A laugh track (a.k.a. canned laughter, laughter track, fake laughter) is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.
The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in front of audiences.
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Before television, audiences often experienced comedy—whether performed live on stage, on radio, or in a movie—in the presence of other audience members. Later, radio and early television producers attempted to recreate this atmosphere by introducing the sound of laughter or other crowd reactions into the soundtrack.
In 1946, Jack Mullin had brought a Magnetophon magnetic tape recorder back from Radio Frankfurt, along with 50 reels of tape (it was one of the magnetic tape recorders that BASF and AEG had built in Germany starting in 1935). The 6.5mm tape could record 20 minutes per reel of high-quality analog audio sound; Alexander M. Poniatoff then ordered his Ampex company to manufacture an improved version of the Magnetophon for use in radio production.[1] With the introduction of this recording method, it became possible to add sounds to a show in post-production. Bing Crosby eventually adopted the technology to pre-record his radio show to both avoid having to do it live as well as performing it again for West Coast audiences.
Longtime engineer and recording pioneer Jack Mullin explains from an interview recorded in the late `70's how the laugh track was invented on Crosby's show with these Ampex recorders:
"The hillbilly comic Bob Burns was on the show one time, and threw a few of his then-extremely racy and off-color folksy farm stories into the show. We recorded it live, and they all got enormous laughs, which just went on and on, but we couldn't use the jokes. Today those stories would seem tame by comparison, but things were different in radio then, so scriptwriter Bill Morrow asked us to save the laughs. A couple of weeks later he had a show that wasn't very funny, and he insisted that we put in the salvaged laughs. Thus the laugh-track was born."[2]
In early television, most shows that were not live television used the single-camera filmmaking technique familiar from movies, where a show was created by filming each scene several times from different camera angles. Since it was not possible for an audience to be present during single-camera filming, there could be none of the live audience laughter that audiences had come to expect from radio comedy, and which was still offered in the many shows broadcast live with audiences laughing in the studio.[2] In addition, live audiences could not be relied upon to laugh at the correct moment. Other times, the audiences would laugh too long or too loud, sounding unnatural and forced or throwing off the performers' rhythms.[2]
CBS sound engineer Charles Douglass noticed these inconsistencies, 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 too long, Douglass gradually muted the guffaws. This editing technique became known as 'sweetening', 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] Conversely, the process could be used to "desweeten" audience reactions, toning down unwanted loud laughter or removing inappropriate applause, thus making the laughter more in line with the producer's preferred method of telling the story.[4]
Douglass spent countless hours extracting laughter, applause, and other reactions (including people moving around in their seats) from live soundtracks he had recorded (mainly from the dialogue-less pantomime segments of The Red Skelton Show) and then placed the recorded sounds into a huge tape machine, dubbed the "laff box", the basic concept of which would later be reworked as the Chamberlin Music Master and succeeded by the more widely-known Mellotron.
These recorded laughs could be added to single-camera filmed shows, making them seem as though there was a live audience. The first American television show to incorporate a laugh track was the sitcom The Hank McCune Show in 1950. Other single-camera filmed shows soon followed suit.[5]
Soon after the advent of the laugh track, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz invented a method of filming with an audience utilizing a multi-camera setup. This process was originally used for their show I Love Lucy, which used a live television studio audience and no laugh track.[3]
Multi-camera shows with live audiences sometimes used recorded laughs to supplement the response of the audience. While witnessing an early post-production editing session, comedian Milton Berle once pointed out a particular joke and said, "as long as we're here doing this, that joke didn't get the response we wanted". After Douglass inserted a guffaw after the failed joke, Berle reportedly commented, "See? I told you it was funny".[2]
Soon after the invention of the multi-camera filmed show, sketch comedy and variety shows began to move from live broadcasting to videotape, which allowed for greater ease in editing during post-production. Editing a prerecorded live show with quadruplex videotape caused bumps and gaps on the soundtrack,[6] Douglass was then called upon to "bridge" or "fill" these gaps; eventually, both performers and producers began to realize the power behind these prerecorded chuckles.[4]
By the early 1960s, live television became too cost prohibitive to use on a daily or weekly basis. Filming in a studio with an audience, as I Love Lucy or The Ed Sullivan Show did, had its limitations as well, as half the audience could hardly see or hear the show from where they were sitting. The consensus at the time was that live audiences were tense, nervous and rarely laughed on cue anyway, Douglass was then brought in to simulate the reactions from an entire live studio audience from scratch for the duration of the entire show.[7]
As a result, producers began to realize how much simpler it was to just film a show, even variety or sketch shows that could not be done in single-camera, without any live audience at all and then create and tailor the whole audience reaction themselves in post-production. But originally, writers, producers and directors failed to allow space for the laugh track, making sweetening difficult. Because there was not enough space in which to insert enough laughter in order for the show to retain its live feel, audience response cards repeatedly came back saying that the audience reactions on the shows seemed "forced" or "contrived".[7] After a few years of this, writers became more conscious of the space required for the laugh track and began writing and timing their scripts around it. On-set directors then began leaving room for as-yet-unheard audience reactions and producers began allocating more budget money for post-production so that Douglass could later edit with greater ease.[4]
Most television comedies in the '50s and '60s used the single-camera technique, with a laugh track simulating the absent audience.[8] Producers became disenchanted with the multi-camera audience format; the single-camera filming with a laugh track became the dominant mode of sitcom production in the '60s.
Network research suggested that the laugh track was required in order to brand a single-camera show as a comedy. In 1965 CBS showed its new single-camera sitcom Hogan's Heroes to test audiences in two versions: one with the laugh track, the other without. Partly due to the somewhat cerebral nature of the show's humor, the version without the laugh track failed miserably with test audiences, while the version with canned laughter got an excellent reaction. The show went on the air with the laugh track, and CBS abandoned the idea of doing single-camera comedies without at least a touch-up from Charley Douglass’s laff box.[2]
Shows had different types of laugh tracks edited onto their soundtracks, depending on style. Outlandish or fantasy shows, like Bewitched, The Munsters and The Beverly Hillbillies are virtual showcases of Douglass’ editing skill. The more outlandish the show, the more invasive the laugh track. Conversely, low-key shows, like The Andy Griffith Show, The Brady Bunch, and My Three Sons, had quieter or more modulated tracks. Certain shows, like Get Smart, featured a laugh track that became more invasive as the series progressed, while shows like M*A*S*H toned down the chuckles as the series became more dramatic.
By the mid-1960s, nearly every sitcom was single-camera and had canned laughter dubbed onto the soundtrack. Only a few sitcoms, such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Lucy Show used studio audiences and turned to Douglass only to edit or augment the real laughter via sweetening.[4][9]
From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Charley Douglass had a monopoly on the expensive and painstaking "laff" business.[10] As a TV Guide critic put it in July 1966, the Douglass family were "the only laugh game in town."[11] By 1960, nearly every prime time show in America was "sweetend' by Douglass' laff box. Production studios became accustomed to seeing Douglass shuttling from studio to studio to mix in his manufactured laughs during post-production.[10] When it came time to "lay in the laughs", the producer would 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.[11]
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.[11] Very few in the industry ever witnessed Douglass using his mysterious "laff box", and he was notoriously secretive about his work.[12]
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.[11] There was also a 60 second "titter" track in the loop, which consisted of individual people laughing quietly. This "titter" track was used to quiet down a laugh and was always playing in the background. When Douglass inserted a hearty laugh, the titter track was played along with it to smooth out the final mix. This titter track would receive minor changes every few months. A man's deep laugh would be swapped out for a new woman laugh, or a high-pitched woman's giggle would be replaced with a man's snicker.
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.[7]
The practice of simulating an audience reaction was controversial from the very beginning.[13] A silent minority of producers despised the idea of a prerecorded audience reaction.[7] 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.[13] 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.[7] It was believed that the absence of guffaws meant American viewers could not tell if the particular show was indeed a comedy.[4] That did not stop several from forgoing the laugh track entirely:
Though the use of canned laughter reached its peak in the 1960s, a few shows still retained the multi-camera tradition. In 1967, Desi Arnaz produced The Mothers-in-Law (NBC, 1967-69), which was recorded in front of a live audience at Desilu Studios, with a sweetening performed in post-production.[19] A year later, another series The Good Guys (CBS, 1968–70) (starring Bob Denver from Gilligan's Island) followed the same format. Production changes in location, however, caused the remainder of the first season to transition back to single-camera entirely, using only a laugh track. This continued through season two until low ratings led to cancellation in 1970.[20]
The following season, the The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970-77) also attempted to record their pilot episode, "Love is All Around", using only one camera. The results turned out awful. Moore, the producers, and the rest of the cast and crew then agreed to shift to multiple cameras. Since the first line of episodes were usually taped in the mid-late summer, the pilot's first taping did not receive good reception due to bad insulation and poor audio. After the second taping, however, critical reception improved, and the show used the multi-camera format thereafter, (again with sweetened laughs in post-production), and became a major success for seven more years.[21] During that same season, All in the Family (CBS, 1971-1979) followed Moore's pursuit, stepped into the studio's limelight, and live television made a huge comeback afterward. 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.
The resurgence of live audiences began to take hold with the success of All in the Family and The Odd Couple. Other sitcoms to use the live format with sweetening performed during post-production were The Bob Newhart Show (CBS, 1972–78) Maude (CBS, 1972–78), Laverne and Shirley (ABC, 1976-83), Soap (ABC, 1977-81), Taxi (ABC, 1978-82; NBC, 1982-83), Cheers (NBC, 1982-93) and its spinoff Frasier (NBC, 1993-2004).[7]
Jack Klugman and Tony Randall expressed displeasure during the first season of The Odd Couple (ABC, 1970–75), which used a laugh track without a live audience. Theatre veteran Randall, in particular, resented the use 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.[7]
The sitcom Happy Days (ABC, 1974–84) mirrored The Odd Couple scenario. Its first two seasons used only a laugh track, and by third season, shifted over to a live audience with sweetening done in post-production.[7]
Several hour-long comedy-dramas, however, retained the use of a laugh track only, such as The Love Boat and Eight is Enough.
In the intervening years beginning with live film, progressing through videotape and onto studio-filmed productions with no live audience back to live-on-tape, Douglass had gone from merely enhancing or tweaking a soundtrack, to literally customizing entire audience reactions to each performance and back again to enhancing and tweaking performances recorded with live audiences.[7]
Single-camera comedy has made a comeback in the U.S. since the early 1990s, but networks have mostly abandoned the old tradition of laugh tracks for single-camera shows. A key player in this revolution was HBO, which allowed its single-camera comedies such as Dream On and The Larry Sanders Show to run without laugh tracks, and won critical praise for doing so.[22] Single-camera shows with no laugh track have become increasingly common on broadcast networks as well, with critical and popular hits such as Malcolm in the Middle and Modern Family, alongside multi-camera hits such as Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls and Mike & Molly, which employ live audiences.
Other non-laugh track sitcoms in the U.S. are the following:
Animated shows, such as The Simpsons, Futurama, SpongeBob SquarePants, King of the Hill, South Park, American Dad!, 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.[23] 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 without the benefit of a live audience.
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 swear 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.
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.[24]
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 1983.[25]
By 1969, nearly all cartoon shows produced—both for the Saturday morning fare as well as prime time—followed Filmation's lead and included Douglass’s laugh track, including The Pink Panther Show, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, Harlem Globetrotters and Josie and the Pussycats.[7]
Early in 1971, Hanna-Barbera opted not to pay for Charley Douglass’s services. Pre-1971 hits like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Harlem Globetrotters, 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 a tinny, metallic sound to it, there were approximately five mild laughs, plus one or two uncontrollable belly-laughs (one contains an audible woman laughing 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.[7] This laugh track—containing less than 10 snippets of laughter—would be used incessantly for exactly a decade.
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.[7] The fact that the treble was mixed far too high for the soundtrack it accompanies only drew attention to the falsity of the practice.[7] Several shows that use the abridged laugh track are listed as follows:
The laugh track affected several TV specials as well, most notably Casper's First Christmas.[7]
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.[7]
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. This laugh track was also slowed down during production, plus the studio added a third belly laugh to add a little more "variety" to the track (This was the only TV series made by Hanna-Barbera to have this added belly laugh).[7]
The laugh track was discontinued after the 1979-80 television season for the TV series. The final shows to receive the chuckles were Captain Caveman, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, and Super Globetrotters. The last special to feature the laugh track was The Flintstones: Jogging Fever, which aired on October 11, 1981.[26]
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. Because this laugh track was far too invasive, it only emphasized the artificial nature of canned laughter more than Hanna-Barbera's version; as a result, Rankin/Bass ceased using laugh tracks after The Jackson 5ive mishap.[7]
Rankin/Bass' laugh track, however, did provide a better variety of laughs when 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.[7]
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 by-product 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 the fourth episode of the series, Kermit the Frog is asked by guest Ruth Buzzi if he felt a gag or routine would be funny enough for the show, to which he turns to the camera and replies, "That's up to the laugh track." A Season Two episode featuring guest Steve Martin eschewed a laugh track altogether to support the concept that the show had been canceled that night in favor of auditioning new acts; the only audible laughs are those of the Muppet performers themselves.[27]
For Muppets Tonight, the laugh track is used during the show, but was skipped at the beginning and end.
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 taped before live audiences, the studios were relatively small, resulting in a small audience. In addition to the small audiences, some elements of these shows were shot on-location and outdoors (i.e. Wonderbug and Magic Mongo); 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, and even the sounds of children's laughter: 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.
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 Gong Show and 3's a Crowd, had used the isolated chuckles for sweetening.[28] Game shows produced at NBC's Burbank facilities in particular in the 1970's and 1980's used a unique library of oohs, aahs.
Laugh tracks were also used on Merv Griffin's Crosswords, which ran from 2007 to 2008 and, unlike most game shows, did not tape in front of a studio audience.
While Disney Channel original sitcoms mostly shoot in front of studio audiences/laugh tracks [29] Disney's top competitor, Nickelodeon, mostly shoots such hits as iCarly and Victorious without audiences (due to their decision to do away with their now-defunct original studios) and use laugh tracks as a substitute.
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".
In the 20th century, most UK sitcoms were taped before live audiences to provide natural laughter. Scenes recorded out of doors, traditionally recorded in advance of studio work, are played back to the studio audience and their laughter recorded for the broadcast show. Other comedies, such as 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.[30] The pilot episode of the satirical series Spitting Image was also broadcast with a laugh track, apparently at the insistence of Central Television. This idea was quickly dropped as it was felt by the show's producers that the show worked better without one. Some later editions, in 1992 (Election Special) and 1993 (two episodes) did use a laughter track, as these editions were performed live in front of a studio audience and included a spoof Question Time.[31]
Most contemporary Canadian television comedies are laugh track-free, but some programs, such as the sitcom Maniac Mansion (1990–1993) and the children's program The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (1971) were broadcast in Canada without a laugh track, though one was added for American airings.
I Love My Family, the first multi-camera sitcom in mainland China, used a live studio audience, which is a practice slowly used to today's standards. The Shanghai-based sitcom iPartment uses a laugh track despite being filmed in a single-camera format.
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, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.
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.". 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.[32]
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, 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.[33]
In 2011, critic James Parker bemoaned the absence of laugh tracks in many popular sitcoms of the time, feeling that the idea of not having an audience had become an overused gimmick:
Silence now encases the sitcom, the lovely, corny crackle of the laugh track having vaporized into little bathetic air pockets and farts of anticlimax. Enough, I say. This burlesque of naturalism has depleted us. Give me the honest joinery of The George Lopez Show, the fat gags and the cackles on demand, over Parks and Recreation or NBC's ghastly version of The Office. Who knew irony could be so cloying?
He conceded that Modern Family was one of the few shows which benefited from not having one.[34]
The "laff box" was discussed in detail, and appraised on the June 20, 2010 episode of Antiques Roadshow. The device was thought to be worth $10,000.[35]
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