Are laugh tracks really 'dead people laughing'?

[Bytegeist]

@Joey P

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.

This naturally raises the question: Is there any moment in I Love Lucy when Desi Arnaz, in the laugh track, is laughing at Desi Arnaz on screen?

[Joey_P]

In all the times I noticed it, he was not on screen. I don’t think his laugh was on the laugh track, I think he was off camera, watching Lucy do her thing and his laugh was loud enough (and distinct enough) to be picked up by the microphones.

[rowrrbazzle]

@Tripler

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.

Heck, using laugh tracks is a bit creepy. It assumes the TV viewers think the show is funny.

[Hampshire]

If that creeps you out you should watch old episodes of Johnny Carson.
That whole show is HOSTED by a dead guy.

[Kuboydal]

I laugh at dead people.

[pinkfreud]

@Johnny L.A.

What was the name of the Harlan Ellison story where a guy discovers his dead aunt’s (?) laugh on an old laugh track?

The story is “Laugh Track,” from the Ellison collection Angry Candy.

[scrambledeggs]

@Hampshire

If that creeps you out you should watch old episodes of Johnny Carson.
That whole show is HOSTED by a dead guy.

No, not for me–that’s different, because we know that he died, and it is not a shock – anymore than to look at a picture of abraham lincoln or JFK.

The laugh track on the other hand implies that someone in the audience is laughing, right now, unseen, but in fact it is canned from 1950’s people.