A laugh track, laughter soundtrack, laughter track, LFN (laughter from nowhere), laugh in a can or a laughing audience is a separate soundtrack A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized recorded sound invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound Sound is a travelling wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations of audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art; some events invite overt audience participation and others allowing only modest clapping and criticism and reception laughter Laughter is an audible expression or the appearance of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy . It may ensue (as a physiological reaction) from jokes, tickling or other stimuli. It is in most cases a very pleasant sensation, made to be inserted into TV Television is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white") or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission. The word is derived from mixed Latin comedy Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was shows and sitcoms A television situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features recurring characters in a common environment such as a home or workplace. The first American television show to incorporate a laugh track was the American ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language sitcom A television situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features recurring characters in a common environment such as a home or workplace The Hank McCune Show in 1950.[1]

Contents

History

Before television, audiences often experienced comedy, whether performed live on stage, on radio, or in a movie, in the presence of other audience members. Television producers attempted to recreate this atmosphere in its early days by introducing the sound of laughter or other crowd reactions into the soundtrack of television programs.

Historically, live audiences could not be relied upon to laugh at the correct moment. Other times, the audiences could laugh too long or too loud, sounding unnatural and forced or throwing off the performers' rhythms.[2] CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major American television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of the company's logo. It has also been called the " sound engineer Charley Douglass noticed these, as he put it, "God-awful" responses, and took it upon himself to remedy the situation.[3] If a joke did not get the desired chuckle, Douglass inserted additional laughter. If the live audience chuckled for too long, Douglass gradually muted the guffaws. This editing technique became known as "sweetening Sweetening is a term in television that refers to the use of a laugh track in addition to a live studio audience. The laugh track is used to "enhance" the laughter for television audiences, especially in cases where a joke or scene intended to be funny does not draw the expected response", in which pre-recorded laughter is used to augment the response of the real studio audience if they did not react as strongly as desired.[3] Douglass eventually spent countless hours extracting laughter, applause, and other reactions (right down to people moving around in their seats) from live soundtracks he had recorded (mainly from the dialogue-less The Red Skelton Show The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for almost two decades, from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971) in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as well). He then placed the recorded sounds into a huge tape machine, dubbed the "laff box."

At first, the laugh track was used sparingly to "sweeten" live shows like The Jack Benny Program Jack Benny , born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film. Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny played the role of the comic penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, and often playing (Benny insisted the canned "audience reactions" be "softer" and "lower"[citation needed]); as a result, its invention essentially went by unnoticed.[4] By the end of the 1950s, live comedy transitioned from film to videotape Videotape is a means of recording images and sound on to magnetic tape as opposed to movie film or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram. In most cases, a helical scan video head rotates against the moving tape to record the data in two, which allowed for editing during post-production. However, editing a prerecorded live show caused bumps and gaps on the soundtrack.[5] Douglass was then called upon to "bridge or fill" these gaps. Eventually, both performers and producers began to realise the power behind these prerecorded chuckles. Comedian Milton Berle Milton Berle was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), in 1948 he was the first major star of US television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr. Television to millions during TV's golden age, while witnessing a post-production editing session, once said, "as long as we are here, this joke didn't get all that we wanted." After Douglass inserted a guffaw after the failed joke, Berle reportedly commented, "See? I told you it was funny."[2]

By the early 1960s, live television became cost prohibitive, and producers began to realize how much simpler it was to film a show without a live audience. Douglass was brought in to simulate an entire audience, as the consensus was that live audiences were tense, nervous and rarely laughed on cue. Filming in a studio had its limitations as well, as half the audience could hardly see or hear the show from where they were sitting. After a live show was filmed, producers were faced with the onerous task of removing all overdone or annoying live audience reaction. Douglass would then be recruited during post-production to "desweeten" the episode in question.[6] Eventually, more genuine chuckles were removed and replaced with chuckles from the laugh track, making live shows nearly obsolete. Douglass went from enhancing a soundtrack to literally reorchestrating audience reactions.[4]

Originally, filmed shows that were produced without the benefit of a live audience were difficult for Douglass because there was not enough space to insert a decent amount of laughter. Eventually, writers were conscious of the laugh track, and began writing and timing scripts around it. Directors began leaving spaces for audience reactions so that Douglass could edit with greater ease[6] (watching an episode of M*A*S*H on DVD without the laugh track, for instance, accentuates the awkward pause left for audience response).

Charley Douglass’s famous invention was properly tested in 1965 when producers were trying to launch Hogan's Heroes Hogan's Heroes is an American television situation comedy that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to July 4, 1971, on the CBS network. Starring Bob Crane as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, the show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. The program featured Werner Klemperer as Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the. CBS screened two versions of the same episode to measure audience reactions; one contained the laugh track, the other was silent. As Hogan's Heroes required cerebral viewing, the audience watching the silent version were left confused, and the episode failed miserably. The version with the canned laughter succeeded and CBS gave the show a green light. After this incident, no sitcom went on the air without a touch-up from Charley Douglass’s laff box.[2]

Shows like The Beverly Hillbillies The Beverly Hillbillies is an American television sitcom. Panned by many entertainment critics of its time, it quickly became a ratings success for CBS. The series was about a hillbilly family transplanted to Beverly Hills, California after finding oil on their land. A Filmways production, the series aired on CBS from September 26, 1962 – featured an invasive audience response, with the laugh track virtually humming through an entire episode.

Shows like Bewitched Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York , Dick Sargent (1969–1972), Agnes Moorehead and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife. Bewitched continues to be seen, The Munsters The Munsters is a 1960s American television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. The show was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era, such as Leave It to Beaver. It ran concurrently with the The Addams Family. Although the Addamses were well-to-do, the Munsters were a more blue- and The Beverly Hillbillies The Beverly Hillbillies is an American television sitcom. Panned by many entertainment critics of its time, it quickly became a ratings success for CBS. The series was about a hillbilly family transplanted to Beverly Hills, California after finding oil on their land. A Filmways production, the series aired on CBS from September 26, 1962 – are virtually showcases of Douglass’s editing skill; the more outlandish the show, the more invasive the laugh track was. Conversely, low-key shows, like The Andy Griffith Show The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife , a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and My Three Sons My Three Sons is a situation comedy about a Scots/Irish-American family , that ran from September 29, 1960, to August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of an aeronautical engineer and widower Steve Douglas, played by Fred MacMurray, and his three sons. The series was a cornerstone of the CBS lineup in the 1960s. With 380 episodes, resulted in the laugh track chuckling barely above a whimper. Nearly every sitcom or variety show had canned laughter dubbed onto their soundtrack. Even the few remaining live sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Lucy Show The Lucy Show is a television series that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program for its second season, remained. For the first three were sweetened with canned laughter.[6]

Charley Douglass and the mysterious "laff box"

From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Charley Douglass had a monopoly on the expensive and painstaking "laff" business.[7] By 1960, nearly every prime time show in America was "sweetened" by Douglass’ laff box. As TV Guide In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews. Some issues have also featured horoscope listings and crossword puzzles critic Dick Hobson put it in 1966, the Douglass family were "the only laugh game in town."[8]

The Douglass family was quite eccentric, with Charley himself being one of the most talked about men in television history. Production studios became accustomed to seeing Douglass shuttling from studio to studio to mix in his manufactured laughs during post-production.[7] When it came time to "lay in the laughs", the producer would literally direct Douglass where and when to insert the type of laugh requested. Inevitably, arguments arose between Douglass and the producer, but in the end, the producer always won.[8]

After taking his directive, Douglass would then go to work at creating the audience, out of sight from the producer or anyone else present at the studio.[8] Very few in the industry ever witnessed Douglass using his mysterious "laff box", and he was notoriously secretive about his work.[9]

The one-of-a-kind device was tightly secured with padlocks, stood more than two feet tall, and operated like an organ. Douglass used a keyboard to select the style, gender and age of the laugh as well as a foot pedal to time the length of the reaction. Inside the padlocked concoction was an endless array of recorded chuckles, yocks, and belly laughs; exactly 320 laughs on 32 tape loops, 10 to a loop. Each loop contained 10 individual audience laughs spliced end-to-end, whirling around simultaneously waiting to be cued up.[8] Astute listeners will notice that the bulk of the chuckles always laughed in the same order repeatedly. Experts began to watch sitcoms and knew exactly which recurrent guffaws were next, even if they were watching an episode for the first time. Frequently, Douglass would combine different laughs, either long or short in length. Attentive viewers could spot when he decided to mix chuckles together to give the effect of a more diverse audience.[4]

Controversy and bucking the trend in America

The practice of simulating an audience reaction was controversial from the very beginning.[10] A silent minority of producers despised the idea of a prerecorded audience reaction. Inventor Douglass was aware that his "laff box" was maligned by critics and actors, but also knew that the utilization of a laugh track became standard practice and as a result, a necessity in the industry.[10] Leading industry experts reasoned that laugh tracks were a necessary evil in prime time television: without the canned laughter, a show was doomed to fail.[4] It was believed that the absence of guffaws meant American viewers could not tell if the particular show was indeed a comedy.[6] That did not stop several from forgoing the laugh track entirely:

1970s: Live TV makes a comeback

Though the use of canned laughter reached its peak in the 1960s, the trend began to reverse with the 1971 debut of All in the Family All in the Family is an American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, the show was revamped, and given a new title, Archie Bunker's Place. This version of the sitcom lasted another four years, ending its run in 1983 (CBS, 1971–79). As proclaimed over the closing credits each week ("All in the Family was recorded on tape before a live audience" or "All in the Family was played to a studio audience for live responses.") the sitcom relied upon live, unprompted audience responses. On rare occasions, the studio audience laughter was sweetened Sweetening is a term in television that refers to the use of a laugh track in addition to a live studio audience. The laugh track is used to "enhance" the laughter for television audiences, especially in cases where a joke or scene intended to be funny does not draw the expected response with canned laughter.

The resurgence of live audiences began to take hold with the success of All in the Family and The Odd Couple. Other sitcoms to utilize the live format with sweetening performed during post-production were The Mary Tyler Moore Show The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 to March 19, 1977. The program was a television breakthrough, with the first never-married, independent career woman as the central character: (CBS, 1970-77), The Bob Newhart Show The Bob Newhart Show is the name of two different television series, both starring comedian Bob Newhart. The better-known is a situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired on CBS from September 16, 1972 to April 1, 1978. Newhart portrayed a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers (CBS, 1972-78) and Maude Maude is a half-hour American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978 (CBS, 1972-78).[4]

Jack Klugman Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American television and film actor, known primarily for his roles in sitcoms, movies and television. He is best-known for his role as Tony Randall's sloppy roommate, Oscar Madison, in The Odd Couple shown on American television during the 1970s, and for his starring role in Quincy, M.E., in the 1970s and Tony Randall Tony Randall was an American actor , comic, producer and director expressed displeasure during the first season of The Odd Couple (ABC, 1970–75), which utilized a laugh track without a live audience. Theatre veteran Randall, in particular, resented the usage of the laugh track, and wanted to perform in front of a live audience. ABC relented and by the second season, The Odd Couple was filmed with three cameras (vs. a single camera the previous season) and performed like a stage play in front of a studio audience. Douglass’ "laff box", however, was used in post-production to sweeten and smooth out the live reactions.[4]

The sitcom Happy Days (ABC, 1974–84) mirrored The Odd Couple scenario. Its first two seasons utilized only a laugh track, and by third season, shifted over to a live audience with sweetening done in post-production.[4]

Usage in America, post-1990

Sitcoms produced using the single camera style like NBC's The Office have won praise for not including a laugh track.

Laugh-track-free production has been gaining ground in the U.S. since the early 1990s. The Larry Sanders Show won critical praise for not including a laugh track.[16] Such shows are often produced in the more expensive single-camera style usually reserved for one-hour drama, using on-location shooting and high production values, as opposed to the standard multi-camera sitcom sound stage. Recent live action North American sitcoms that adopted this style include the following:

Animated shows, such as The Simpsons, King of the Hill, South Park, and Family Guy, have also gone silent, except on the very rare occasion that canned laughter is used comically for a single joke, usually as a parody of a sitcom. However, sitcoms made by It's a Laugh Productions, such as That's So Raven, use laugh tracks, which can be very repetitive.[17] One paying attention can hear the same laughs and other reactions on shows produced by It's a Laugh.

Since the 2000s, shows with laugh track became a rarity in the dispute for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2000, of the five nominated shows, only Sex and the City did not use a laugh track. Of the seven shows nominated in 2009, only How I Met Your Mother uses a laugh track.

Sweetening is a common practice in live awards shows such as the Emmy Awards, the Academy Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards. The microphones onstage often do not fully pick up the audience's laughter and reaction to the monologues as audiences are not microphoned in live awards shows due to the amount of conversation that takes place during filming. Laughter and applause are often sweetened and edited prior to public viewing, or if aired live, are done on the spot via a 7-second delay. (The same crew is also used to mute curse words and controversial statements from award winners). The Kids Choice Awards heavily uses laugh tracks that feature adults despite the fact that the audience is composed of mostly pre-teens.

Cartoons and Children's Shows

Prime time live-action shows were not the only genre to employ a laugh track, as the canned chuckles were eventually used in some prime time animated television series that would not employ a live audience. The Flintstones and The Jetsons incorporated laugh tracks.[18]

Afternoon cartoon shows employed the laugh track on occasion as well. The first episodes of Rocky and His Friends utilized one, as did The Banana Splits Adventure Hour. Eventually, the laugh track entered the world of Saturday morning cartoons, beginning with the Filmation-produced The Archie Show in 1968. Many other Filmation shows employed a laugh track, including Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, The Brady Kids, Groovy Goolies and The New Adventures of Gilligan. The studio ceased using the chuckles by 1979.[19]

By 1969, nearly all cartoons produced for the Saturday morning fare followed Filmation's lead and included Douglass’s laugh track, including The Pink Panther Show, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The Wombles and Josie and the Pussycats.[4]

Making Their Own

Hanna-Barbera

Hanna-Barbera opted not to pay for Charley Douglass’ services at the dawn of the 1970s. Hits like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and Josie and the Pussycats employed a laugh track, but Hanna-Barbera looked for any chance to cut costs. As a result, instead of utilizing a full laugh track, a sound engineer at the Hanna-Barbera studios isolated approximately half a dozen canned chuckles from Douglass’ vast library. Mixed with an almost tinny, metallic sound to it, there were approximately five mild laughs, plus one or two uncontrollable belly-laughs (one contains a very audible woman cackling at the tail end). This "limited" laugh track did not contain any looping tapes with 10 assorted laughs per tape, no endless variety of chuckles and no titter track. When audience reaction was needed, the limited laughs were dubbed repeatedly. On occasion, two or three of the chuckles were combined to give the effect that there was more diversity to the already limited laugh track.[4]

Hanna-Barbera also used the limited laugh track when they produced Wait Till Your Father Gets Home in 1972, their first prime time animated television show since the demise of The Flintstones in 1966.[4]

Critics took note of the inferior sounding laugh track permeating Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning fare. The same prerecorded laugh can be heard after nearly every punchline, which does not go unnoticed by the astute viewer. The fact that the treble was mixed far too high for the soundtrack it accompanies only drew attention to the falsity of the practice. Several shows that are victim of the abridged laugh track are The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, Jabberjaw, Hong Kong Phooey, Jeannie, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, The Flintstone Comedy Hour and Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!. On occasion, the studio would slow down the laugh track for a greater effect; this was done in Season 2 of The New Scooby-Doo Movies.[4]

Rankin/Bass

Rankin/Bass's The Jackson 5ive featured an inferior laugh track dubbed onto its soundtrack, drawing attention to the falsity of the practice.

Animation studio Rankin/Bass also experimented with creating their own laugh track for The Jackson 5ive Saturday morning cartoon show. Like Hanna-Barbera, Rankin/Bass isolated several snippets of canned chuckles from Douglass’ library, and inserted them onto the soundtrack. Unlike Hanna-Barbera, though, the chuckles were nothing but loud eruptions of laughter; mild jokes received unnatural bouts of laughter, while other times, the laughter would erupt mid-sentence. The poorly edited laugh track emphasized the artificial nature of canned laughter twice as much as Hanna-Barbera's version; as a result, Rankin/Bass ceased using laugh tracks after The Jackson 5ive mishap.[4] Rankin/Bass's laugh track, however, did provide a better variety of laughs (regardless of the intensity of each laugh), compared to the extremely limited Hanna-Barbera laugh track. The laugh track also was more up-to-date; most of the chuckles used on the Rankin/Bass laugh track were used on a regular basis during the 1971-1972 and 1972-1973 television seasons.[20]

The Muppet Show

Unlike the two "silent" pilots before it, The Muppet Show series incorporated its own laugh track onto the show, but in a completely different manner; because the variety program was modeled after vaudeville, oftentimes the viewers would be treated to glimpse of the theater audience and their reactions to The Muppets' antics on stage (though the audience was composed of Muppet characters as well). As the show was produced overseas at the ATV studios in Elstree, England, Jim Henson and his Muppet production team were able to bypass Douglass’ easily recognizable laughs. New laughs, chuckles, and even applauses were recorded for the first few episodes so they would sound fresh and new. Some of these guffaws were provided by the actual cast and crew members reacting to the playbacks and dailies of the episodes they were taping. Eventually, The Muppet Show recycled these same chuckles repeatedly over its five year run, establishing its own one-of-a-kind laugh track. A byproduct of this convincing laugh track was the belief by viewers that The Muppet Show was indeed taped in front of a live audience, some even asking for tickets to attend tapings. From time to time, various Muppet characters or guest stars would break the fourth wall and acknowledge the use of the laugh track. In one episode, Kermit the Frog is asked if he felt a gag or routine would be funny enough for the show, to which he replied "That's up to the laugh track".[citation needed]

The Kroffts

From 1969 to 1975, Sid and Marty Krofft incorporated a full laugh track onto all of their Saturday morning children's shows (save for Land of the Lost, which was more dramatic in nature); by 1976, however, the Kroffts transitioned from high concept children's fare to variety programs. While shows like Donny & Marie, The Brady Bunch Hour, Pink Lady and Jeff, and even their 1987 syndicated sitcom D.C. Follies were mostly taped in large studios, before a live audience, some elements were shot in smaller studios, that could not hold an audience of any size. Because of this, the Kroffts too isolated several chuckles from Douglass's library to incorporate into the soundtrack of these shows, for both sweetening, and to maintain continuity; the laughs the Kroffts isolated were of a better variety, ranging from loud belly laughs, to soft titters: some of these laughs were older (from the laugh track of the mid-to-late 60s), while others were of the current 1976/1977 television season, just before the real television laugh track was overhauled by the 1977/1978 television season.[citation needed]

Game Shows

During the 1970s through the early 1980s, some TV corporations even managed to isolate several of Douglass' guffaws and add them for sweetening on game shows (often played when a contestant or the host says something funny and only a small reaction comes from the live audience). One of the leading producers to do this was Chuck Barris, whose game shows were designed mainly to entertain the audience, as well as play for prizes. Many of his productions, including The Newlywed Game, The Gong Show, and 3's a Crowd, had used the isolated chuckles for sweetening.[21]

Children's Shows: 2000s

Laugh tracks are used extensively in Disney Channel original sitcoms such as That's So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Cory in the House, and more recently in Sonny With a Chance, Wizards of Waverly Place, The Suite Life on Deck, and Hannah Montana, but all these shows still shoot in front of a live studio audience. There are some exceptions, as Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, Phil of the Future and more recently JONAS do not use a laugh track and are not shot in front of a studio audience nor use a multi-camera format. Disney's top competitor, Nickelodeon, also utilize laugh tracks on shows such as iCarly, True Jackson VP and Drake and Josh due to their decision to do away with their now-defunct original studios.[citation needed]

Glenn Martin, DDS, a claymation show produced by Nickelodeon, utilized a laugh track for the first seven episodes only, then ceased its usage. Series creator Eric Fogel commented, "It took too much internal thinking".[citation needed]

Laugh tracks outside the U.S.

Britain

In 20th century Britain, most sitcoms were taped before live audiences to provide natural laughter. Other comedies, such as the The Royle Family and The Office, which are presented in the mode of cinéma vérité rather than in the format of a traditional sitcom, do not feature any audience laughter.

The League of Gentlemen was originally broadcast with a laughter track, but after the first two series this was dropped.[22] The pilot episode of the satirical series Spitting Image was also broadcast with a laughter track. This idea was quickly dropped as it was felt that the series worked better without one.[citation needed] Some later editions, in 1992 (Election Special) and 1993 (two episodes) did use a studio audience, and therefore a laughter track, as the format of these editions included a spoof Question Time.[citation needed]

Additionally, some programmes have been shown to a live audience, though they were not filmed live. Many scenes of the BBC's Last of the Summer Wine are filmed outdoors but the show's producers, while confirming that the show is filmed without an audience, point out that the laughter is not "manufactured" but instead is a recording of the genuine response of a studio audience to whom the completed episode is shown. This is a technique which is frequently used for programmes that feature a lot of location filming (for which an audience could obviously not be present) or which involve a lot of post-production effects work. A prime example of this is Red Dwarf; the first six series were shot partly in front of a live audience and, due to special effects scenes, filmed but shown to the audience later. This caused a lot of problems, so Series 7 was filmed without an audience but was shown to one to get 'live' laughter. Series 8 saw the return of the live audience. The show's return, Red Dwarf: Back to Earth does not use a laugh track.

Canada

Most contemporary Canadian television comedies are laugh track-free (e.g., The Newsroom, Made in Canada, Trailer Park Boys, The Jon Dore Television Show, Good Morning World, Corner Gas, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Billable Hours, etc.), but some still rely on laugh tracks in some form. Other comedies such as The Kids in the Hall, Basil Brush, The Red Green Show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer Report, and Royal Canadian Air Farce, feature the laughter of a live audience.

In the case of The Red Green Show, the audience itself is incorporated into the show's format, playing members of Possum Lodge, the fictional setting of the show.

Asia

In parts of East Asia, laugh tracks are often loud and exaggerated in comedy-variety shows despite them being filmed with small live audiences.

While contemporary sitcoms in Mainland China use a live studio audience, the Shanghai-based sitcom iPartment uses a laugh track despite being filmed in a single-camera format.

Support and Legacy

Si Rose, executive producer for Sid and Marty Krofft, convinced the Kroffts to use laugh tracks on their puppet shows such as H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Lidsville, and others. Rose stated, "The laugh track was a big debate, they (the Kroffts) said they didn't want to do it, but with my experience with night-timers, night-time started using laugh tracks, and it becomes a staple, because the viewer watches the program and there's a big laugh every time because of the laugh track, and then when you see a show that's funny and there's no laugh because of no laugh track, it becomes a handicap, so I convinced them of that. Good or bad."[citation needed]. Marty Krofft confirmed that he and Sid were initially reluctant to use a laugh track on their shows, but agreed that it was a necessity.

In a 2007 DVD interview, Filmation producer/founder Lou Scheimer praised the laugh track for its usage on The Archie Show. "Why a laugh track?" Scheimer asked. "Because you feel that you are watching the program with a group of people instead of being alone." Scheimer confirmed that The Archie Show was the first Saturday morning cartoon to utilize a laugh track.[23]

Television Historian Ben Glenn, II once commented that the laugh tracks used today are radically different than the "carefree" quality of the laughter of past:

“ Today’s sitcoms are based mostly on witty reparté and no longer rely on outlandish situations or sight gags, such as you would see in an episode of Mister Ed or The Munsters or Bewitched—and today’s muted laughs reflect that. Generally, laughs are now much less aggressive and more subdued; you no longer hear unbridled belly laughs or guffaws. It's 'intelligent' laughter—more genteel, more sophisticated. But definitely not as much fun. There was an optimism and carefree quality in those old laugh tracks. Today, the reactions are largely 'droll' just the way in which they sound.

In the past, if the audience was really having a good time, it shone through. Audience members seemed less self-conscious and they felt free to laugh as loudly as they wanted. Maybe that's a reflection of contemporary culture.

In the 50s, the laughs were generally buoyant and uproarious, although somewhat generic, because Douglass hadn’t yet refined his structured laugh technique. In the 60s, however, you could hear more individual responses—chortles, cackles from both men and women. The reactions were much more orderly and organized. I can actually tell you the exact year that a show was produced, just by listening to its laugh track.[9]

 ”

See also

References

  1. ^ Pollick, Michael: What is a Laugh Track?, Retrieved on 31 May 2007
  2. ^ a b c Kitman, Marvin. "Don't Make Me Laugh," Channels of Communication, August/September 1981
  3. ^ a b Levin, Eric (April 8, 1978). "Who does all that laughing?". TV Guide.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Iverson, Paul: "The Advent of the Laugh Track" Hofstra University archives; February 1994.
  5. ^ "The Talk of the Town: Laughs". The New Yorker. September 10, 1984.
  6. ^ a b c d e Hobson, Dick (July 9, 1966). "Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Laff Box". TV Guide.
  7. ^ a b Washington Post Thursday, April 24, 2003; Page B06: "Charles Douglass, 93; Gave TV Its Laugh Track"
  8. ^ a b c d Hobson, Dick (July 2, 1966). "The Hollywood Sphinx and his Laff Box". TV Guide.
  9. ^ a b Interview with Ben Glenn II, Television Historian
  10. ^ a b variety.com
  11. ^ Chipmunk history
  12. ^ A Charlie Brown Christmas: History at wikipedia
  13. ^ The Official Sledge Hammer! Website - History
  14. ^ AVRev.com
  15. ^ Another MASH DVD review mentioning audio choices
  16. ^ Judge, Michael [1], Retrieved on May 31, 2007
  17. ^ That's So Raven, Retrieved on July 31, 2009
  18. ^ Glenn II, Ben: The Laugh Track, Retrieved on August 12, 2007
  19. ^ Observations
  20. ^ Observations
  21. ^ Observations.
  22. ^ Andrews, Scott: Review - The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, Retrieved on May 31, 2007
  23. ^ 2007 Interview with Lou Scheimer from The Archie Show: The Complete Series (1968) DVD, Disc 2

External links

Categories: Laughter | Television terminology

 

The above information uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers]
This page was last archived by our server on Mon Jul 19 07:13:01 2010. [ refresh local cache ]
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.

[Hide]▼
'Laugh Track' News
Tempest digs into roots with new album - Press & Sun-Bulletin
news.google.com
Tempest digs into roots with new album

Press & Sun-Bulletin

The cover of the 1967 Grass Roots hit "Let's Live For Today" ? which also is the first track on Tempest's new CD, "Another Dawn" ? was suggested by the ...
Google News Search: Laugh track,
Mon Jul 19 07:13:02 2010
'Laugh Track' Blogs
The Least Read Blog on the Web: May the laugh track be with you
leastread.blogspot.com
The Least Read Blog on the Web: May the laugh track be with you

John

ue, 06 Apr 2010 15:53:00 GM

May the . laugh track. be with you. Lucasfilm is working on developing a Star Wars sitcom. About the only thing keeping me from weeping and pulling my hair out is the fact that they're bringing in folks from Robot Chicken to consult. ...

Google Blogs Search: Laugh track,
Mon Jul 19 07:13:03 2010
[Hide]▲