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?
In: 21
Charley Douglass thought it was a good idea. And the answer is: no, sometimes people don’t know when to laugh. At least in the minds of the creators/writers of the show. So, if the live audience didn’t react appropriately he added or removed laughter as needed to make it so the audience reaction was what he felt was appropriate for a given joke.
At this time, this was just manipulation and augmentation of live laughter. Eventually they just decided to create canned laughter to use with shows and achieve the same effect as a live studio audience.
EDIT: And while you may feel it is pointless, some A/B testing at least show that certain shows did better with a laugh track than without.
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