# Sitcoms with laugh tracks that are actually funny **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529 "2006-01-18T18:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/1 "2006-01-18T18:04:43Z")
I think most reasonable people can agree that putting a laugh track on a lousy sitcom doesn’t make it any funnier. But I’m sure the same people can also agree that there have been some sitcoms with laugh tracks that were consistantly funny. So here’s the game. Which sitcoms with laugh tracks have made you laugh on a regular basis? The occasional chuckle doesn’t count, and if it doesn’t have a laugh track it doesn’t count either (so no _Arrested Development_ or _The Simpsons_). My list includes, but is not limited to: _Married…with Children Roseanne The Cosby Show Herman’s Head Spin City_ If you’re having trouble thinking of it, you can go to [www.sitcomsonline.com](http://www.sitcomsonline.com). So what’s on your list? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/2 "2006-01-18T18:10:21Z")
Mash ---
**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:** [January 18, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/3 "2006-01-18T18:26:02Z")
The original **Dick van Dyke Show** ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/4 "2006-01-18T18:26:58Z")
Seinfeld Fraiser Cheers ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/5 "2006-01-18T18:27:10Z")
Seinfeld ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/6 "2006-01-18T18:34:42Z")
Dick Van Dyck George Burns & Gracie Allen 2 1/2 Men Doctor Doctor Cheers The Duck Factory The Bob Newhart Show Newhart Bob ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/7 "2006-01-18T18:51:02Z")
Yes, Minister ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/8 "2006-01-18T18:51:11Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Mash Though in Europe, it aired with no laugh track(as intended). Buy or rent the DVDs and turn the laugh track off. It is much better. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/9 "2006-01-18T19:02:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Though in Europe, it aired with no laugh track(as intended). > > Buy or rent the DVDs and turn the laugh track off. It is much better. You can actually turn off the laugh track in the DVDs? That’s pretty cool! ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/10 "2006-01-18T19:32:30Z")
I was fairly sure that some of the shows listed here actually had life studio audiences: Cheers, The Cosby Show, and Roseanne in particular. (Maybe not Roseanne, but the first two in particular usually set the action in just one or two sets, and feels kinda stage-bound.) Fresh Prince of Bel Air probably had a laugh track, and it was funny. I’ve never watched MASH much, but I recently caught a few early episodes, and the laugh tracks are atrocious. They were so painfully, obviously fake it was distracting. ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/11 "2006-01-18T19:33:45Z")
Friends! [sub]I’ll see myself out[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/12 "2006-01-18T19:38:11Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I was fairly sure that some of the shows listed here actually had life studio audiences: Cheers, The Cosby Show, and Roseanne in particular. (Maybe not Roseanne, but the first two in particular usually set the action in just one or two sets, and feels kinda stage-bound.) Just because they have a live studio audience doesn’t mean they don’t use a laugh track. If the audience didn’t laugh at what the writers/producers/directors thoguht was a god joke, in goe the laugh track. Hell, they might even just dub in a recording of the actual audience’s laughter from a previous joke, that way it still sounds like the same audience. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/13 "2006-01-18T19:47:47Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Just because they have a live studio audience doesn’t mean they don’t use a laugh track. If the audience didn’t laugh at what the writers/producers/directors thoguht was a god joke, in goe the laugh track. Hell, they might even just dub in a recording of the actual audience’s laughter from a previous joke, that way it still sounds like the same audience. Ah, interesting. That might explain something I’ve always wondered about **Seinfeld**. A show that uses as many quick cuts and set as that one does has got to have some sort of laugh track, but the scenes in Jerry’s apartment and the diner appear to have a live studio audience of sorts. (Plus, I seem to remember in the build up to the final episode seeing shots of an audience watching.) So there must be some mix of live audience and laugh track there as well. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/14 "2006-01-18T19:51:35Z")
I can’t remember if Barney Miller had a laugh track or not\*, but none of these shows come remotely close to matching it in laughs. Wittiest show ever, IMO. Particularly not Friends. Yuck. 🙂 I never get to see it. They’ve only released one season on DVD, and altho I have it, I want more! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/15 "2006-01-18T20:04:27Z")
Night Court ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/16 "2006-01-18T20:18:06Z")
Seinfeld. Cheers. Both were good _despite_ having a laugh track, not because of it. Laugh tracks suck. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/17 "2006-01-18T21:07:35Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Mash Whenever I’ve watched this, I’ve felt like the laugh track was very quiet, somehow, not fake of full of hired laffers like other shows (Night Court had that one guy you could always hear). So it never bothered me much, like the laugh track was modulated to match the not-cartoony nature of the show. Didn’t WKRP have a laugh track? I thought it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/18 "2006-01-18T21:15:54Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Seinfeld. Cheers. > > Both were good _despite_ having a laugh track, not because of it. Laugh tracks suck. I have always said that you only notice laugh tracks on bad shows. On really good shows, you never notice the laugh tracks because you are laughing along with the studio audience. The one time where a laugh track added to a show was Married With Children. The damn laugh track on that show was practically a character! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/19 "2006-01-18T21:49:08Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > > [@Revtim](#): > > > > Mash > > Whenever I’ve watched this, I’ve felt like the laugh track was very quiet, somehow, not fake of full of hired laffers like other shows (Night Court had that one guy you could always hear). So it never bothered me much, like the laugh track was modulated to match the not-cartoony nature of the show. CBS execs wanted M_A_S\*H to have a laugh track but Larry Gelbart and the other producers refused. Both sides reached a compromise, the end result of which was television’s first giggle track. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529/20 "2006-01-18T23:15:52Z")
IIRC, the guy with the distinctive laugh on Night Court is the father of series creator Reinhold Weege. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcoms-with-laugh-tracks-that-are-actually-funny/340529.md?page=2)