Since it is becoming more and more common to talk to a device, the need for methods to make this interaction more smooth, enjoyable and natural increases. Spoken language is more than just words. The way people talk not only reveals information about their age, sex, or region they are from, it also reveals information about one’s socio-affective, mental, and physical state. If agents can automatically extract this kind of information from the way the user talks, this will help regulate human-agent interaction and opens up opportunities for innovative talking agents. In this talk, I will present an overview of our work on human-human/agent interaction and socially interactive technology, and the role of laughter in our research.