You could hire a comedian but 'a barrel of laughs' refers to a person who is fun, funny and pleasant to be around.
Barrel of laughs originated from the ancient days of slavery when, during coffee break, slaves would make jokes about the slave owners but they would have to quickly crawl into a barrel to hide their laughter so not to upset the owners.
Have you ever seen the documentary about the French Government and Devils Island...it's truely unbelievable what the imprissoned their own people for life for ,most all because they were staving and desperate for food... All that died or were executed were just fed to the Sharks...
They had actual film of it all ,including the French prisoners being walked through the streets by armed gaurds taking them to the port and ships waiting to transport them...
I'm sure you can find it on the Internet ...it's often on Sky tv..it one of the most horrific things I've ever seen on a documentary... There are others to that are far closer to home...
Kittigate 