# TV Comedies without Laugh Tracks--Recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963 "2013-09-04T04:01:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bossy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@bossy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bossy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/21 "2013-09-04T19:56:34Z")
sorry for the potential hijack – are there any animated comedies that DO have a laugh track ? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/22 "2013-09-04T20:01:28Z")
> [@bossy](#): > > sorry for the potential hijack – are there any animated comedies that DO have a laugh track ? Flintstones and Jetsons. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/23 "2013-09-04T20:03:27Z")
Be aware that _The Larry Sanders Show_, mentioned upthread, does use a laugh track for the “on air” portions. That should not stop anyone from watching it, however. It is possibly the most brilliant comedy of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/24 "2013-09-04T20:31:26Z")
_The Office_ (UK version, dunno about the US version.) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/25 "2013-09-04T20:58:01Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > 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. Umm, yes it does. They “sweeten” the audience track all the time. (To say the least.) It is extremely noticeable. Which means that it makes the laugh track even more annoying. Even **Mrs. FtG** noticed it once when they used the same burst of laughter 3 times in a row. Compare the audience sound from the [Call Me Maybe](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdLvUkLW5Jk) stunt to any episode. Lots of sporadic stuff. Slower build ups and fall offs. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/26 "2013-09-04T21:02:37Z")
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is another single-camera, laugh-track and audience-free comedy. Season 9 is also premiering tonight on FXX (new channel from Fox/FX that used to be the Fox Soccer Channel.) ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/27 "2013-09-04T21:44:38Z")
> [@jrbor76](#): > > 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. Reruns of My Name is Earl currently air on TBS. Two episodes a day, M-F, though it’s 7AM. But at least it’s on. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/28 "2013-09-04T22:04:04Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > 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. We watched the first episode of Season Four on Netflix last night (finally!), and when there was a laughtrack on Abed’s inner tv-shows, it caused me to realize that “Community” doesn’t have a laughtrack (and doesn’t need it). I’ll also recommend “The IT Crowd” from the UK - I laughed my fricking ASS off at this show! I think Richard Ayoade may be the funniest man alive right now. ETA: I assumed that “The IT Crowd” didn’t have a laughtrack - they don’t, but they are filmed in front of a live audience, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/29 "2013-09-04T22:19:52Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > 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. There is no difference between a laugh track and what you hear on The Big Bang Theory. The audience’s responses and reactions are recorded, and then manipulated and enhanced just the way a regular laugh track would be. In fact, TBBT is probably one of the worst offenders in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/30 "2013-09-04T23:38:41Z")
Star Trek TOS Season 3 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/31 "2013-09-04T23:42:47Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > “Night Court”, Barney’s spiritual successor. The only times _Night Court_ didn’t use their laugh track were when the show got all maudlin and preachy, which it did for about five minutes in the latter half of each episode. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/32 "2013-09-05T02:26:18Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > There are plenty of comedies without laugh tracks—pretty much all the [one-camera sitcoms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_single-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](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZlBUglE6Hc)) They have individual sketches that had laugh tracks, but as a whole not. I’m pretty sure that sketch had a live studio audience, with the first part being shown to them on film, for instance. It even says so under that clip. > [@](#): > > It’s not canned, it was filmed in front of a live studio audience when it was recorded, and therefore, you hear people laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/33 "2013-09-05T02:58:10Z")
Police Squad. ---
**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 5, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/34 "2013-09-05T03:46:03Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Be aware that _The Larry Sanders Show_, mentioned upthread, does use a laugh track for the “on air” portions. That should not stop anyone from watching it, however. It is possibly the most brilliant comedy of all time. It may have been sweetened but the ‘fake show’ segments of\* Larry Sanders\* were shot in front of a real, live audience (and on video tape, as opposed to the behind-the-scenes parts which were shot on film). > [@Munch](#): > > There is no difference between a laugh track and what you hear on The Big Bang Theory. The audience’s responses and reactions are recorded, and then manipulated and enhanced just the way a regular laugh track would be. In fact, TBBT is probably one of the worst offenders in this regard. Well, to be picky about it, originally a true ‘laugh track’ was a decidedly jarring and unrealistic sounding sound effect created by TV audio engineers. It wasn’t just recorded laughter but highly manipulated ‘laugh-like’ noises (speed up, slowed down, and even artificially created). It was the kind you hear on shows made before the 70s (_Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeanie_ etc.) In the 70s they switched to much more realistic sounding (and, again, created) recorded laughter for all single camera filmed shows. Videotaped shows almost universally used a live audience (the verisimilitude of videotape just didn’t work with disembodied, prerecorded laughter). > [@Askance](#): > > They have individual sketches that had laugh tracks, but as a whole not. > > I’m pretty sure that sketch had a live studio audience, with the first part being shown to them on film, for instance. It even says so under that clip. _Monty Python_ \*\*\*NEVER \*\*\*used a laugh track of any kind (except occasionally as an obvious reference to cliched, deliberately unfunny material). They switched between segments shot live on video and location bits shot on film, but the filmed ‘link’ segments were shown to the live audience on studio monitors in between the live segments (more or less) and their laughter was recorded. Sometimes gags in the filmed bits didn’t get laughs or the location was so noisy you couldn’t really hear it. * * * Laugh tracks have been out of favor since the 90s. It would be easier to ask when was the last TV comedy that \*had \*one (i.e. as opposed to a live audience or nothing). _Sports Night_ comes to mind, and it’s laugh track was universally (and deservedly) reviled! ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/35 "2013-09-05T04:09:37Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > _Sports Night_ comes to mind, and it’s laugh track was universally (and deservedly) reviled! Yeah, yet I included Sports Night in my list because: 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. ([Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Night#Overview)) ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/36 "2013-09-05T04:53:44Z")
_Archer_ is one of the funniest shows running, in my opinion, and hasn’t been mentioned yet. I understand some of the appeal of a laugh track as a way to recreate the feeling of watching together with a live audience, but it’s a major turn off to me. I love quick back and forth dialogue and laugh tracks hurt the pacing. I remember seeing a video of an episode of _Seinfeld_ with the soundtrack removed. It was pretty surreal. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/37 "2013-09-05T12:30:10Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > It may have been sweetened but the ‘fake show’ segments of\* Larry Sanders\* were shot in front of a real, live audience (and on video tape, as opposed to the behind-the-scenes parts which were shot on film). Sometimes, but not always. They started that way, and for big episodes they’d do it from time to time, but it definitely is not the case that all the on-air parts were shot in front of an audience. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/38 "2013-09-05T12:49:09Z")
I can’t think of laugh tracks without thinking of _Family Guy_’s “Two and a Half Men is filmed before a live ostrich.” [ostrich] [Ha!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X_Ot0k4XJc) [/ostrich] ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/39 "2013-09-05T13:15:59Z")
I don’t think _Cougar Town_ has a laugh 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:** [September 5, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963/40 "2013-09-05T14:06:43Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > The only times _Night Court_ didn’t use their laugh track were when the show got all maudlin and preachy, which it did for about five minutes in the latter half of each episode. At risk of being whooshed: that show had a studio audience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-comedies-without-laugh-tracks-recommendations/667963.md?page=3)