# Non-laugh track episodes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270 "2015-09-07T19:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270/1 "2015-09-07T19:44:22Z")
How many times has a sitcom that regularly used laugh tracks abandoned them for an episode or longer stretch of time? (The only one that instantly came to mind was MASH, which did it a couple of times such as the newsreel episode.) For that matter, has any sitcom that typically didn’t have a laugh track use one for an episode or two? ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270/2 "2015-09-07T20:04:19Z")
There was a program named _Roc_ starring Charles Dutton in the early 1990s. Early on it was a standard sitcom, but they started adding more serious themes as time went on (drug dealers, shootings, etc.) There were even a few episodes broadcast live. I don’t remember if there was a laugh track in the serious episodes, or in any episodes for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270/3 "2015-09-07T20:35:57Z")
Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Sports Night’ started with a laugh track but dropped it: Sorkin intended for the series’ humor to be drier and more realistic than typical sitcoms. He initially wanted the show to be recorded without a laugh track, but ABC network executives insisted on including one. The volume of the laugh track faded as Season One continued and was abandoned at the beginning of Season Two. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270/4 "2015-09-07T22:33:32Z")
There was an episode of “Scrubs” (didn’t use LT) that was deliberately done as a '70s sit-com including LT. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270/5 "2015-09-07T23:26:31Z")
The original _The Odd Couple_ sitcom starring Klugman and Randall was shot single camera with a laugh track for the first season (it switched to three camera & a live audience for the remaining seasons). The stars as well as creator Garry Marshall fought for its removal from the beginning. They actually got the network to run one episode without it (the one where Oscar gets fired from the newspaper and gets a job at a Playboy-like magazine) and asked the home viewers to write or call in and say which they preferred. The laugh track stayed for the remainder of the season but, as I said, they did switch to a live audience the following year. IMO the later episodes shot in front of a live audience were far superior. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270/6 "2015-09-08T02:14:34Z")
_30Rock_ had one or two episodes with a laugh track ( the Season 06 ‘Live from Studio 6H’ duo which were broadcast slightly differently for the West and East Coasts. So maybe there were one or maybe there were two. _How I Met Your Mother_ was heavily reliant on a laugh track ( one of the most intrusive known once one follows it ), but ---- particularly in the later more solemn seasons — could have ditched it and thus devolved to a mere drama, ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-laugh-track-episodes/730270/7 "2015-09-08T10:07:09Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > _30Rock_ had one or two episodes with a laugh track ( the Season 06 ‘Live from Studio 6H’ duo which were broadcast slightly differently for the West and East Coasts. So maybe there were one or maybe there were two. I didn’t see\* ‘Live from Studio 6H’\* but the earlier episode\* ‘Live Show’\* was indeed a live show. It was shot 3-camera with a live audience (and broadcast live). They did two performances, another for the west coast. But it did **not** have a laugh track, it used a real live audience. As far as I know _30 Rock_ never used a laugh track, it would have been terribly inappropriate. The first season was more low key. It had little to no incidental music and Tracy Morgan’s character wasn’t the complete idiot he became, but again no laugh track.