Canned Laughter

Shining Raichu

Shining Raichu

Expect me like you expect Jesus.
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    [PokeCommunity.com] Canned Laughter



    One media phenomenon that has divided television viewers for years is the laugh track. Some sitcoms use them while others don't and as the public gets increasingly frustrated with them, it's becoming more and more difficult for the sitcoms who choose the format which facilitates the laugh track to get any sort of acclaim.

    More and more viewers are beginning to find the laugh track condescending with its implication that we cannot think for ourselves, and it ruins their enjoyment of the show altogether. Others have simply learned to tune it out and no longer even notice when it plays. What are your feelings on canned laughter? Does it bother you at all?
     
    I don't like laugh tracks, but I understand why they're used. Oddly, audiences test better to shows with the laugh track than they do with the very same show without the laugh track. As if they have to be told it's okay to laugh. I don't think it's prompting, so much.

    Thankfully they're not used in movies, that'd be really weird.

    I do like live audience laughter though. "Everybody Loves Raymond" was taped in front of a live audience, so those are real laughs you are hearing. Mostly. A laugh track was used for any reshoots, so they wouldn't have to bring an audience in again.

    "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" had natural audience laughter in its first couple of seasons. Then they had prompted laughter. You know, neon laugh signs. I'm not sure why. The natural laughter really lends itself better to the format of that show. And it was often funny when something flopped and the performers tried to recoup. XD

    "Seinfeld" is notorious for canned laughter. But, in all honesty, I am laughing at every moment that laughter is playing anyway so I don't notice it. I excuse it because it would rehearse and test in front of a live audience, but not tape. They do see to pause for a laugh, as if they know it's coming - and that's because they had the audience before. So, it's semi-natural in how it comes off.

    I would laugh at the same spots without the laugh track. "Curb You Enthusiasm" is the same kind of humour, but it's sans laugh track. And it works well.

    Canned laughter, prompting, even natural audience reactions don't work at all in certain settings. Shows like The Office for example. It would be a mess.
     
    I hate it, always did. It's purely distracting.
    I find it forgivable in sketch shows though.
     
    For what it's worth, it's VERY rare that sitcoms use canned laughter nowadays. The only show I can think of off the top of my head that does so is How I Met Your Mother, and that's only because its shooting style (of multi-camera aesthetic combined with single-camera pace) doesn't really allow for a studio audience, even though it looks like a show that would require one.

    Most of the other shows that use an audience, however, have a tendency to get said audience all riled up with the use of warm-up comedians, funky music, and plying them with alcohol during later takes.

    As for whether canned laughter is good, I'd say no. A studio audience, while it can be pandered to, is the first test that a comedic team have of knowing if their jokes are working; they provide market research, albeit limited in scope. Canned laughter just provides the laughs without the context behind them, so I'm not really a fan.
     
    I don't really notice canned laughter when I'm watching sitcoms. If its use was stopped altogether, then that would be fine. If it wasn't, then whatever.
     
    It's not that easy for me to tell whether laughter on a sitcom, or any other show, is from the studio audience or a track.
    One of my favorite sitcoms, Cheers, was filmed before a live studio audience, as mentioned by a random character in voice-over while the Cheers sign is displayed at the start of each episode.

    However, If I hear a laugh or groan being done a particular way repeatedly, then it's from a track. (One show I know regularly using applause, laugh, and groan tracks is Wheel Of Fortune, especially episodes taped at CBS Television City from 1989 to 1995, where a pre-recorded audience groan could be heard almost every time a letter was called that was not in the puzzle.)

    Laugh tracks have also been used on animated shows, one that I know of is "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!"
     
    Last edited:
    Raizhu said:
    I don't really notice canned laughter when I'm watching sitcoms. If its use was stopped altogether, then that would be fine. If it wasn't, then whatever.
    Click to expand...

    Same here.

    If I do notice it then I still wouldn't know whether it was canned or studio audience.

    So I'm pretty indifferent.
     
    Otter Mii-kun said:
    It's not that easy for me to tell whether laughter on a sitcom, or any other show, is from the studio audience or a track.
    One of my favorite sitcoms, Cheers, was filmed before a live studio audience, as mentioned by a random character in voice-over while the Cheers sign is displayed at the start of each episode.

    However, If I hear a laugh or groan being done a particular way repeatedly, then it's from a track. (One show I know regularly using applause, laugh, and groan tracks is Wheel Of Fortune, especially episodes taped at CBS Television City from 1989 to 1995, where a pre-recorded audience groan could be heard almost every time a letter was called that was not in the puzzle.)

    Laugh tracks have also been used on animated shows, one that I know of is "Scooby Doo, Where Are You!"
    Click to expand...
    Oh yeah, that's right! I forgot about Scooby. I think Flintstones used to it

    It really made no sense, but I think it added to the charm
     
    I tend not to care much about it. It doesn't bother me at all when they use it. Sometimes, I like when they do, because I will find something funny that they didn't use the laugh track to, and it makes me think "Ha! I laughed when they didn't. :3"
     
    I find it hard to tell the difference between the laugh track and real audience laughter, but they're both essentially the same in that they subconsciously tell you when you should laugh. I do understand why some people find that patronising. But growing up with shows like Friends, Frasier and Will & Grace, you become a pro at tuning it out. It doesn't bother me at all.
     
    I'm one of those who can't tell if it's real or not. I'm not swayed either way. I'll laugh when I find something particularly funny.
     
    This post was made in front of a live studio audience

    Ah, the laugh track, better known as "the Network executives beleif that people are too stupid to know what's funny, so the TV has to laugh for them", this trope is ABUSED by Disney Channel, as there is not one show that isn't animated and has a laugh track.
     
    The weird thing with childrens' sitcoms with laugh-tracks is that you can realllllllllly tell that the laugh track is there due to the low pitch of the laughter. Presumably if you stuck the audience that would come to see Two and a Half Men to see Hannah Montana, the latter show would not get nearly enough laughs. And yet the laugh track used on kids sitcoms is that of fully-grown adults, not children. It's really quite disconcerting, if you think about it.
     
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