WASHINGTON, DC – When Politico published an analysis of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs‘ laughter quotient last year, some White House reporters (at least one) thought it was “f***ing stupid.” It looks like Politico is getting the last laugh, though, as the other shoe has now dropped. Politico has now published a devastating followup report that shows that instances of laughter in the White House briefing room have declined by almost half.

But is Politico telling the whole story? We looked at their report, and found that they omitted several key details, not the least of which is the frequent fill-ins by  White House Deputy Press Secretary Dane Cook.

Here’s how Politico breaks down the numbers today:

Back in May, POLITICO analyzed the press briefings and found that the instances of laughter — as indicated by “(Laughter)” being noted in the official transcript — occurred more than 10 times per day during press secretary Robert Gibbs’s briefings.

But the laughter has been reduced by half in recent months: In the first six months of the Obama administration, briefings produced an average of 179 laughs per month. Over the past six months, the average has dropped down to 89.

With numbers like these, Gibbs must be the hackiest Press Secretary ever, right? Well, since no other news organization has ever had the genius idea of counting instances of laughter in transcripts, we’ll have to consult Politico’s earlier report:

…in Robert Gibbs’ first four months as President Barack Obama’s press secretary, there have been more than 600 instances of “(Laughter.)” during his regular press briefings — an average of more than 10 laughs per day.

It’s a gaudy statistic — and one that puts his predecessors to shame.

Dana Perino, George W. Bush’s last press secretary, got all of 57 laughs in  her first four months. Scott McClellan, another Bush press secretary, got just 66 laughs in his first four months.

Gibbs even bests the late Tony Snow, whose jocular performances — dubbed “The Tony Snow Show” by some — drew a relatively paltry 217 laughs during his first four months on the job.

Hmmm. So, that means even at his current rate of 89 laughs per month, Gibbs’ average is still higher than all his predecessors put together, at 85. So, what does this all mean?

Well, according to Politico, Gibbs’ initial high total was because the press corps was in love with the Obama administration, and the new lower (but still record-breaking) total prove that Gibbs is an obfuscating failure. Or maybe that original reporter was right, and counting instances of laughter in a transcript is “f***ing stupid.”

It could be that Politico just wanted to write a critique of Robert Gibbs, one that had been made a week earlier by Chip Reid, and needed to peg it to some kind of superficial, meaningless statistic to give themselves a lede. Nahhh, not Politico!

Update: Robert Gibbs responds to Politico’s story at Mediaite:

On the subject of the Politico story:

I read the story and both laughed and cried.

Responding to criticisms, such as this one, of the Sarah Palin joke he did on Tuesday:

All I would say is this – everyone should have a sense of humor, its needed more than ever in Washington.