Foreign character has a laugh with record (5)
I believe the answer is:
alpha
'foreign character' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a laugh with record' is the wordplay.
'laugh' becomes 'ha'.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'record' becomes 'LP' (abbreviation for long play record).
'ha' after 'lp' is 'lpha'.
'a'+'lpha'='ALPHA'
'has' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for alpha that I've seen before include "- - and Omega" , "Beginning" , "European character" , "First, best quality" , "First in order of importance (for a Greek?)" .)