I’m rewatching some older sitcoms and the laugh track is so odd to me. I remember thinking nothing of it growing up, but now that I’ve been watching sitcoms without it, it feels completely pointless. Who thought it was a good idea and why?
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Things are funnier to you when you hear other people laugh at them. Strange but true. Therefore, adding laughs makes the show funnier.
(If that doesn’t work anymore, it’s probably because we’re jaded to the canned laugh concept, after hearing too much gut-busting after too many not-that-funny jokes, and/or just because it’s no longer common, so hearing it makes us notice the laughter itself instead of just enjoying the show. But to an audience who was used to hearing audience laughter on shows (due to the live studio audience), the canned laughter didn’t seem as unnatural, and would have had all the benefits with fewer negative side effects.)
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