TV Comedies without Laugh Tracks--Recommendations?

Cafe Society
1

Anyone?

Thanks.

2

I’ve never understood the hate-on so many people have for laugh tracks. That said, I like Community a lot, and it doesn’t have a laugh track.

3

Yes Minister. Yes, Prime Minister. Monty Python’s Flying Circus. And so on.

That aside, I literally googled your title http://www.imdb.com/list/wQ-nTHq5Wl4/ - did you?

4

I really like Scrubs and reccomend it heartily.

5

Yeah - really great show. The episode My Life in Four Cameras does a nice job lampooning the laugh track and other sit-com gimmicks.

I’d also recommend Dead Like Me (but it isn’t always a comedy, it’s definitely the combo drama/comedy).

6

Arrested Development

7

There are plenty of comedies without laugh tracks—pretty much all the one-camera sitcoms from at least the last couple of decades—but Monty Python’s Flying Circus is not one of them. (see here, for example)

8

30 Rock

The Middle

Modern Family

New Girl

My Name is Earl

30 Rock (It needs to be mentioned twice)

9

And if you like Scrubs, I’ll always recommend How I Met Your Mother. IMO, they’re very similar shows.

10

The Simpsons

11

The first three seasons of “Barney Miller”. Even seasons 4-8, whcih did use a laugh track, kept it low key.

“Night Court”, Barney’s spiritual successor.

12

Except that HIMYM does have a laugh track.

13

Not sure if it is still true, but just as a footnote - when I lived in Berlin, many American hit sitcoms dubbed in German and shown on German TV had the laugh tracks removed.

It was often odd to watch those shows without the laugh track. I guess in some cases, you don’t miss them until they are gone.

Oops - forgot to mention Curb Your Enthusiasm.

14

Sports Night
My Name is Earl
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Modern Family
Arrested Development
The Office (both versions)
Larry Sanders Show
Malcolm in the Middle

15

If you don’t mind animation, King of the Hill.

16

Raising Hope

17

Parks and Recreation (first season is rough, then it finds its stride)

18

I occ enjoy Big Bang Theory but there the laughtrack drives me crazy.

19

Second My Name is Earl. Also loved Everybody Hates Chris. Neither one lasted for more than a couple of years in local syndication, which I get because of the DVD/streaming boom, but still a shame.

Also, I’ve recently (within the past couple of months) seen a handful of episodes of MAS*H and at least one episode of, believe it or not, Hogan’s Heroes, without laugh tracks. Still plenty funny on their own, and IMHO actually improved because they seemed more like a modern-day movie to me.

20

Are you drawing a distinction between a laugh track and a live audience? IMHO, there’s a major difference. The Big Bang Theory is recorded in front of a live, laughing audience, and does not use a prerecorded laugh track.