TV Comedy Laugh Tracks

[albionmoonlight]

Since I have gotten accustomed to shows like Arrested Development, The Office, and Earl, it has been hard for me to watch shows with a laugh track. I really don't like them anymore, and I find them hard to ignore.

[BrianD]

Laughter is contagious and anything you find funny is a little more funny when others are laughing with you. A studio audience is the best way to go since the amount of laughter is more appropriate to the joke, but a laugh track can work as well.

[Ksyrup]

I don't like obviously canned laughter, but don't mind a live audience. Of course, I can't recall the last non-animation comedy I regularly watched, so I'm just going off of recall.

[larrymcg421]

I despise laugh tracks and the recent trend of doing away with them is one of the best things that has happened to TV comedy in a long time.

[MJ4H]

While I put I don't care either way, watching old episodes of You Can't Do That on Television, while already painful, is much more so because of the laugh track, which is the worst I've ever heard.

[larrymcg421]

The worst laugh track ever was on Sports Night. Absolutely dreadful. It actually ruined parts of the show because Sorkin didn't write dialogue that had time to stop for the canned laughter, so the laugh track ran over many important lines in the episode. They eventually phased it out.

[cuervo72]

The one for the Brady Bunch wasn't great either (well, BB and other shows as it was used often). The one that has the guy sounding like he's trying to do an animal call rather than laugh.

[Passacaglia]

I guess I probably watch a higher percentage of comedies without laugh tracks than with. But sometimes laugh tracks can be funny -- it's like another part of the show to enjoy.

[Maple Leafs]

I don't particularly like the laughtrack itself, but I do miss the old style sitcom. A handful of Arrested Development style shows was always a nice change of pace, but now it's every where.

[Calis]

It can be ok occasionally, but usually it's terrible.

It almost single-handedly ruined Sports Night. There was a show that it was horribly out of place.

[cthomer5000]

While I put I don't care either way, watching old episodes of You Can't Do That on Television, while already painful, is much more so because of the laugh track, which is the worst I've ever heard.

I always got the impression it was intentionally ridiculous with that show.

[MJ4H]

A possibility I had not considered, honestly.

[I. J. Reilly]

The worst laugh track ever was on Sports Night. Absolutely dreadful. It actually ruined parts of the show because Sorkin didn't write dialogue that had time to stop for the canned laughter, so the laugh track ran over many important lines in the episode. They eventually phased it out.

I read somewhere that this was intentional on Sorkins’ part. He got into a pissing match with the studio over whether there should be a laugh track at all. The studio won, so Sorkin threw a tantrum. I have no idea if that’s true, but it makes watching the re-runs a little more entertaining.

[molson]

Some shows absolutely need it, and some shows, it ruins.

Seinfield used laugh tracks very well. It had that that observational, stand-up comedy feel, so the pauses between jokes felt very natural.

[BrianD]

It also depends how obvious it is that a track is being used. The closer it sounds to a real audience, the better. Also, it depends on how funny the show is. If the track uses way more laughter than the joke warrants, that would be distracting.

I guess it never ocurred to me that The Office was absent a laugh track...I just always thought they used a track appropriate to the level of humor in the show.

[larrymcg421]

I think it also depends on the style of the show. I never like a laugh track but it is less bothersome on obvious stage shows like a Will & Grace or Cheers, that are shot from the point of view of a studio audience.

It makes much less sense, for example, on a show like MASH. Who the fuck is laughing? Just random people wandering around the camp? Thankfully the DVD's for MASH have the option to turn off the laugh track.

[rkmsuf]

they should have laugh tracks for sporting events

[larrymcg421]

they should have laugh tracks for sporting events

I thought Detroit Lions games already had one.

Too easy?

[Karlifornia]

Laugh tracks are bad, imo.

[Crim]

Flintstones. Best. Use of. Laughtrack. Evar.

Get it? It's a cartoon. A farging cartoon, with what sounds like a studio audience guffawing at every marginally amusing sequence.

Seriously, when I was very young, I never knew that such a thing as a laugh track existed. Flintstones is what tore the blinders off me, letting in the cold, harsh, but clean and honest light of truth. As best as I can recall, I was around 7-ish, and had been watching Fred and Barnie yuk it up, and walked in to ask my mother, "Mom, aren't cartoons drawn, like one picture at a time?" "Yes, that's right" "Well, I don't see how we can hear people laughing. I mean, are they laughing at the pictures as they're being drawn? And if so, when the pictures are all sped up, would that speed up the laughs too? I think it's all fake."

Big moment for me. Santa and Easter Bunny were easy prey, once I had deciphered this little bit of trickery.

[Pyser]

i dont remember which book i was reading (think it was a palahniuk), but it said all laugh tracks were recorded during the 50s, maybe earlier...so just about everyone you are hearing laugh is dead.

his way of describing watching sitcoms on tv was listening to the dead laugh.

ill never forget that.

[Kodos]

I thought Detroit Lions games already had one.

Too easy?


I wish there were a laugh track at FOFC so that I knew if I found this funny or not. :(

[sabotai]

The worst laugh track ever was on Sports Night. Absolutely dreadful. It actually ruined parts of the show because Sorkin didn't write dialogue that had time to stop for the canned laughter, so the laugh track ran over many important lines in the episode. They eventually phased it out.

I hardly watched Sports Night when it was on, only when they showed repeats of it on Comedy Central and then the DVD release. Did they take the laugh tracks out of the show for the repeats and DVD releases? I don't remember every hearing laugh track swhen watching the show (but it's been quite awhile since I saw it and may have just tuned them out in my head)

[sabotai]

I thought Detroit Lions games already had one.

Too easy?

I would have gone with the Raiders.

[Crim]

I wish there were a laugh track at FOFC so that I knew if I found this funny or not. :(

That's the beauty of this board, Kodos. Infinitely customizeable.

[Crapshoot]

I don't particularly like the laughtrack itself, but I do miss the old style sitcom. A handful of Arrested Development style shows was always a nice change of pace, but now it's every where.

I dunno- I'd say the more shows like AD, the better.

[larrymcg421]

I hardly watched Sports Night when it was on, only when they showed repeats of it on Comedy Central and then the DVD release. Did they take the laugh tracks out of the show for the repeats and DVD releases? I don't remember every hearing laugh track swhen watching the show (but it's been quite awhile since I saw it and may have just tuned them out in my head)

I don't have a DVD and don't really remember from the repeats, but they phased it out and by the end of season 1 it was completely gone.

It was funny, though, because the network was obviously being stubborn about it. They phased it out so slowly that some later season 1 episodes use the laugh track only once for the whole episode. What was the point?

It was at it's worst in the beginning. The pilot really suffers from use of the laugh track, especially during Jeremy's initial scene, and it almost completely ruins the episode.

[sabotai]

Hmm. I'll have to throw the DVD on and see if the laugh track is there.

[sabotai]

Hmm. I'll have to throw the DVD on and see if the laugh track is there.

Ew, it IS there. Ugh.

And it is very out of place. No wonder I blocked it out my memory...

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Laugh tracks seem to be there to inform you that there was a joke at a certain point in a comedy which is supposed to be funny. If you truly notice the laugh track, the joke probably wasn't very humorous.

Shows that are able to trust that their viewers have a sense of humor and know a joke when they see/hear one seem to have a higher quality of writing to them. Shows like Arrested Development, The Job and Bakersfield P.D. were hilarious and a pleasure to watch. Any time I turn on the TV at night and a show like that one with David Spade & the chick from Sex Lies & Videotape is on I am amazed at what actually passes for comedy.