewers, who wonder what could possibly be so funny. They may end up sardonically thinking "what a funny table / hearth-rug / fireplace that must be!". Often ends with two people moving away from the group, possibly to the sofa or fireside, for some cheesy romantic pap-talk or a heart-to heart.

Note: This is not about people sitting round a table laughing at a joke, it's any group of people (sitting or standing) around laughing at NOTHING the audience is privy to as a way of showing that they are getting on, particularly when it is very over the top.

Compare: Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic. May be a result of a particularly Orphaned Punchline.

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Examples:

Advertising

• A static version of this is often used in advertising stills where a group of 18-28 y/o people are shown, usually sitting around a table, laughing their heads off in a somewhat unrealistic manner. Pretty much the classic example of this trope in action.

Film

• At the begining of Men In Black, after K uses the neuraliser on J it cuts to K laughing at a table in a diner with him (explaining the memory loss as being due to drinking). Since the idea was to fool J it's also an in universe, invoked example.

Music

• The song "Varfor ar dar ingen is till punchen?" by Povel Ramel begins with a big laugh, followed by Ramel saying "Skal pa er, pojkar!" (which means "Cheers, boys!")

Television

• Chuck does this with quite a bit of regularity. Examples include Season 5 Episode 8: Chuck Vs the Baby, where the cast sit around laughing at naught. Afterwards Sarah and the baby in question go sit on the sofa for a heart-to-heart.
• Firefly used this occasionally.
• Rosanne, the intro features this.
• Good Night And Good Luck - the opening montage
• That70s Show

Webcomics

• In The Order Of The Stick, after the group have been arrested by Miko then spend some time in a cell, they're taken to their trial by Hinjo, who turns out to be a Reasonable Authority Figure and it cuts to them laughing at this trope as he's leading them to the courtroom.