fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2274 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2274 ⌋

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I am very much pro-laugh track and I think the problem is unfunny shows that use laugh tracks poorly, NOT laugh tracks in themselves. I mean, Seinfeld had a laugh track, and it's arguably the greatest sitcom of all time. Newsradio had a laugh track and it's my favorite sitcom ever, and the laugh track is an integral part of the show that really contributes to its stagy, improvised feel.

I think the dislike of laugh tracks is a reaction to the shitty laugh track comedies of the last ten years. I think it's a little snobbish. And I think the attitude that a laugh track is telling you when to laugh - that's not true in a well designed show with a laugh track that's used well. It's laughing along with you, it's making it easier for you to laugh, but the very fact that it's so jarring when you have a laugh track in a funny show implies that it can't tell you when to laugh - or at least it's totally ineffectual at doing so.

...Newsradio was filmed in front of an audience. I think those were real laughs.

OP said "laugh track" not "canned laughter." Those are two different things. If they're ranting about canned laughter they'd have more of a point (although a lot of shows that people complain about canned laughter with are actually shot in front of a live audience - I believe that Big Bang Theory is sweetened but not entirely canned, for example).

TBBT is definitely not entirely canned, people I know have been to tapings. I wouldn't be surprised if it was sweetened, though.

Seinfeld had a studio audience, not a laugh track. BIG difference. Studio audiences sound like real people laughing at the actual joke. Laugh tracks sound like...well, laugh tracks.

I would use "laugh track" to refer to people laughing and "canned laughter" to refer to recording? Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I've always heard. And as I said above, a lot of shows that people complain about the laugh track on actually are live, so I think it's a distinction that is more difficult to make than people seem to think.

OP

I'm using canned laughter and laugh track interchangeably. I've always taken the 'track' in laugh track to imply it was prerecorded. But, I think bringing up studio audiences is a good topic of discussion, too.

For me, I'm cool with a studio audience and their laughter as long as I can see them. Otherwise, even if they're used well, it breaks the fourth wall and distracts me. But a narrator doesn't bother me.

Again, that distinction is really hard to make, and a lot of laughing people on shows that people complain about are actually studio audiences.

ayrt

That's true. There's a lot of in between with a studio audience and canned laughter, but it's pretty clear cut for me at what point I'm okay with (laughter with a visible source) and what I'm not (laughter with an invisible source). But that distinction's different for everyone.

Well, that distinction is silly.

Sorry. Taste is taste, whatever you like is fine. As long as you're not talking about how all laughter is terrible, or (especially) as long as you're not talking about how all shows with laugh tracks are stupid, unintelligent, lowest-common-denominator trash, like a lot of people do.

So, as far as seeing the laugh-ers goes, you mean you don't mind the laughing audience on Whose Line Is It Anyway, for example, but not laughter on a sit-com that comes from a live audience that the camera never shows?

Yeah, that's exactly it. If the audience and their laughter are an established and acknowledged part of the universe I'm okay with it. Otherwise, I feel like it needlessly breaks the fourth wall and find it mildly distracting. There's a bit in between where badly used canned laughter is worse than say a non-visible live audience, but the difference visible versus non-visible laughter is the most noticeable for me.

I'll still watch good shows with non-visible audiences, though. It's a just a bit of a turn off.

[ SECRET POST #2274 ]

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Re: Laugh tracks, how do you feel about them?

Re: Laugh tracks, how do you feel about them?

Re: Laugh tracks, how do you feel about them?

Re: Laugh tracks, how do you feel about them?

Re: Laugh tracks, how do you feel about them?

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Re: Laugh tracks, how do you feel about them?

Re: Laugh tracks, how do you feel about them?

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