The Laugh Track Thread

[FunnyBear]

All Nickelodeon shows have too many laugh tracks, for jokes that aren't funny. Watch an episode of Nick's Sam and Cat and see.

 

[D'Snowth]

Kids don't have a very well-developed sense of humor (or so people think), so the producers for a lot of these shows figure just adding a laugh track in general will make the show seem funny enough to the kids.

It's kind of interesting, because even when watching an episode of H.R. PUFNSTUF, there's a lot of repetition to its laugh track, which gets me to thinking that perhaps the man who supplied most sitcoms back in the 60s and 70s with their laugh tracks figured kids wouldn't really notice as much as adults watching, and just kept using the same particular tape spool of laughs over and over again for that show.

 

[Oscarfan]

All Nickelodeon shows have too many laugh tracks, for jokes that aren't funny. Watch an episode of Nick's Sam and Cat and see.

That depends on the show, really.

I give Dan Schnider all the credit in the world for one thing: he knows how to write a great "word" line. It's just like on 30 Rock, he knows exactly how long it should be, what words sound funny in it and how to fuse it together.

 

[Dr TeethFan]

Big Bang Theory has a live audience but sometimes it sounds like a laugh track.....just sayin...

 

[CensoredAlso]

I went to a Comedy Central taping once and they told us before hand to laugh and act like we're having fun...even if the jokes weren't funny, lol.

 

[D'Snowth]

Big Bang Theory has a live audience but sometimes it sounds like a laugh track.....just sayin...

I get so sick and tired of people complaining about THE BIG BANG THEORY's "laugh track" when it doesn't have one... but then again, there's unfortunate stigma that's been given to a lot of sitcoms today (lookin' at you Drtooth... just sayin...) where if there's laughter heard on the show, live or simulated, it's a "laugh track sitcom"... this is apparently to distinguish it from non-laugh sitcoms like all these mockumentary-style sitcoms... and WHY is this trend STILL going on? It got really old really fast, it doesn't work well for television.

I went to a Comedy Central taping once and they told us before hand to laugh and act like we're having fun...even if the jokes weren't funny, lol.

Producers can never really rely on live audiences for desires reactions, which is one of the reasons why a laugh track can be more effective.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I'm not sure if this came up yet but I've heard that some laugh tracks had been recycled from years before, which sometimes included the laugh of Desi Arnaz. Is there any truth to that?

 

[D'Snowth]

It depends on who, specifically, is supplying the laughs.

But yes, laughs have kind of gone through cycles and rotations since the 60s or so. Some laughs that were used in the early and mid 60s started resurfacing again in the late 70s, and in some cases, more recent shows like FRASIER and BECKER have a few laughs that originated in the 60s.

The original Laff Man himself, Charley Douglass, started recording laughs in the early 50s, but his business didn't really snowball until the late 50s, and over the years, he would record new laughs and other reactions, retire older laughs, then in a number of cases, retire newer reactions and revive older ones. And originally, his was the only company supplying sitcoms with laugh tracks, up till the late 70s, when one of his proteges, Carroll Pratt, spun off into his own company, since Charley's technology was growing outdated: this explains why it doesn't matter what studio produced the show, or what network it was one, they all had the same laugh tracks back in those days.

 

[CensoredAlso]

It depends on who, specifically, is supplying the laughs.

But yes, laughs have kind of gone through cycles and rotations since the 60s or so. Some laughs that were used in the early and mid 60s started resurfacing again in the late 70s, and in some cases, more recent shows like FRASIER and BECKER have a few laughs that originated in the 60s.

The original Laff Man himself, Charley Douglass, started recording laughs in the early 50s, but his business didn't really snowball until the late 50s, and over the years, he would record new laughs and other reactions, retire older laughs, then in a number of cases, retire newer reactions and revive older ones. And originally, his was the only company supplying sitcoms with laugh tracks, up till the late 70s, when one of his proteges, Carroll Pratt, spun off into his own company, since Charley's technology was growing outdated: this explains why it doesn't matter what studio produced the show, or what network it was one, they all had the same laugh tracks back in those days.

Cool, you know a lot about this. Well if you ever do go to New York or California, you could try getting an Internship at The Paley Center.

 

[Drtooth]

I get so sick and tired of people complaining about THE BIG BANG THEORY's "laugh track" when it doesn't have one... but then again, there's unfortunate stigma that's been given to a lot of sitcoms today (lookin' at you Drtooth... just sayin...) where if there's laughter heard on the show, live or simulated, it's a "laugh track sitcom"... this is apparently to distinguish it from non-laugh sitcoms like all these mockumentary-style sitcoms... and WHY is this trend STILL going on? It got really old really fast, it doesn't work well for television.

I think you'd like to know that the Laugh Track sitcom is making a strong comeback. Heck, CBS's Monday line up features only laugh track sitcoms, and the only CBS sitcom still running that doesn't have one is Robin Williams's sitcom. And quite frankly, no one needs to tell me when to laugh at Robin Williams.

My beef with laugh track shows/live studio audience comedies is this... it makes unfunny shows painful to watch. You have an unfunny joke followed by another unfunny joke... all with laughter to tell you "This is where you're supposed to laugh." And bad sitcoms tend to be joke/laugh joke/laugh... telegraphed and repetitive. It's barely noticeable on a good series.