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Laugh tracks on sitcoms
Uncle_John
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I was reading a thread in D&D and came across the following discussion:
This got me wondering whether or not this is true. Are modern sitcoms actually using the exact same laugh tracks as the early sitcoms?
I googled around and couldn't find a definitive answer. Based on everything I read, it's most likely that modern laugh tracks are updated and re-recorded, with just a few classics still being used. I'm not certain though. They kind of all sound the same.
If anyone has any more info or could help me research this, that'd be awesome :^:
SirUltimos wrote: »SirUltimos wrote: »From what I've read, since the dawn of the laugh track producers and actors and even audiences have hated it, but TV executives absolutely love the laugh track so it stays.
I've always felt vaguely insulted by the laugh track. Like the powers-that-be don't actually believe I'm capable of recognizing a joke, and so feel it neccesary to remind me that they think they're being funny.
Granted, with most of the writing that goes into sitcoms, sometimes the jokes can be a bit hard to spot...
Actually, I believe that's why laugh tracks were originally employed. The execs in the 50's (or whenever the laugh tracks first started) thought the audience would be too retarded to be able to tell a drama from a comedy.
I thought it was to replicate the laughter of the studio audience when the studio audience fell out of use.
Of course, there's also the fun fact that most studios are using the same laugh tracks they recorded in the 40s-60s. And given those people were in their 20s-30s, in many cases you are quite likely listening to the laugh of the dead.
This got me wondering whether or not this is true. Are modern sitcoms actually using the exact same laugh tracks as the early sitcoms?
I googled around and couldn't find a definitive answer. Based on everything I read, it's most likely that modern laugh tracks are updated and re-recorded, with just a few classics still being used. I'm not certain though. They kind of all sound the same.
If anyone has any more info or could help me research this, that'd be awesome :^:
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There's a fairly extensive wikipedia article on it, which I know isn't the best source but I doubt anyone is planting a lot of mis-information on laugh tracks. I'm sure what was said is partially true, I can't see the reason why the studios would need to refurbish their laugh tracks every couple of years. I'm guessing the recordings are probably a decade old. Bad times.
Heh, that is interesting.
I read the wikipedia article, and it doesn't really say anything to answer me question. All it says is that Charlie Douglass' son, Robert, is still running his father's company, Northridge electronics. Which along with other companies still do the sweetening in sitcoms today. Also, Charlie's 'laff-box' has been replaced by a laptop. No info on the actual soundclips being used.
I mean, you can laugh about those rape jokes all you want, but are you going to do it in front of your mother or your kids?
But seriously, they should replace laugh tracks with rimshots.
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Pretty much this. Everybody from watchers to actors seems to find canned tracks distasteful, but it is scientifically proven* multiple times that people laugh more and harder if they hear other people laugh. The more laughing, the more funnier the show feels. And more funnier it is, more likely you are to continue watching it. It is really that simple.
* (Fuller & Sheehy-Skeffington, 1974; Smyth & Fuller, 1972)
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Well, I guess that would make the initial statement true in some aspects and wrong in others.
But there's stuff like the ubiquitous movie newspaper, so studios are fine reusing props and parts that are relatively unimportant.
It's a fucking cartoon. There's no (fake) studio audience.
As for the question in the OP, it's probably often a mix of both. A show's sound designer might start with an old stock laugh track, then add laughs recorded from the show's voice actors into the mix to give it a bit of fresh flavour, or something.
Everybody Loves Raymond and Frasier are two other shows I know used a live studio audience.
How I Met Your Mother is truly a unique show in this regard! They record everything during a five-day period, because there are so many small scenes throughout the show, and then they show the complete, edited-together episode to a live audience and record their reactions. Afterward, they overlay the real, live reactions over the episode.
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Sometimes it just gets crazy how much is reused.
Stuff like the Soup and what not needs laughter or it would be weird as heck. Stuff like Modern Family or Community or Sunny, does not.
The fact that some sitcoms DO use laughtracks seems like a crutch to me. Then again, they are the more popular ones, so, obviously it works.
Personally I don't feel like I need to be told when to laugh and find loud laugh tracks irritating. Also having all of the actors pause for the laugh is really distracting and fake.
But then I also hate people who clap every other joke when they see a stand up comedian. The correct response to a funny joke is to laugh, clapping for 30 seconds after every other joke just wastes time resulting in fewer jokes overall.
Only ONE show uses a true laugh track right now. Actually, as I type this, it is none since How I Met Your Mother ended. Most shows still film before a live audience few, if any supplement the audience reactions with canned responses. There are suspicions of a few shows, but none proven, and all producers deny it. The truth is, they don't NEED to add canned laughter anymore. They have so many microphones set up in the audience that with some careful mixing, they can make a slight chuckle sound like uproarious laughter. They also select their studio audiences VERY carefully. They get people that are very likely to laugh depending on the type of show it is. IT is not like a talk show where you send in a post card requesting tickets and you eventually get tickets. IT would never happen for a 22 episode per year sit-com compared to a late night talk show that does 10 times as many shows.
You can also tell a show that is filmed in front of an audience because the actors have to react to the audience, pausing before some lines to allow the laughter to die down. The most obvious show for this would be Happy Days where the audience would cheer forever every time someone would enter a scene. The show would grind to a halt several times an episode and you could actually see the actors ham it up to the applause fairly often.
Why do they do use live audiences? Because multi-camera studio audience programs are cheaper to produce. They are generally shot "live" as in if they can help it, it literally takes half an hour to shoot the entire episode. No retakes except for mistakes. Even then they may not because they shoot a full dress rehearsal (also in front of an audience) that they can use if they need to. They can also use the audience laughter from the rehearsal if they need to. They will also use rehearsal audience reactions if they did have a mistake, even if they did a retake because the reaction for the first take is obviously more spontaneous. Toward the end of its run, they would start taping Three's Company at 8:00 and they would be back in their dressing rooms by 8:45. Meanwhile, shows like The Office are laborious endeavors, like filming a movie. Take after take, shooting out of order, etc. This is costly. And generally, the live studio audience shows get much better ratings. So they are cheaper to produce and make more money. A win win situation. Not to mention, with multi-cameras, they can even use "bad" takes if they got a good camera angle. If you watch Seinfeld bloopers on YouTube, you can clearly see scenes that were bloopers, yet they used the scene in the final cut of the show. They just cut away to a different camera. Sometimes not quick enough and you can see the actors starting to laugh as the camera cuts away. (The one where Kramer sets of the Merv Griffin set in his living room is a good example of this, and the Festivus feast is another.)
As for the few shows that may still use canned laughter (but deny it.) No...they are not still using the same tracks from the 50s. Why would they? It would not be hard to record new laughter. You can also clearly here audience reactions that are very specific to the show. Sometimes an audience member will repeat a word on a punchline (usually gets edited out but not always.) And it isn't as if they have "canned" responses for every possible punchline word.