BY MIKEY MIGO
For those who aren’t in tune with their inner TV nerd the term “laugh track” is pretty self explanatory. When you watch a television show and hear a “live studio audience” laughing then it’s a “laugh track”. If you watch TV then you know this. It’s become so common we don’t realize it. Some of the best television shows of all time had laugh tracks. I can deal with those. I can watch an old episode of All In The Family or Sanford and Son and not think twice about it. Hell, I can watch old Full House episodes or Friends and not be too jarred by a laugh track. Hell, MASH had a laugh track!
In recent years the laugh tracks have been phased out. Scrubs, Arrested Development, The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and even The Simpsons have proved that the audience isn’t stupid. You don’t have to hear people laughing to know something is funny. When I watch a television show that’s from, let’s say 1999, and beyond with a laugh track I’m uncomfortable. There ARE exceptions. I’m pretty sure How I Met Your Mother uses one. It’s just it feels really forced. The conventional sitcom production of 1987 is obsolete. I think we all prefer a more cinematic, realistic take on things. A show with a laugh track is like saying “we’re not sure if you’ll think this funny unless you hear other people laugh”. Aren’t we past this? Apparently not.
Apparently CBS doesn’t know this. Despite there being some okay shows in How I Met Your Mother and the jury is still out on How To Be a Gentleman and Two Broke Girls. Whitney recently debuted and it has a laugh track. It feels REALLY unnatural. Both her and the husband character are sarcastic asshole types that would be MUCH cooler in a non-laugh track situation. I think this is why I’m ranting about laugh tracks. Whitney Cummings IS funny, but I don’t need fake laughter to know this. The fact that they’re using it makes her less funny and that sucks.
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