Canned laughter / laugh tracks

[Daft]

I was too busy enjoying the show and laughing to notice one.

 

Well that's an example of a well used laughter track.

 

If you watch the beginning of the latest three part special they purposely remove the laughter track. It's a bit weird but that's the point.

[Jonnas]

There are a few reasons for a show to have a laugh track.

It gives the impression you're watching theatre instead of watching a movie, it gives the impression you're watching it with several other people (which is often more enjoyable than if you're watching alone) and it cements the fact that you're watching a light-hearted show (Comedies that don't use laughtracks often use other tricks to cement this feeling like exaggerated camera angles, or a silly soundtrack when appropriated).

 

Removing a laugh track from that Big Bang Theory clip was silly. Without the proper pacing, the joke falls flat. If it was done without the laughs in mind, it would've been done quicker, and you wouldn't be calling it unfunny.

 

That said bad, unfunny shows that add a laughtrack at the moments where you're supposed to laugh are still bad and unfunny, and were probably made by people who don't understand why or how they're used in the first place. In which case, the existence of bad laughtracks isn't the reason the show is bad, it's just a side-effect.

[flameboy]

Well that's an example of a well used laughter track.

 

If you watch the beginning of the latest three part special they purposely remove the laughter track. It's a bit weird but that's the point.

 

But also because it was no longer meant to be a show, it was the reality whereas before we have been watching the show which is an alternate reality they created. Kinda fits why it had no laughter track...wonder if the new series will.

[Daft]

That's what I said.

[EEVILMURRAY]

I think you should stop finding petty reasons to not watch things to be honest. How would you feel if you spent days and weeks making a tv show, then asked people to watch it and they said "no, its got a laughter track". I think you'd think they were pretty shallow, don't you?

That's right people. Don't hate Jav for his love for You've Been Framed.

[MoogleViper]

I was too busy enjoying the show and laughing to notice one.

 

TBH I never took any notice of it until the back to earth special.

[Frank]

For a second there I thought every laugh was canned. Thank god there is also actual people watching and laughing in the audience. It's quite a coincidence, I was also going to mention Will & Grace and Friends which use it nice and effectively. One of my favorites if you remember is in Will & Grace where it's actually shot to show that it's live in front of an audience purposely. It's the one with Karen having some party and the other 3 aren't invited. I loved how the actors were struggling not to laugh, brilliant

 

The laughing I just saw on Eastenders was dire! They bloody put a laugh after every sentance O.o However I loved the slight irony at about 1:14 where that blonde chick says "don't make me laugh" and all you hear is the canned laughter :p

[Ashley]

They (W&G) did two live episodes actually. One had Alec Baldwin! Who is in 30 Rock who are also doing a live episode on October 14th. #randomtrivia1

 

I like how HIMYM is a little different. Its filmed (as there's lots of cutaways) and then shown to an audience, which provides the laughter track #randomtrivia2

 

But I don't mind. Usually I seldom notice. Although some of my favourite comedies don't have one (AD, 30 Rock, The Comeback).

[Jonnas]

I like how HIMYM is a little different. Its filmed (as there's lots of cutaways) and then shown to an audience, which provides the laughter track #randomtrivia2

 

Yeah, it's amusing to see the audience not getting some of the more obscure/subtle jokes.

[flameboy]

That's what I said.

 

I know i was reinforcing the point

[Dan_Dare]

There was a report about this on the Today progame this morning- psychological studies have shown that we're thirty times more likely to laugh at a joke in company than alone- Darwin pinpointed it as a social empathy tool. Laughter tracks are designed to make you feel like part of an audience so you laugh with that same connection.

[Daft]

Adorno said laughter was a social construct. I'm paraphrasing of course, he says it much better;

 

"In the false society laughter is a disease which has attacked happiness and is drawing it into its worthless totality."

 

I love.

 

But just because one is thirty times more likely to laugh in the company of others doesn't mean you are more likely to find something more funny - just that you are more prepared to express it. Laughter is contagious, not to mention it produces endorphins, so there's more positive feedback. However, none of that changes the need for something to be funny for the initial reaction.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Why is laughter a bad thing according to this Adorno?

[Daft]

Don't mind him, he thinks everyone is a brainless cretin. He is correct to a large degree, though.

 

He's not saying that laughter is a bad thing, he's mainly saying that what people pass off as funny or romantic devalues the realities of humour and love. So, as he said, "Love is downgraded to romance." Maybe he'd carry on and say euphoria is downgraded to laughter, sorrow to being an emo (God knows).

 

It all ties into this notion of a cultural code (I believe, anyway). The more we are exposed to a certain medium or skill, the more we appreciate the nuances of it - Someone who listens to only Lady Gaga likely has no idea whether a pianist has played a certain piano piece well or not. A seasoned concert pianist would pick up on all the details and stylings though. It's a bit of an exaggerated example, but I hope it makes sense.

 

It's due to this idea of "popular" or "mass" culture, too, although less directly. Personal possessions and experiences are priceless. As soon as everyone owns the same thing, or experiences the same thing - it looses what makes it precious to us. In a sense you dilute it. It's probably tied into why, if people are depressed, they are told to talk about their problems.

 

 

Don't know if that makes sense. I'm making a lot of links there.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Daft

[Coolness Bears]

I preferred Big Bang Theory without the laughter track. I enjoyed the awkwardness.

 

I think things are funnier/better without them but I'm not that fussed if they are included, although sometimes they laugh and unnecessary things. The shows do feel cheaper because of it.

 

My favourite show the Simpson's doesn't have one and that is the greatest thing ever, if you don't like it, go to Russia!

 

Curb your enthusiasm also lacks a laughter track and that is genius.

 

It's Always Sunny also omits a laughter track and that is also a work of perfection.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Don't mind him, he thinks everyone is a brainless cretin. He is correct to a large degree, though.

 

He's not saying that laughter is a bad thing, he's mainly saying that what people pass off as funny or romantic devalues the realities of humour and love. So, as he said, "Love is downgraded to romance." Maybe he'd carry on and say euphoria is downgraded to laughter, sorrow to being an emo (God knows).

 

It all ties into this notion of a cultural code (I believe, anyway). The more we are exposed to a certain medium or skill, the more we appreciate the nuances of it - Someone who listens to only Lady Gaga likely has no idea whether a pianist has played a certain piano piece well or not. A seasoned concert pianist would pick up on all the details and stylings though. It's a bit of an exaggerated example, but I hope it makes sense.

 

It's due to this idea of "popular" or "mass" culture, too, although less directly. Personal possessions and experiences are priceless. As soon as everyone owns the same thing, or experiences the same thing - it looses what makes it precious to us. In a sense you dilute it. It's probably tied into why, if people are depressed, they are told to talk about their problems.

 

 

Don't know if that makes sense. I'm making a lot of links there.

I get your points, I think. I don't get how the comment at the end about depression and talking about your problems ties in, though.

[Daft]

Just ignore it then.

 

Just, when people say it's good to talk about your problems - I suspect the reason it is good is becuse it de-personalises them, in a sense. Don't keep stuff bottled up, and all that. It's the precious personal.

 

I probably don't make sense.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Daft

[MoogleViper]

Just, when people say it's good to talk about your problems - I suspect the reason it is good is becuse it de-personalises them, in a sense. Don't keep stuff bottled up, and all that. It's the precious personal.

 

I think it's to get a different perspective on things. An unbiased one.

[Daft]

Yeah, but that's part of solidarity, too, no? Which is part of the social.

 

Getting an unbaised view is depersonalising.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Sure, but it's still way better to get things out, no? I know from experience that if I go and bottle up my issues, they only become worse with time. A lot worse.

[Jimbob]

That's right people. Don't hate Jav for his love for You've Been Framed.

 

You mean to say, there are actually people who watch this show??.

[Daft]

Sure, but it's still way better to get things out, no? I know from experience that if I go and bottle up my issues, they only become worse with time. A lot worse.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just using it as an example of how emotions can be diluted, in a sense. I can't really explain it very well.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

 

Yeah, I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just using it as an example of how emotions can be diluted, in a sense. I can't really explain it very well.

I do think I know what you mean.

[Pancake]

 

Yeah, I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just using it as an example of how emotions can be diluted, in a sense. I can't really explain it very well.

 

I get you. When you don't verbalise your depressed meanderings, you can feel like those thoughts are exclusive to you or something. But if you talk then you get a sense of perspective and are reminded that, probably, those thoughts you were having can be related to on at least some level by the other person. It definitely knocks some of the intensity out of the depression, at least temporarily i think.

 

As for canned laughter, i was automatically going to say it's shit, but then i tried to imagine Friends without it, and realised that some shows need it to flow.

 

That said, all the comedies i really care about enough to buy them on dvd, don't have a laugh track. Laugh tracks can work for throwaway type comedies.

 

Malcom in the Middle is a great example of how a convential-ish type comedy can work without a laugh track. It's the kind of show you can imagine having one, but being reeeeally glad that it doesn't.

[mcj metroid]

I like big bang theory but most american shows do NOT know how to use laughter track.

 

and that clip of big bang in the OP isn't fair. When they make these shows they have to pause after the lines, when the laugh track is gone it creates an awkward comedy-rainbow-like pause

 

you Can do this with ANY comedy with a laugh track and it will appear shit.

 

A good example of a good one is MASH. Everytime something seriously happened, usually when they were in surgery.. no laugh track was added and it worked well.

 

MASH was basically scrubs before scrubs

Edited August 6, 2010 by mcj metroid