Comedy club charges for each time you laugh

A Spanish comedy club has installed facial-recognition technology on the back of its chairs to track laughs. Photo / Thinkstock

Think you can keep a straight face while watching your favourite comedian?

A comedy club in Barcelona is betting you can't, and it is even basing its ticket prices on how often it can make you laugh.

Teatreneu has installed facial-recognition technology on the back of its chairs to track how much each person in their theatre has enjoyed the show.

One laugh will cost you €0.30 (NZ50 cents), and customers could face a maximum charge of €24 (NZ$38).

The system was dreamt up by Barcelona-based advertising agency The Cyranos McCann, after Teatreneu asked them to think up a way to increase ticket sales.

A number of people have tried, and reportedly failed, to sit through a comedy show without laughing in an attempt to get a free ticket.

Using the novel system, the average ticket price per person has so far been €6 (NZ$9.70).

It seems the pricing system has caught on, with other theatres in Spain now copying the pay-per-laugh technology.

It is unclear which facial recognition software is being used, but most use algorithms to track facial landmarks on a subject's face.

For instance, an algorithm can analyse the position, size or shape of the mouth to determine whether a person is laughing, smiling or sad.

The comedy club has also launched a mobile app as a method of payment and a pay-per-laugh season ticket.

Watch:

App users: Tap here to watch the video.

- Daily Mail