Can the Canned Laughter

The Death of LaughTrack.

Im going to take a break from my regular format today to talk about something important.

I’ve made it official.

Laughtracks are a fundamental step in the wrong direction for comedy.

Let me be the first to say it, Quote me: LAUGH TRACKS ARE TO COMEDY WHAT AUTO TUNE IS TO MUSIC.

It is now solely used to disguise unsightly blemishes and lazy/terrible comedic writing.

It is NO LONGER necessary.

Only a FEW rare exceptions to this rule, (Fresh Prince, Seinfeld, early Friends) and it’s because the shows were a product of a time where EVERY show had a laugh track. But even Larry David was aware of this major shift in comedic writing and jumped the terribly lame Laugh Track ship.

I had read somewhere that when added together, the approximate 21minute epiode has an average of 4 mintues of laugh track.

FOUR FUCKING MINUTES are taken up by pauses in dialogue and story telling just to hear the audience laugh.

For you non screenwriters, thats FOUR PAGES of a script taken up by (Audience Laughs).

There is, however another exception to the rule: talk shows, (Daily Show, Colbert Report, Conan) Talk shows can get away with it because of the very delicate nature of the formula which uses audience participation to actually MAKE the material funnier. Colbert wouldn’t be as appealing if every joke was followed with empty silence (hence the reason a lot of amateur “comedy” podcasts seem flat on YouTube) The live studio audience on a talk show gives an air of life to the format and it works fine.

BUT NOT FOR SCRIPTED STORY BASED COMEDY...NOT ANYMORE...

By putting in a laugh track - You are TELLING the viewing audience, how they are suppose to REACT and when they are suppose to react that way. It's cheating, plain and simple. It's like when a horror movies startles you using a loud bang or thud in the MUSIC, causing you to jump...It's just not good writing. (one of the reasons I really enjoyed Paranomal Activity was its ability to scare me without cheap tricks, startling music)

Look, many of my friends have tried for years to get me into How I met your mother, because I am a HUGE fan of both Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris...but i Just CAN'T...Ive tried....I cannot get past the horribly distracting laugh track. (also the lead male actor, whats his face?).

Laugh tracks are archaic, plain and simple, they are a product of a time when shows were filmed infront of a live audience, to bolster popularity and a sense of media community. Single settings shows would feature all the events in just one or two rooms, (Living Room/Kitchen) and the stories would evolve in those locations (Fresh Prince, Brady Bunch, Married with Children, Seinfeld, Friends) These shows were completely successful with this format because it was a PRODUCT of their time.

Now a days, when you hear laughter on a show, it's derived from a separate soundtrack with the artificial sound of audience laughter, inserted over top of the dialog in post-production.

(For all you trivia buffs, the first show to use this artificial CANNED laughter was the sitcom The Hank McCune Show, 1950s)

Take a look at the solid trend of successful comedy shows, Emmy winners in comedy for the last 5-6 years (30 Rock, The Office, Modern Family). No Laugh Track

But then there's The Big Bang Theory...and with that...I rest my case.

Watch this video someone made of what the writing of BIG BANG THEORY actually sounds like without the CANNED LAUGHTER! (Here's a fun game, see if you can spot the joke.)

(Did you spot it? The joke was that some people are gay! Hilarity Ensues!)

And just to end off on a fun note, here's a scene from the Wire, with laugh track added, VERY FUNNY, (Just goes to show how powerfully a laugh track can alter the atmosphere).

(LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS! VIA FACEBOOK! AGREE, DISAGREE?)