Is lack of trust in their comedy or they really think the public is that dumb they need to know when to laugh?
Or is a by product of its former format, the live laughs with a crowd while filming?
They started using laugh tracks back in the 50s, but they became the standard in the 80s due to the attack on Fran Drescher. At that time, sitcoms were still commonly recorded in front of a live studio audience.
In 1985, she and her husband were brutally attacked in their home by two men who had stalked her from a live taping. In response, the studio went to a closed set for security and hired Central Casting “laughers,” that were eventually replaced by a laugh track. Other sitcoms followed suit when studios saw the ratings and cost benefits to a laugh track over taping in front of a live studio audience.
Laugh tracks were extensively used long before the Fran Drescher thing though?
Nearly every show I watched from the 60’s to the early 80’s used them. It was noticeable when there wasn’t a laugh track.
Because people watching TV alone are more likely to laugh, and are more likely to rate the show better.
We’re social creatures. The laugh track makes us feel like we’re in a social situation. I think different shows use this more or less cynically.
Not sure if my brain just works differently but I’ve always felt isolated by the laugh track. It’s always made me very uncomfortable to watch a show that isn’t funny and hear people that aren’t me laughing and clapping constantly. Makes me feel like I’m being manipulated by aliens into feeling fake joy or something, I hate it.
It’s weird, I grew up watching shows with laugh tracks but now they make me cringe. I can watch reruns of those old shows no problem but if I see a new show and it has a laugh track I’m immediately put off.
I believe its a byproduct of originally being filmed in front of a studio
So you’ll know it’s supposed to be funny.
If you’ve ever watched the the videos of the Big Bang Theory sitcom with the laugh tracks removed, you’ll notice it feels a lot more like a group of people being shitty and verbally abusive towards each other and it’s not all that funny without being told to laugh.
Why go through the trouble of writing an actual funny dialogue when you can just tell the viewers it’s funny and they’ll laugh?
It’s needed for some shows like Big Bang Theory to know when a joke was " funny "
Have you ever watched the youtube videos that remove the laugh tracks from the big bang theory. It’s almost too cringe to watch.
I am not a fan of The Big Bang Theory by any means, but removing the laugh track on any show will make the jokes less funny due to the pacing for edits. They hold on shots longer to add in laughs… this makes for long uncomfortable silences when laughter is removed. And timing is very important in comedy.
If someone removes the laugh track, they should also remove the long silences to give it a better chance. I don’t think it would help TBBT much for me, but comedy is subjective.
You are partially correct. The pacing is a thing, for sure.
But if you do watch those videos there are plenty of non-joke pauses for laughs. I can recall one where one of the guys walks up to the others sitting in the cafeteria and says “hey guys”… pause for laughs. He wasn’t dressed funny, he wasn’t doing anything odd, just… “time to laugh, I guess”.
IMO, canned laughs are the tool of those that aren’t really that good at writing comedy.
I think you’re watching some variation of a “shreds” video
I’m not saying this is what they or other shows do, but just saying it was filmed before a live audience does not necessarily mean that it’s the sound of that live audience that makes it to the broadcast product. Easy enough to add a laugh track to augment or even completely replace the sound of a live audience.
EDIT - in fact there’s even a name for it - Sweetening
It’s kind of still a laugh track because they have big illuminated signs telling the audience when to laugh.
