Over years of watching television, fans have almost tuned out the tracks of laughter that are played over the scenes. If they come to think about it, are laugh tracks really necessary for sitcoms? Or can they do without them?
Certain, shows such as ‘The Office‘ and ‘Modern Family‘ have done well without the auditory addition. However, cinematography is a complex study. Fans can agree one fact cannot be true for all. Laugh tracks go perfectly for some sitcoms such as ‘Friends‘ or ‘Mom’. Whereas if not used properly it can sound like chalk on board- ‘2 Broke Girls’ for instance
History And Science Behind Laugh Tracks
American audio engineer, Charley Douglass began using laugh tracks or Laff Box in 1950 over the standard live-audience reaction. Douglass believed that the reaction of the live audience could be ill-timed and therefore could not be relied upon. The Laff Box was first used in ‘The Hank McCune Show‘. They soon became popular among televised shows.
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From the 21st century, productions started using multi-camera techniques for filming. As the name suggests, the method involves several cameras that can record every character in a scene.
Usually, multi-camera shows use over-the-counter jokes where laugh tracks are efficiently placed. Whereas in single-shot shows, creators prefer the joke to be intertwined with the plot and take their time for the development of humor. Hence in the latter method, these sweeteners are not standardly used.
Are Canned Laughter Useful?
It has been learned that with different filming and script-writing laugh tracks are used accordingly. ‘Friends’, ‘Two And A Half Men’, and even ‘The Big Bang Theory‘ voraciously used laugh tracks in their scenes.
These sitcoms were filmed with the multi-camera method. However, the audience soon became too addicted to the auditory addition, and ‘Police Squad!’, a sitcom that did not include laugh tracks, was canceled.
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Creators then began on a crusade to build quality content that would be appreciated without helping cues of laugh tracks. ‘The Office’ is one major example of this quest. The sitcom became a success despite the lack of laugh tracks for its extraordinary humor. Even ‘Modern Family’ didn’t use these as it was filmed with the single-camera method.
