Canned laughter. Can we talk? (the office, one liners, tv show, sitcom)

[gentlearts]

So, we are watching Kevin Can Wait...first and last time. What are they thinking, with the laugh track? Do they think it's so funny, we'd forget to laugh? Do they think EVERY line is hilarious? Do they think that we are incapable of knowing the difference? Come on.
Adam frigging Sandler is in the show. He knows better.

[hertfordshire]

Have you ever watched a sitcom without a laugh track? There are a few on YouTube where the laugh track has been scrubbed out (Friends, Big Bang Theory). It makes for a very very dry show. Whether or not the watcher forgets to laugh isn't the issue. The laugh track does add dimension and helps the pacing for shows that rely heavily on one liners. If that show (never seen it) seems to overuse the laugh track, I would venture a guess that the humor is pretty low quality.

[phetaroi]

I don't watch the show. But in terms of canned laughter...I don't find it makes the show any funnier. There are comedy shows that I regularly watch where all of a sudden I will realize they don't have laugh track, though I never noticed it.

[Mark S.]

Laugh tracks are a hold-over from the theater, where "audience reaction" was critical. But those days are gone. I doubt more than 2 in 100 people regularly attend the theater anymore. It isn't a dead art by any means, but outside of metro areas, it's definitely an elitist art.

It is way past time for the laugh track to die and writers to learn to write without it. It can be done. Watch a show like SPORTS NIGHT, which started with a laugh track that they phased out after the first few episodes. It was just as funny without the the laugh track, and the distraction of canned laughter was gone.

It's 2016 already. If a TV show can't be funny without a laugh track, then it probably isn't funny.

[jay5835]

I wonder if canned laughter is why I never watch comedies. I mean, besides the fact that a lot of them aren't funny.

[Ghengis]

I actually find the canned laughter funny and I can't help but to LOL every time the canned laughter is heard, which totally wrecks it for Mrs. G I think

[Coney]

I think it was The Odd Couple in the 1970s, who did some sort of experiment where they aired an episode without the laugh track.

[Fiona13]

Originally Posted by jay5835

I wonder if canned laughter is why I never watch comedies. I mean, besides the fact that a lot of them aren't funny.

^^^This is me.

[westhou]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

Laugh tracks are a hold-over from the theater, where "audience reaction" was critical. But those days are gone. I doubt more than 2 in 100 people regularly attend the theater anymore. It isn't a dead art by any means, but outside of metro areas, it's definitely an elitist art.

It is way past time for the laugh track to die and writers to learn to write without it. It can be done. Watch a show like SPORTS NIGHT, which started with a laugh track that they phased out after the first few episodes. It was just as funny without the the laugh track, and the distraction of canned laughter was gone.

It's 2016 already. If a TV show can't be funny without a laugh track, then it probably isn't funny.

So true. I can't watch a show with a laugh track anymore. It's just not necessary. My favorite comedies don't have them like The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Office, Veep, and the list goes on and on. The only comedies that should be allowed to have that lame laugh track should be those Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows.

[winterbird]

I am kinda OCD and during an episode of The Golden Girls I counted the seconds between laugh tracks. It was literally every 7 seconds for the entire show! It was very irritating.