Do you believe laugh tracks ruin shows?

They are terrible and jarring on some shows, and add to the atmosphere and fun on others. It all depends on the type of show.

I think because it hasn’t happened in a long time, people forget there were moments in sitcom history where the audiences presence absolutely enhanced a moment of a show. A couple of those moments were posted recently elsewhere like The All in the Family moment where Edith is alone with the man who tries to attack her. It’s absolute silence but you can feel the audiences cold reaction to the actor playing the attacker The episode of A different world where Dwayne stops Whitley’s wedding. Sometimes it’s smaller moments like there’s an episode of the golden girls where Dorothy sets up a punchline but one person in the audience gets it before it happens and busts out laughing. That one always gets me. Same for the episode of Roseanne where Becky tells Roseanne she got married. The one guy in the audience they goes “woah” is hysterical There’s lots of these examples and it really over simplifies the subject when someone just asks “lAfF tRAcK bAd?” The biggest problem with modern multicams is they don’t lean into it and seem to want to wash out the audience response so it then sounds like the awful canned laughter that was used in the 60’s.

Live audiences are the F****** BEST

Growing up, almost every comedy show had a laugh track. For me, it just evokes nostalgia.

It’s a style. Some shows are meant to be presented similar to plays, where there is a live audience that reacts to the show. Good shows will play well to the audience and it will fit well. Shows that aren’t funny can feel awkward. Laugh track is also a misnomer. Most of the shows had an audience and the actors would hear live laughter and time their lines up with it. It was known, however, that laugh tracks could be dubbed over the actual laughter to improve it or added for scenes not taken on set. Some are also thought to have a light to indicate when to laugh.

If I think a show is actually funny I don’t really notice it. If I don’t see the humor in a show then it adds to the annoyance.

No, but, in the last 10ish years, I think we all learned that laugh tracks were covering up a lot of bad dialog and poor jokes

It’s just pretentious people who think they’re above the level of comedy that the show is aimed at.

No. Classic sitcoms didn’t just suddenly become bad because laugh tracks and studio audiences went out of style for a while. By the way there are still a few multicams currently running anyway, so they’re not dead.

No. If a show is genuinely funny i dont even notice it

My favorite is when people would do the thing where they remove the laugh track from a scene to prove that it isn't funny. As if the them of the jokes isn't predicated on there being an audience laughing.

No. I enjoy laugh tracks.

I grew up with sitcoms so it feels normal to me, like it's just part of the show Although I just started watching Georgie & Mandy's First marriage and it's really jarring on that show. It's a live studio audience but most of the jokes don't land so it just feels awkward

Yes i switch off straight away

No, but I think a lot people can’t tell the difference and improperly hate

Yes!

I think it depends on the show.

Depends on the shows. I know they're generally universally hated, but in some cases, it becomes invisible and in other cases, especially with todays technology, the removal of the tracks set an ominous, unsettling tone for the shows delivery. Although one of my favorite things was the addition of a laugh track/audience reaction track to serious dramas like Dexter or Euphoria has an unsettling, if not hilarious tone.

There are different kinds. On the older shows, like Brady Bunch, they would use a prerecorded laugh track. And every joke would get basically the same level of laughter. This style can be annoying. But newer shows have actual audience laughter. I think sometimes they spice up the laughter a bit with some canned laughter, but overall it's more realistic. This style doesn't bother me.

Not really - I usually just tune it out and don't notice

If it's a BBC comedy from the 80s or 90s filmed in front of a live tv audience? F****** love it. If it's a brainless american sitcom from 2000-onwards featuring mid-tier LA magazine model talent filmed infront of a vetted mob of dullards who'll laugh when a light turns on, nah.

They tell me when to laugh. Very helpfull.

If it's post production like MASH its fine, if it's live it's horrible.

Depends if it is a laugh track. I was in the studio audience for Red Dwarf 10 years ago, which a lot of people think is a laugh track but it's (as much as possible) recorded live. I've tried the versions of series 7 without one (as it was recorded for that one) and it's not as good without laughter.

There was a single camera show called “Sports Night” (not filmed in front of a live audience) that had a laugh track. It was so jarring to watch. It was an Aaron Sorkin show so think of “The News Room” or “The West Wing” with a laugh track. So weird

[It just makes me think of this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebHRBWZhmEg)

The only laugh tracks that genuinely seem to add to shows are live audience reactions in sitcoms. Friends works because the audience is there watching the take, shows like Arrested Development or 30 Rock work because the lack of laugh track gives the more subtle jokes breathing space. Adding laugh tracks to shows not filmed in front of audience kind of shows a lack of faith in the writing, since you have to signpost where the jokes are.

I'm ok with them. Never hated them like others.

I think laugh tracks stifle good writing and make audiences worse. There are tons of comedies without them that kind of prove this using character reactions or music instead. If a joke lands, it lands. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I imagine writers and actors have spent a lot of awkward dead-air time to fit in laugh tracks. Unfortunately, if you agree with me, it isn't like you can go back and yank the laugh tracks out of shows that used them by design, because the line deliveries in the scenes had beats around the sweetning. They are what they are. It would feel less natural to watch something like Seinfeld without it, but we have Curb Your Enthusiasm as a counterbalance to that.

These days? Yeah. Because humor is too censored and comedy is rarely funny.

Depends on the show. They are great in UK or Irish comedies eg Father Ted

I was going to say Cheers was good with the laugh track and then my brain went "Cheers was filmed before a live studio audience." So that's not true. That's the only show I didn't really mind the laughing but it wasn't a laugh track.

Yes. I will never be able to enjoy a show with a laugh track or a live studio audience. Don't tell me when to laugh. If the joke lands, it lands.

No

Himym does it best and doesnt ruin the show imo. Friends and big bang theory really take you out of the show because of how noticeable it is

No, as long as it's not over done. When Big Bang Theory first ran, I could tell they amped up the track on top of the live studio. After a while, they stopped overdoing it and the laugh track was on point. It's like going to a comedy show, you expect to hear laughter.

No. It's just a stylistic choice. Hating on them is just a fashion.

I think it has a lot to do with whether you grew up with them or not. People my age and older who grew up when laugh tracks were more widely used don't seem to mind them so much.

I grew up on 80s sitcoms. I don't even notice them anymore. lol.

Yes. Except in Kevin Can F**k Himself and similar.

I don’t think they ruin shows objectively, but they ruin shows for me personally, generally speaking.

Could never watch Big Bang Theory after paying attention to the laugh track. I believe it averaged a,laugh every 20 seconds

It doesn't ruin the show if the show is being created in the context of having one, but in general, shows without them are superior. Community was a game-changer to me; being allowed to decide for myself what was funny and when to laugh. I know it wasn't the first show to do without, but it was the first one I saw, and also the only show to date able to make me physically fall out of my chair laughing.

That and the Wilhelm scream.

My 8 year old calls anything with a laugh track an "old people laughy show" - Even the older kid sitcoms she watches.

Yes

Yes, but that's because I find the pause for the laugh but with only silence to be far more entertaining, it's so creepy!

As I get older it does. I had to stop watching Georgie & Mandy because of it. Should've kept the single cam like Young Sheldon

I find it awkward in children's sitcoms like on Disney or Nickelodeon. Like no way an audience of grown adults are finding these kids jokes funny.

Yes

No

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My favourite comedies do NOT have a laugh track. There are only a few traditional sitcoms with laugh tracks that are actually funny. MTM, Golden Girls, Seinfeld, Friends. End of list.