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Because people sometimes laugh out of sheer joy due to their intimate familiarity with the music. I've experienced the same thing - people laughing at the Jaws theme - but I've also heard them laugh when they hear the music from The Pink Panther or James Bond. It's the joy of hearing a recognized and beloved melody and also being reminded of all the social and cultural associations that come with it. Same reason people laugh as soon as the recognize that the Mission Theme is what they hear on NBC news - the joy of recognition and familiarity.
I would be willing to bet almost everyone on the planet has hummed the Jaws theme at some point when seeing some kind of representation of a shark, whether it's just a picture or even in in real life (I've heard people do it when visiting the shark exhibit at the aquarium).
Not to mention all the times someone has hummed it to scare the crap out of their kids. It's kinda the "go to" music in our collective brains for fear, suspense and a sense of threat.
I would be willing to bet it's those kinds of mental associations that bring the laughter.
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I think it's possibly nervous laughter because a lot of them associate a traumatic moviegoing experience with it.
More likely, I think it's because it's so iconic, so ubiquitous, that it's almost self-parody at this point.
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Yeah, whenever I've heard it performed live (many, many times) there's always that ripple of chuckles or 'ooooh, we know what this is' as the opening notes begin.
It's probably a combination of all the reasons noted above, but it does mainly happen for the Jaws theme.
Whereas the Star Wars main title elicits a spontaneous burst of applause.
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I think it's partly because it's extremely recognizable, partly because it's an unexpected piece to hear since it's a film score and an unconventional one at that, but I think mainly because it is inherently a tongue-in-cheek piece of music. It was brilliantly conceived by Williams as probably one of the most effective motifs in film music for its sheer simplicity, and the initial build up creates a lot of nervous yet playful tension. It represents the killer drive of the shark while also having fun. Remember that Jaws is not a horror movie, it's kind of an adventure/thriller.
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I did some stand-up a few years ago and used the Jaws theme as my stage-entrance music. It got the the only laugh of the evening. 
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Another comical cliche is the wicked witch theme from The Wizard of Oz.
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