# Are laugh tracks really 'dead people laughing'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2008, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932 "2008-07-18T06:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/1 "2008-07-18T06:21:11Z")
In the movie, “Man on the Moon”, it has Andy Kaufman (Character) say that the laugh tracks used are of “dead people”, implying that they were recorded so long ago that the original people are dead. Is that true – how old are the laugh tracks? I would imagine if they dont update them, a good portion of the laughter you hear is indeed of the dearly departed. A bit creepy – does anyone know when the latest laugh tracks used on TV were actually recorded? Are we talking 1950’s? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/2 "2008-07-18T06:34:59Z")
Browsing off of the Wikipedia page I found this: [ > [@](#): > > Every few years, the tracks were slightly changed and updated - new laughs added, others banished forever, still others put “on hiatus” for a few years and revived later. Thus, many sitcoms can be dated by listening to the laugh track - just listen to the tracks on Mister Ed (early 1960s) vs. those on Bewitched (mid-60s) vs. those on The Partridge Family (early 1970s). > > Interestingly, a few all-time classic tracks recorded in the late 1950s and early 1960s were never retired, and can still be heard on ‘Frasier’! Today, these classic laugh tracks most likely reside in the tape vaults of Todd-AO in Hollywood. ]([The Laugh Track / TVparty!](http://www.tvparty.com/laugh.html)) Related, but the Wilhelm Scream (used commonly by George Lucas) dates back to 1951, and the [most likely candidate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheb_Wooley) for the voicing died in 2003. So the new Indiana Jones is indeed playing a dead man’s scream. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/3 "2008-07-18T08:30:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Browsing off of the Wikipedia page I found this: [ Related, but the Wilhelm Scream (used commonly by George Lucas) dates back to 1951, and the [url=[Sheb Wooley - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheb_Wooley)]most likely candidate]([The Laugh Track / TVparty!](http://www.tvparty.com/laugh.html)) for the voicing died in 2003. So the new Indiana Jones is indeed playing a dead man’s scream. [/QUOTE] Hmmm, I don´t recall in which part of the movie the scream appeared (sounded?) once again, could you remind me? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/4 "2008-07-18T08:48:33Z")
According to this: > **[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) - Trivia - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/trivia/)** > > Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) - Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more... the Wilhelm scream is used when a boy in the library is crashed into by a bike. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/5 "2008-07-18T10:19:33Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] According to this: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/trivia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/trivia) the Wilhelm scream is used when a boy in the library is crashed into by a bike. [/QUOTE] Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/6 "2008-07-18T12:13:42Z")
“I Hear Dead People!” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/7 "2008-07-18T14:01:57Z")
What was the name of the Harlan Ellison story where a guy discovers his dead aunt’s (?) laugh on an old laugh track? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/8 "2008-07-18T14:19:53Z")
On some episodes of I Love Lucy, December Bride and some other old sitcoms, you can hear a relatively high-pitched, very loud “HA-HA-HA” on some laugh tracks. Supposedly (I can’t remember the cite) that laugh is Desi Arnaz himself. So if you ever hear that particular laugh, you can be sure that it did, indeed, come from a dead person. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/9 "2008-07-18T14:36:31Z")
I think it’s only creepy if dead laughers are responding to a current production. If the actors, writers, directors, and cameramen are also dead (or most of them, anyway), it loses some of its effect. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/10 "2008-07-18T15:15:50Z")
Good laughter or a good joke never dies. Unfortunately, when Aunt Mildred appears on a laugh track to some crappy sitcom like ‘Frasier!’, her dead panties do get in a bundle. I think it’s kinda creepy to use 20+ year old laugh tracks. I mean, that assumes that people from 20 years ago find today’s comedy funny . . . and that my friends, is a stretch. Tripler Now looking _back_ for comedy? Some things are just timeless. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/11 "2008-07-18T15:57:15Z")
I thought **Frasier** was filmed in front of a live studio audience… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/12 "2008-07-18T16:28:56Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] I thought **Frasier** was filmed in front of a live studio audience… [/QUOTE] Many sitcoms are filmed live. That’s the problem. A sitcom can take hours to film, because of multiple takes, scene changes, clothing changes, technical problems, and general breakdowns. By the time an audience has sat through a punchline seven times over an hour, they’re not going to laugh as loudly as they would as if it were the first time they heard it. All sitcoms are “sweetened” with added laughter during post-production. That’s the only way to make it appear that the live show was filmed live. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/13 "2008-07-18T16:41:41Z")
I knew corpses farted, but not laughed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/14 "2008-07-18T17:18:27Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] I knew corpses farted, but not laughed. [/QUOTE] Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/15 "2008-07-18T17:36:45Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Cite? [/QUOTE] Just in time for Dopers’ lunch breaks in the remainder of the continental US, an article about an open-air lab used to study [human decomposition in nature](http://curiosociety.wordpress.com/2007/10/30/the-remains-of-doctor-bass/) "As the tenth day of decay approaches, the bacteria-induced bloating becomes pronounced. Sometimes this pressure is relieved via post-mortem flatulence, but occasionally an over-distended abdomen will rupture with a wet pop. " Also this bit: “The students knelt alongside the slumped form, seemingly untroubled by the acrid, syrupy tang of human decay which hung in the air.” The word “human” is gratuitous, since from my own experience, decomposed human corpses in stink identically to cows and birds. The “wet pop,” is, however, accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/16 "2008-07-18T17:53:36Z")
Since when is a rupturing abdomen a fart? No wonder I had no idea what you were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/17 "2008-07-18T17:56:18Z")
See the quoted: “post-mortem flatulence” It means “after-death fart” in, appropriately, a dead language. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/18 "2008-07-18T17:59:44Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Since when is a rupturing abdomen a fart? No wonder I had no idea what you were talking about. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > …this pressure is relieved via post-mortem flatulence, but occasionally an over-distended abdomen will rupture with a wet pop. " Ruptured abdomens and post-mortem flatulence are being referred to as two different things in this passage. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/19 "2008-07-18T18:02:40Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] On some episodes of I Love Lucy, December Bride and some other old sitcoms, you can hear a relatively high-pitched, very loud “HA-HA-HA” on some laugh tracks. Supposedly (I can’t remember the cite) that laugh is Desi Arnaz himself. [/QUOTE] There’s no doubt in my mind that was Desi laughing off stage. It’s the exact same laugh he used in front of the camera. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932/20 "2008-07-18T18:03:34Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Ruptured abdomens and post-mortem flatulence are being referred to as two different things in this passage. -FrL- [/QUOTE] Ah. I misread. My apologies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-laugh-tracks-really-dead-people-laughing/456932.md?page=2)