The Laugh Track
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:55 pm
I'm sort of touching on a topic RJ talked about recently, regarding the use of the laugh track on the show.
Now, I know that most people out there denounce the laugh track, saying things like it's insulting to viewers' intelligence because it tells them when they're supposed to laugh and such, but that is NOT true at all; as an advocate of the laugh track, I can tell you the laugh track was invented for two reasons: 1) because sometimes live shows needed audio adjustments and such during post-production, so pre-recorded laughs were used for "sweetening", and 2) for shows not live, it recreates the atmosphere of watching a comedy with a group of people, rather than all alone.
I know that Larry Gelbart, Gene Reynolds, and Burt Metcalfe didn't want the show to have a laugh track, because they never intended it to be "just another sitcom", but the laugh track simply adds fun to the atmosphere of the show; on top of that, watching the DVDs with the laugh track turned off is a little "eerie", with all the awkward pauses of silence and such. What's interesting though is that I didn't even realize that episodes like "The Bus" and "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?" didn't even have the laugh track until people pointed it out, which proves just how mesmerizing the engrossing the show's writing really is that you don't even notice the absense of extra audio.
However, I'm not fond of the new laugh track they started using by Season Six; it's my understand that the seasons before used the laughs of Charlie Douglass (the man who originally invented the laugh track), which were also used on practically every single sitcom from the late 50s and onward (hence why you can hear the same recognizable laughs on other shows as well), but by the 1976-1977 season, other people like Carroll Pratt started competing with their own laugh tracks. Pratt is who supplied the laugh track by Season Six, and to me, it's like instead of hearing a large audience having a great time watching a hilarious comedy, it's like hearing a small group of woman chuckling over gossip.
As someone working his way through television, I plan on utilizing the laugh track on my shows as a part to recreate the generations of television that television has forgotten - the 50s, 60s, 70s, back when television was good - in fact, if you've seen some of my YouTube-exclusive videos, I've already began utitlizing it on some of those so my followers can get used to them. Check 'em out sometime if you'd like, I have a new official channel:
http://www.youtube.com/JosephScarbrough
Now, I know that most people out there denounce the laugh track, saying things like it's insulting to viewers' intelligence because it tells them when they're supposed to laugh and such, but that is NOT true at all; as an advocate of the laugh track, I can tell you the laugh track was invented for two reasons: 1) because sometimes live shows needed audio adjustments and such during post-production, so pre-recorded laughs were used for "sweetening", and 2) for shows not live, it recreates the atmosphere of watching a comedy with a group of people, rather than all alone.
I know that Larry Gelbart, Gene Reynolds, and Burt Metcalfe didn't want the show to have a laugh track, because they never intended it to be "just another sitcom", but the laugh track simply adds fun to the atmosphere of the show; on top of that, watching the DVDs with the laugh track turned off is a little "eerie", with all the awkward pauses of silence and such. What's interesting though is that I didn't even realize that episodes like "The Bus" and "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?" didn't even have the laugh track until people pointed it out, which proves just how mesmerizing the engrossing the show's writing really is that you don't even notice the absense of extra audio.
However, I'm not fond of the new laugh track they started using by Season Six; it's my understand that the seasons before used the laughs of Charlie Douglass (the man who originally invented the laugh track), which were also used on practically every single sitcom from the late 50s and onward (hence why you can hear the same recognizable laughs on other shows as well), but by the 1976-1977 season, other people like Carroll Pratt started competing with their own laugh tracks. Pratt is who supplied the laugh track by Season Six, and to me, it's like instead of hearing a large audience having a great time watching a hilarious comedy, it's like hearing a small group of woman chuckling over gossip.
As someone working his way through television, I plan on utilizing the laugh track on my shows as a part to recreate the generations of television that television has forgotten - the 50s, 60s, 70s, back when television was good - in fact, if you've seen some of my YouTube-exclusive videos, I've already began utitlizing it on some of those so my followers can get used to them. Check 'em out sometime if you'd like, I have a new official channel:
http://www.youtube.com/JosephScarbrough