The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 8 letter word PRESENT LAUGHTER
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
P
R
E
S
E
N
T
L
A
U
G
H
T
E
R
More clues leading to the result PRESENT LAUGHTER
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Play" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case play = present laughter.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.