Of all modern traditions, I think it is the sitcom’s laugh track that baffles me the most.
First of all, where did the original idea come from? I’m guessing that sitcoms were a natural evolution from variety show skits, and thus had a live, interactive studio audience. Perhaps with the recording equipment then, they couldn’t filter out the audience background noise, so the whole thing came as one package.
But why do they still do it today? Even more confusing, why do they employ canned/taped laughter for shows/scenes that obviously DON’T have a studio audience? Does anyone else find a chorus of disembodied voices cheering and clapping along slightly disconcerting? I mean, normally you barely notice it, but if you think about it for a moment, it’s downright creepy.
Anyone have any insight into the history of the laugh track?
Also, for canned laughter, where in the world would they sample the laughing? Makes you wonder if they round up 50 people off the street and just sit them in a recording studio and tape them fake-laughing their asses off, and then lease the tapes to film studios.
I think it stems from the notion that people are more likely to laugh if they hear other people laughing at the same time. Maybe it’s true, but laugh tracks are horrid at their most extreme (coughMarried With Childrencough).
I was in a studio audience once. If you’re for some reason watching a rerun of “Brotherly Love” (Hey, it was free and got me out of school) and you hear an obnoxious hyuck-hyuck-hyuck laughing, that’s probably me. I was sitting right under the microphone and wanted to make sure I’d know if I saw it again.
The television laugh track was introduced to viewing audiences in 1950 on NBC’s ‘The Hank McCune Show’. The program itself appears to have been rather run-of-the-mill, but in its review Variety noted the innovation: “there are chuckles and yocks dubbed in. Whether this induces a jovial mood in home viewers is still to be determined, but the practice may have unlimited possibilities if it’s spread to include canned peals of hilarity, thunderous ovations and gasps of sympathy.”
Invented by engineer Charley Douglass, the laugh track went on to become a television staple throughout the 1950s, whether providing the entire response track (as in ‘Topper’ and ‘Car 54, Where Are You?’) or as a “sweetener” for shows recorded before an audience but in need of enhanced audience response.
I do believe, it does make people sitting at home more prone to laugh. Even in the audience… a short story:
I was in a studio audience once (Late Night with Conan O’Brien). Going into the show, I actually hoped it was really funny, because I’m not normally a laugh-out loud person and didn’t want to feel awkward sitting there quiet. Once the show started though, I laughed right along with everyone else almost subconsciously; mostly at things I wouldn’t normally laugh at if I were watching on TV.
I have since learned that studios will often hire ‘laughers’ to sit in the audience and to laugh on cue to help get the guffaws going. (Lots of shows, sitcoms in particular, need multiple takes, and laughs tend to wear thin when the audience knows what’s coming by the 3rd or 4th take.)
What always freaked me out was the laugh track on ‘The Flintstones’. As a kid, I knew they were animated, and that meant they were drawn by people, but I didn’t know how those drawings became a TV show. Hearing people laugh along at the jokes really confused the matter!
I heard there was one lone episode of ‘Star Trek’ that used a laugh track. Not a 'Trek fan by any stretch, but I’d like to see that episode…
I wish they’d quit using them. What I hate most about them, is whenever a couple kisses, the whole “audience” goes “oooooh”. Like no one’s ever seen two people kiss before. How stupid is that?
I think “That 70s Show” has stopped using laugh tracks. In fact i believe it’s the networks pushing the tracks and once the series gets some ground the producers nix it. Didn’t the early episodes of “Seinfeld” have laugh tracks.
I wonder if “That’s My Bush” where the laugh track was an actual part of the show, in fact one of their main jokes.
Harlan Ellison had a short story about an aunt whose laugh was recorded when she was in a live audience. After she died, the narrator realized that she was “trapped” in the track.
There wasn’t a laugh track. Even comedy episodes like “The Trouble with Tribbles” and “A Piece of the Action,” did not have them (they did have a somewhat “wacky” musical track).
Homer and Marge get back from a romantic romp in the country side and are kissing in the kitchen when Bart and Lisa walk in.
Lisa: Hey, public display!
Bart: Yeah, what’s with the love thang?
Marge: Let’s just say the country air did us good. [A crowd of people, presumably the studio audience, say “Ooooh!” in typical bad TV show fashion.]
Homer: Bart, I told you not to leave that TV on. [The crowd lets out a “Whoooooah!”.]
A lot of old Hanna Barbara cartoons, like the Flintstones and Scooby Doo, used laugh tracks. I’m guessing because they were made for adults back then, because kids are pretty easy to please.
Homer and Marge get back from a romantic romp in the country side and are kissing in the kitchen when Bart and Lisa walk in.
Lisa: Hey, public display!
Bart: Yeah, what’s with the love thang?
Marge: Let’s just say the country air did us good. [A crowd of people, presumably the studio audience, say “Ooooh!” in typical bad TV show fashion.]
Homer: Bart, I told you not to leave that TV on. [The crowd lets out a “Whoooooah!”.]
A lot of old Hanna Barbara cartoons, like the Flintstones and Scooby Doo, used laugh tracks. I’m guessing because they were made for adults back then, because kids are pretty easy to please.
You might be confusing it with The Twilight Zone. I remember an episode featuring Carol Burnette (IIRC) that used a laugh track. It was very odd.
It’s easy to scoff at the use of laugh tracks, but I suspect there might be something to the psychological effect of hearing laughter that could make things seem funnier.
It always seemed strange that MAS*H had a laugh track. Since so much of it was filmed on location, you end up picturing them bringing an audience up into the mountains to watch them film.
Sports Night, which was obviously not filmed with a live audience, started out with a laugh track (against the producers’ wishes), but eventually phased it out. It was even funnier without the laugh track.
I read somewhere that they will gather a group of people and show them funny movies or scenes and record their laughter. The people listen with headphones I guess so the mics don’t pick that up.
Absence of laugh track is one of the reasons The Larry Sanders Show is my favorite sit-com. Too bad that show never got the audience it deserved (BTW, it currently runs on overnights several times a week on Bravo).