Submitted by [deleted] t3_10kbmm0 in television
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Total-Jerk t1_j5qbflc wrote
>and sometimes there is one really weird laugh
My favorite part.
testingtor t1_j5plgd4 wrote
Are you talking about shows filmed in front of a live laughing audience?
Kylon1138 t1_j5prbl6 wrote
Do you think the live audience isn't told when and where they're supposed to laugh?
Opus-the-Penguin t1_j5pstvh wrote
I know for a fact that they are not. They're presented with the performance and they laugh when they feel moved to do so. There is no LAUGH NOW sign that lights up. At the same time, they know they're being recorded and their laughter will be part of the finished product. So they'll cheerfully laugh for a second, third, etc. take if they thought it was funny the first time. In that sense it's artificial, but it's uncoerced.
PloppyTheSpaceship t1_j5q2fzr wrote
I've been in one. We weren't.
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_j5ptvkq wrote
No one told pavlov's dogs to get ready for dinner. They just rang a bell. The same thing happens in single camera shows, for instance with an exaggerated reaction shot. Or with music or some other cue.
testingtor t1_j5pruim wrote
Aside from that not answering the question theyre still not a track but a live audience who choose to laugh when they do whether they think theyre supposed to or not.
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_j5puegz wrote
The "track" is the recording of the laughter. That takes in everything from a pure audience reaction to 100% mechanical laughter, and every mix in between.
[deleted] OP t1_j5pu37y wrote
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[deleted] OP t1_j5puzas wrote
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ElectricPeterTork t1_j5pshu3 wrote
Hey, it's today's "LAFF TRACK BAAAAADDDDDDD" thread.
Funny thing is, it's the sitcoms with laugh tracks or live studio audiences people still watch and remember. So I don't think it's as much an issue outside of the small internet bubble as you'd think by seeing the regular laff track bad posts here.
Realmadridirl t1_j5pw58e wrote
I’d argue that’s because it’s pretty much all the networks MAKE. In terms of scripted comedy shows. They all seem convinced you need a laugh track or the show just can’t work.
It’s not really choosing to “still watch and remember them”. It’s a lack of choice of anything else. Sitcom type shows without that laughter are pretty rare, at least from my perspective. Literally named the only two I can think of that fit the general sitcom profile in my OP. Scrubs and IASIP. Pretty much every other show I can think of has audiences and laughing.
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_j5pyysp wrote
Through the 2010s, NBC turned out single camera after single camera, and managed to surrender the most dominant position any network ever had on a given night.
kamrali t1_j5q2hfn wrote
The Office, Parks and Rec, Modern Family, The Good Place, Community, Abbot Elementary, Ted Lasso, Black-ish
25sittinon25cents t1_j5q9h53 wrote
Brooklyn Nine-nine, Veep (I think?), Kim's Convenience, Silicon Valley, Fleabag, Curb your Enthusiasm, Barry, Dave
Between your list and mine, there's a ton of quality comedies here. Hope OP looks at these and finds what he likes, I'd argue that laugh track comedies have been dying out for over a decade now
Owasso_Landman t1_j5ppjsm wrote
It works
Realmadridirl t1_j5puotq wrote
So you like it? Not trying to say you are wrong or shit on your opinion, everyones got one, I just don’t see what it improves about any show. It doesn’t affect my reaction to the joke that has just happened, I’m not gonna laugh just because a studio audience does, and I don’t need them to give me a second to finish laughing and focus back on the show on the jokes I do laugh at, because we don’t live in 1955 haha, I can just pause and rewind shit if I miss something. The laughter just does nothing for me but induce cringing haha.
Roook36 t1_j5q4j81 wrote
It's a carry over from live plays and shows where people would laugh in the audience together during the show. They basically just started filming them on camera and then started making them specifically for that new technology known as TV. Some people like an audience experience, some don't, but a lot of people grew up with that as the standard so find it familiar. It's only been fairly recently that they switched to someone looking straight down the barrel of the camera to replace the laughtrack.
QuintoBlanco t1_j5q3y7p wrote
> It doesn’t affect my reaction to the joke that has just happened
It does affect your reaction to a joke. You just don't realize it.
It's an important reason why people have the ability to laugh. It's signal to other people to find something funny.
(Of course, if you have a personality disorder, you might be immune.)
You might not like shows with a laugh track, but that is a different matter.
The important thing to understand that is that multi-camera shows with a live audience (that is told to laugh) or a completely fake laugh track is made differently.
The script and the performances actually have pauses build in for the laugh track.
Actors time there performance because they know the laugh will be there or will be edited in.
And arguably multi-camera shows need laugh tracks because without it they come across as awkward.
In case you are wondering, the multi-camera approach is fast and cheap, which is why it's often used for sitcoms.
[deleted] OP t1_j5q7sqa wrote
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Gopokes34 t1_j5ppmad wrote
Doesn't really bother me tbh. Honestly, a show that is actually filmed in front of a live studio audience is pretty sweet if you think about it. There may be one out there now and i'm just unaware, but I would love a current show that was similar to King of Queens or Everybody Loves Raymond now.
Realmadridirl t1_j5pv7o2 wrote
It’s always bothered the heck out of me personally haha, I’m not saying I can’t enjoy anything with a laugh track, I also really liked King of Queens back in the day. But if I could be in charge, I’d take the laugh track out and have liked the show twice as much as I did haha.
I’m not so sure I could actually get into a show these days with a laugh track on it. It was easier to accept it even though I didn’t like that aspect back when there was less tv to choose from. Now if I don’t like the latest laugh track sitcom it’s a lot easier to find something else. So I don’t tend to even stick with em.
reddit455 t1_j5ppw8i wrote
>So let’s hear it folks! What do you think? Why does it still happen?
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because they might do a scene more times than the laughs last.
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get free tickets to attend live filming of your favorite show:
https://visitburbank.com/what-to-do/tapings/
​
sit in audience for HOURS watching crew and cast do the same scene OVER and OVER and OVER.. so they can get the "tv shot right".
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audience does not laugh anymore on the 43rd take.
the final edit shows the footage of the 43rd take (where there's crickets in the studio) but uses the laughter from the first take (when the live studio audience actually laughed - 3 hours earlier)
Realmadridirl t1_j5pvmo0 wrote
Sorry, I wasn’t completely clear, I actually meant like why have a live studio audience at ALL in these kinds of shows these days. It just seems like such an outdated thing to me, personally.
I feel like I’d enjoy pretty much any show with disembodied laughter a lot lot more without the disembodied laughing.
And, I know, they’ve done clips of Friends with the laughing removed and yeah it’s creepy as fuck and weird lol but obviously that’s mainly cos the actors aren’t adjusting the performance to the lack of laughter 😂
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_j5q93d0 wrote
Live audience shows had almost died out by 1970. Mary Tyler Moore started a live show in 1970, followed soon after by All in the Family and Sanford and Son, and then The Odd Couple switched from single camera with a laugh track to multicamera with an audience. And for the next 20 years, nearly all hit sitcoms were live audience. So, the next hit could turn the whole thing around again.
urgasmic t1_j5pvne4 wrote
i mean it doesn't really bother me unless the show isn't funny. even if it's canned.
hashcancomics t1_j5pmefh wrote
It's a multi-camera "Filmed in front of a LIVE audience" vs single-camera sitcom issue.
Sitcoms shot in multi-camera format are often shot in front of a studio audience. And then the canned laughter is played over the real laughter. These are much cheaper to produce. Single-camera sitcoms that are shot like movies are much more expensive and don't have a laugh track.
Now some (mostly UK) single camera shows have canned laughter played over top. No excuses for that.
TheNomadAuthor t1_j5puhwb wrote
So I know what to avoid, which UK single camera sitcoms have canned laughter over the top? The only one I can think of is Last of the Summer Wine, but that's, like, 50 years old, now.
uncledrewkrew t1_j5pwam6 wrote
IT Crowd, one of the funniest shows of all time
PloppyTheSpaceship t1_j5q3b5l wrote
No, IT Crowd was a studio audience.
(I always thought "canned" laughter was laughter from just a library of laughter, in that nobody has seen it and laughed, the editors just decided "let's add some laughter here")
testingtor t1_j5q3ks9 wrote
OP does not see a difference between the two.
TheNomadAuthor t1_j5pwum5 wrote
Oh wow! I loved IT Crowd. I obviously didn't even notice that it had a laughter track on it!
PloppyTheSpaceship t1_j5q35pu wrote
I don't think Last Of The Summer Wine will have been "canned" laughter but I don't think it will have been studio either - mainly because nigh-on all of it is shot outside around Holmfirth (great little town, been there a few times). More likely an audience is shown the recording.
[deleted] OP t1_j5ptfsz wrote
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frenin t1_j5pud8z wrote
I don't particularly love it but i see why they keep it. It's a simple way to condition your audience.
I don't think it's particularly more different than a sad song playing in a sad scene, you already know it's a sad scene and yet...
TootieSummers t1_j5pvyy6 wrote
Do you need to understand the appeal through? Honestly? If it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
Networks still green light shows like this because people still watch them. That’s the beginning and end of that.
Some of my favorite shows that I watch on constant repeat are old sitcoms and I still enjoy watching some of the newer ones as well.
PositiveStress8888 t1_j5pw4q1 wrote
listen to any show without a laugh track or even a live audience laughing, they aren't funny.
They have them for the same reason when you hear someone laughing you cant help but laugh also.
Realmadridirl t1_j5pwip4 wrote
Shows without laugh tracks aren’t funny? I’d argue to the death with you on that I’m afraid. I think IASIP is hilarious and they’ve never had one. Just my opinion
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_j5pxdfd wrote
"It will take a show I might actually like and enjoy and turn it immediately into something I simply can’t watch."
This is where your argument just fails. There's no physical allergy to listening to mixed laughter. If there's a TV episode that's a 10 out of 10, addition of laughter doesn't drop it to 0 out of 10. At least not if you intended to laugh in the first place. People laughed at silent films, black & white films, no film (aka, radio). A laugh track doesn't disqualify something from being funny.
There's an All in the Family episode where Mike is unloading a bag of groceries and commenting on the products. He pulls out some kind of cleaner and says, "Look at this label, 'New and Improved.' Everything we buy today is new and improved. What were we using yesterday - old and lousy?" And this is what we've seen in recent years - an effort to disqualify older shows from consideration because these new shows have discovered some secret formula. It's marketing, not art or even criticism, and people who just can't watch Seinfeld or Cheers or MASH or Andy Griffith or Lucy have just fallen for a sales pitch.
DCAbloob t1_j5q3o1g wrote
To be fair, MASH producer Larry Gelbart never wanted the show to have a laugh track and it was ultimately dropped before the series ended.
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_j5q855o wrote
F Troop, then. I'm just giving examples.
[deleted] OP t1_j5q32jw wrote
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cmlucas1865 t1_j5q3o5k wrote
I love the multicam sitcom with a laugh track. It's partly a comfort thing, having grown up with that being the predominant style of show.
But it's also, IMO, the superior form. It helps with scene transitions, it's relatively low-cost and, when applied tastefully, helps with the pacing and cadence of the show. There's always the opposite point, where The Office made great use of silence and awkwardness, but IMO time has shown that lightning was only caught in that bottle.
PloppyTheSpaceship t1_j5q3zmo wrote
It depends on the feel you want for a show. For instance, Brooklyn 9-9 tries to make itself appear serious and keep a good pace flowing while it is actually pretty zany and wacky. Adding a laugh track, either canned or from a studio audience, would make it a completely different show.
Red Dwarf, probably my favourite show, has a studio audience (which I was part of). This show uses little jokes a lot, then big jokes infrequently. In series 7 they tried it "canned" and released a version with no laughter. It was awful.
I favour it, depending on the show. Most of the comedies I watch have one, and were recorded in front of a studio audience (or an audience shown the bits that they couldn't see live in a studio).
thebruns t1_j5q8kq1 wrote
>just weird as fuck the way characters have to stall through this disembodied laughter for multiple seconds
Wait until you learn about live theater
dbarrc t1_j5plovg wrote
I'd have to assume that they're pausing for YOU to laugh, and rather than just have silence for that time, they put a laugh track in the background..
i agree, it's dumb
Opus-the-Penguin t1_j5ptsbj wrote
They don't put a laugh track in the background. They include the laughter of the live audience who was watching the show as the actors performed it on a stage in front of them.
kingdazy t1_j5ppxwz wrote
I couldn't watch more than one episode of the Night Court reboot because of it.
grandmofftalkin t1_j5q8nm0 wrote
I tried but yeah the multi cam laugh track format was too much for me, made me realize I haven't watched a comedy with a laugh track since HIMYM
kingdazy t1_j5q9hrl wrote
I actually didn't realize it was a live audience until 2 minutes ago, after a search. I guess it sounded canned to me? Idk.
Maybe I hate live audience comedy too?
DCAbloob t1_j5q3u8k wrote
I would say that it depends on the individual show. A show that often touched on serious topics like MASH for example never should have had a laugh track (and ultimately discarded it) but it was unthinkable for CBS at the time the show started to air comedies without on-air laughter. Other shows that are more broadly absurdist comedies like Night Court are better off though with a laugh track IMO.
Latter_Feeling2656 t1_j5q6556 wrote
The Bill Cosby Show aired on NBC 1969-71 with no laughter. It finished No. 11 in 1969-70. MASH didn't debut until 1972.
wildadragon t1_j5pl5ty wrote
To tell you when you're supposed to laugh.
jmsturm t1_j5plmu8 wrote
There is a completely different feel between a single camera sitcom and a multicam sitcom filmed in front of a studio audience.
I am not saying one is better than the other, but its a different horse.
And the laugh track is just there to smooth out the weird laughs that some people have that takes you out of the jokes. Go back and watch some of the old sitcoms and sometimes there is one really weird laugh that you start focusing on.