have a laugh vs mess around

have a laugh

verb
  • To joke; kid around. 

  • To enjoy oneself; have fun. 

  • To laugh. 

mess around

verb
  • To joke, kid, or play. 

  • To have a sexual relationship, especially one which is non-commital. 

  • To fiddle idly. 

How often have the words have a laugh and mess around occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )