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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/audience_laughing.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:[[AccidentalNightmareFuel The laughers are all dead now]].]]
3
4->''"See? The laugh track tells you what's funny. You don't even need to think!"''
5-->-- '''Robert Freeman''', ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks''
6
7Closed-captioning for the humor-impaired.
8
9In the early days of television, comedies were "traditionally" performed essentially as short plays in front of a live StudioAudience, broadcast live or with minimal editing (see ThreeCameras). However, as television production grew more sophisticated in the late 1940s and early 1950s, there was at least a partial shift away from live performances to productions that were filmed movie-style, with a single camera and on a closed sound stage or on location. The latter gave the director more freedom in selecting shots and angles, as well as the luxury of multiple takes. However, there was no longer an audience to provide instant feedback on the humor.
10
11The general opinion of the audience held by television executives then (and some would argue now) [[ViewersAreMorons was very low]]. There was serious concern that without an audience to "prompt" the home viewer's responses, a comedy would fall flat. The solution was the creation of the Laugh Track (also known as "canned laughter", "tinned laughter" or "fake laughter") -- an artificial audience that does nothing but react uproariously to anything and everything.
12
13Naturally, within a few years of its introduction, [[UndeadHorseTrope it was abused and overused]]. ''Every'' punchline, no matter how lame or subtle, would receive the same tsunami of belly laughs from the virtual audience. It became epidemic, even intruding bizarrely into cartoons (''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'', anyone?). By the 1960s, it had become an annoying intrusion, hated but (in the minds of most producers) mandatory. In the 1970s, however, most sitcoms began to switch away from the single-camera, movie-style format and back to the multi-camera format with a studio audience providing real laughter, which producers found more pleasing because it had a better comic "rhythm" and helped them write better jokes. By the 1980s, the only hit that still regularly used a laugh track was ''Series/{{MASH}}'' (which increasingly dispensed with the device toward the end of its run). And while the TurnOfTheMillennium saw a resurgence of single-camera comedies in the US, these were influenced by the new wave of British comedies of the 1990s, which omitted laugh tracks completely (leading to some UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism). Some comedies resorted to the use of certain sound effects that served the same purpose, but as the focus of 2010s-era comedies shifted towards either [[{{Dramedy}} dramatic]] or [[CringeComedy outrageous situations]], laugh tracks have seen a decrease in use. They are sometimes PlayedForHorror in the SubvertedSitcom, though.
14
15Although it may not seem so, laugh tracks were surprisingly sophisticated systems at the height of their use. Rather than being just simple recordings of a laughing audience, they were actually carefully generated and mixed, with such discrete components as "the guy who gets the joke early" and "housewife giggles" and "the one who didn't get the joke but is laughing anyway" all precisely blended and reblended to create the illusion of a real audience responding to the show. Up until the late 1970's, these were all the work of one company, owned by Charley Douglass, which used a mysterious machine of his own invention to create those imaginary audiences for hundreds of shows.
16
17A history and analysis of the laugh track can be found on the web [[http://www.tvparty.com/laugh.html here.]] Cecil
18Adams' syndicated column ''The Straight Dope'' also [[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlaughtrack.html covered the topic.]] ''Website/TheOnion'' is very fond of [[https://entertainment.theonion.com/ha-ha-ha-i-can-t-believe-how-funny-this-sitcom-is-1819584392 mocking]] [[https://entertainment.theonion.com/fox-news-channel-adds-laugh-track-1819564943 laugh]] [[https://entertainment.theonion.com/8-simple-rules-laugh-track-replaced-with-somber-string-1819567114 tracks]] [[https://entertainment.theonion.com/cbs-laugh-track-threatens-walkout-1819586397 extensively.]]
19
20The term "laugh track" is often misapplied to shows that are filmed and later screened to an audience, whose responses are then recorded. This is inappropriate, though, because in these cases the laughter was a genuine response to the humor in the show, and was not pre-recorded... although it's not unheard of for supplemental canned laughter to be inserted afterwards. Sometimes the term is even applied to the existence of a StudioAudience. In fact, studio audience sitcoms tend to get accused of employing "laugh tracks" ''[[RealityIsUnrealistic more]]'' than shows that actually do so, [[TheCoconutEffect because a laugh track tends to be quieter and less noticeable than real live audience laughter.]] This situation led to many shows, such as ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' to add a disclaimer either at the beginning or the end of a program: "(Program X) is filmed before a Live StudioAudience".
21
22In some Latin American countries (Argentina, for example), the laugh track is replaced by a crew of off-screen people paid specifically to ''laugh on command'' whenever the comedic situation (presumably) merits a laugh; they are known as reidores; a senior laugher signals all the others when to laugh. In Mexico, the Chespirito programs, particularly ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'', had laugh tracks for most of their runs, but in later years this device was dropped, with a disclaimer proclaiming that it was done to respect the audience.
23
24Note that even the shows that record laughter live from an audience (or show pre-recorded material to an audience and record that laughter) will edit, alter, or even add to the laughter in some way, even if (as in most cases) it's just to cover the transition between takes/scenes, using the same techniques used to add true canned laughter.
25
26While some claim the reason for laugh tracks is ViewersAreMorons, in their defense laughing along with everyone else in a group is a very social phenomenon and watching TV can be a very solitary phenomenon. It's not polite to laugh at something that isn't funny, not everyone has a well defined sense of humor (and that doesn't mean they are a moron, either), so the cue can be helpful to some people. One other criticism of laughter tracks is that it creates an enforced NoFourthWall scenario for every series that features one, continually reminding viewers that that are viewing a performance rather than allowing for immersion into the story and characters (see, for example, ''M*A*S*H''). Another complaint is that if the fan videos that edit out the laugh tracks in sitcoms are anything to go by, the funny moments are only funny ''because of the laugh track itself'', turning it into a comedy crutch.
27
28Laugh tracks and other uses of recorded laughter can have one interesting benefit in terms of pacing a show. Similar to theater, when the audience laughs, the actors will often pause for the joke to "land" and for the audience to calm back down before continuing. This pause is beneficial in some cases because it prevents dialogue or important details from being missed if the audience is still laughing. However, the dialog sounds very strange without the laugh track, as the actors must deliver a line then pause for about five to ten seconds for the next one. It also changes the type of dialog one writes; a laugh track forces short, brief, quip-laden dialog. Without a laugh track, more natural dialog and more complex jokes can get the space to breathe.
29
30----
31!Examples:
32
33[[foldercontrol]]
34
35!!Played Straight:
36
37[[folder:Comic Books]]
38* In ''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese'', the Chin-Kee story is meant to resemble a TV comedy--the story even uses canned laughter in the form of "hahahaha" written at the bottom of the panel. The canned laughter is played straight for most of the Chin-Kee story, until near the end when Danny fights Chin-Kee, where the laughter becomes overwhelming.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
42* The [=DVDs=] of ''[[Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg Epic Movie]]'' and ''Date Movie'' actually come with an optional laugh track.
43* This is mentioned in the Creator/AndyKaufman {{Biopic}} ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', when Andy explains why he is not interested in doing a [[Series/{{Taxi}} sitcom]]: "It's just stupid jokes and canned laughter! And you don't know why it's there, but it's there! And it's dead people laughing, did you know that? Those people are dead!" Interestingly, this rant may have been [[ThrowItIn improvised]] by Creator/JimCarrey since only the first line appeared in the script.
44* In ''Film/AFaceInTheCrowd'', De Palma demonstrates a machine that can produce different kinds of laughter and applause on cue for the benefit of Lonesome Rhodes, who uses it in the final scene just to practice a speech and [[VillainousBreakdown pretend he still has an adoring public]].
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Literature]]
48* Laugh tracks are mentioned in Chuck Palahniuk's ''Lullaby'':
49-->"Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead."
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
53* The first laugh track on television was used in 1950 on NBC's ''Series/TheHankMcCuneShow''.
54* ''Series/GilligansIsland'' and ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' are two good examples of the height of laugh track abuse from the 1960s and early 1970s.
55* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
56** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E33TheDummy The Dummy]]", one is used for the scenes in which Jerry Etherson is performing his ventriloquism act.
57** The PoorlyDisguisedPilot "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E36CavenderIsComing Cavender is Coming]]" featured a laugh track during its original showing and early syndication. The director Christian Nyby was so offended by this that he refused to be in the studio when the laugh track man was present. It was removed from the syndication prints in the mid-1980s.
58* ''Series/TheNuttHouse'': Co-created and written by Creator/MelBrooks; ExecutiveMeddling forced laugh tracks, because the executives felt that ViewersAreMorons. The result was loud, jarring, clumsily dubbed-in laugh tracks that often drowned out the punchlines.
59* ''Series/GetSmart'', another series with which Brooks was involved, had some especially bad laugh tracks. (Mind you, some of its jokes weren't much to laugh about anyway.)
60* See also ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'', ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' and other contemporaneous [[SitCom sitcoms]]. Although the Latin American dub mercifully removed it from both shows.
61* Creator/AaronSorkin used to engage in knock down, drag out fights with ABC execs over the laugh track in ''Series/SportsNight''. He hated it, they demanded it, and for a brief period at the beginning of the show's run, there was a laugh track. Sorkin eventually won out. This is especially strange given that the show was ''filmed in front of a live audience'' for the most part. An unusual hybrid of single-camera and multi-camera production, the entire episode would be performed in front of an audience, but some scenes would be performed with the actors simply reading from their scripts due to the sequences not being filmable with an audience present. Other scenes were reshot later without an audience in order to accommodate reverse camera angles. In lieu of a laugh track, recorded audience laughter from the live performances was utilized.
62* The 1980s comedy ''Series/SledgeHammer'' had its first-season, early-episodes laugh track edited out for the DVD release. The director's commentary explains that the talking heads at the studio forced the laugh track on him because they felt the show was too violent without it. The producer explained on the DVD that he edited it out because the audience doesn't need to be told when to laugh.
63* The laughter in the standup scenes on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' sounds rather jarringly fake compared to the audience response in the rest of the show, presumably because they got a handful of actors in to play the standup patrons. Could also be that it was the "warm-up" to the show, shown before the start.
64** Because the set design precluded a studio audience, "The Parking Garage" was filmed and then shown to a studio audience, then aired and syndicated with their laughter.
65* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had a tendency to abuse a semi-laugh track. They mostly used a real studio audience but would minimalise or emphasise as they saw fit. Although, they got lazy and used the typical "canned laughter" a fair bit too. Some episodes (such as "The One With Joey's New Brain") can be particularly jarring, where it seems every line gets a laugh - including lines that clearly weren't meant to be jokes.
66* The last few episodes of ''Series/OutOfJimmysHead'', a one-camera RogerRabbitEffect series on Creator/CartoonNetwork, had a hastily added-in laugh track in a last ditch effort to make the show appealing. Ironically, the consensus was that it made the show ''less'' funny, as the show's absurdist and cartoony sense of humor made canned laughter an awkward fit (they were completely removed from the Italian dub).
67* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has a laugh track, although very sedated compared to most. Originally it was taped ahead of time and showed edited to a live audience with ''their'' laughter recorded, but it has slipped that they switched to canned laughter at some point before season six. The show is actually something of a hybrid in terms of production and presentation, most indoor locations such as the characters apartments utilize a ThreeCameras set-up while outdoor locations with a single camera are heavily used.
68* Infamously (at least in Canada), the Canadian sketch comedy show ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'' didn't have one... until it was imported to the United States.
69* In the 1970s, the British pop music show ''Series/TopOfThePops'' used a bizarrely fake-sounding applause track after each performance.
70* ''Series/TheGame2006'' used a laugh track frequently in the first three seasons. Seasons 4 & 5, however, became heavy on drama with the comedy being an afterthought, so the laugh track was used sparingly, and often sounded out of place. By the sixth season, the laugh track was completely ditched, and the current revival also lacks one.
71* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' had one at the network's insistence, but the producers successfully averted it in the OR scenes, and were able to dispense with it entirely for certain later episodes. (The DVD releases of the show provide an option for the viewer to disable the laugh track on the episodes that have it.)
72** Interestingly, one exception to the 'no laugh track in the OR' rule was in the episode "The Novocaine Mutiny", specifically, during Frank's flashback to the incident that caused him to charge Hawkeye with mutiny. It's actually a pretty handy tell that Frank is lying about what happened: note ''Hawkeye's'' flashback has no laugh track.
73** When ''M*A*S*H'' was originally brodacast on Creator/TheBBC, it was without the laugh track. The show's producers said at the time that they wished it could have been shown in the US this way. Unfortunately the version now seen on cable/satellite channels in the UK has the laugh track.
74* Two Garry Marshall-produced sitcoms (''Series/TheOddCouple1970'' and ''Series/HappyDays'') had laugh tracks in their inaugural seasons, before shifting to a live StudioAudience, with the canned laughter occasionally used for "sweetening."
75* ''Every'' NBC GameShow until the 1990s had a ridiculously loud applause machine. Dennis James nicknamed it "Mother [=MacKenzie=]" on an episode of ''PDQ''.
76** The old daytime version of ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' was known for its canned applause. Compared with the combined cheers and applause from the current syndicated version's live audiences, the 1980s version's canned applause was still much louder. There were also awkward "ooh"s every time a prize was shown or the top dollar on the Wheel was hit, "aww"s whenever someone hit Bankrupt or called a wrong letter, et cetera.
77** ''Series/SuperPassword'' got a great deal of canned laughter whenever Bert Convy screwed up (which was often) or extreme applause when the show came back from commercial!
78** Lampshaded on an episode of ''Series/{{Blockbusters}}'', where Creator/BillCullen lapses into SelfDeprecation mode after a particularly bad joke. He says, "can't we do this show with just an applause machine?", and someone off-camera (possibly announcer Bob Hilton) says "We are."
79* ''Series/MatchGame'' used a laughter track in a bizarre way; during the opening of many episodes, while introducing the celebrity panelists, viewers could hear people giggling and laughing, even if there was nothing funny happening other than some TV star smiling at the camera. In reality the actual sound was likely audience applause (as they can be seen doing so when the camera pulls back to show audience members as the opening concludes). There is a possible rationale for this: some episodes of ''Match Game'' do not add in this sound, leading to a rather quiet, subdued opening.
80* The short-lived CBS game ''Series/GiveNTake'' was produced by and taped at Warner Bros., who used the standard sitcom laugh track of the time mixed in with their live audience reactions.
81* The original British version of ''Series/DaAliGShow'' used a laugh track, but its American adaptation (known as ''Ali G in da [=USAiii=]'' in Britain) lacks it.
82* NBC's ''100 Questions'' abused this. It was eventually cancelled after 6 episodes.
83* The Singaporean television show ''Kids Talk Back'', [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks like a talkshow version of]] ''Series/KidsSayTheDarndestThings'', was particularly bizarre in this respect. A laugh track had been added to the interviews with children, which made it seem like the audience was brutally taking the mickey out of hapless 4-8 year-olds who were unaware that they were being manipulated into saying things for the sake of good television.
84* Both ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' and ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' used laugh tracks. Justified in that both shows were presented as [[ShowWithinAShow shows being performed for an audience]], and it would be entirely impossible to film this show in front of an audience due to the special effects and the puppeteers. This was something of an embarrassment to Creator/JimHenson, who disliked the artificial quality of canned laughter but conceded it had to be used. This is most awkward during musical numbers where nothing particularly funny is happening, but the audience guffaws away for no reason.
85** To ''The Muppet Show''s credit, some of the laughter was actually the off-camera cast and crew cracking up at their co-star's antics, mixed in with the laugh track. Richard Hunt had a particularly loud laugh that can be distinctly heard, for example, in the "Japanese Cake" sketch. Sitting under the table waiting for his cue to bring the cake to life, Richard is audibly in stitches as the Swedish Chef throws candy and sugar all over the set.
86** The Creator/SteveMartin episode was originally supposed to dispense with the laugh track and feature only the cast laughing ([[ItMakesSenseInContext The Muppets had to cancel the show to audition new acts, but Steve Martin decided to perform anyway]]). However, the Muppeteer's laughter at some of Steve's antics was so loud it actually had to replaced with a laugh track to avoid drowning out the act itself.
87** The Sandra Bullock episode of ''Muppets Tonight'' did a parody of ''Film/{{Speed}}'', where a villain set a bomb that would blow up the studio if the laugh frequency dropped too low. Trying to get the laughs back up, Pepe and Seymour do a truly dire joke that has the audience silent and unamused - and [[MindScrew over the shot of a non-laughing audience, the laugh track gives a big laugh.]]
88* Every Creator/{{CBS}} sitcom, even in the modern era where shows like ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' and ''Series/ModernFamily'' have been critically acclaimed and immensely successful without the use of one. In fact, CBS is the only network that still uses laugh tracks with any frequency.
89* Early episodes of the NBC sitcom ''Series/{{Whitney}}'' had a poorly orchestrated laugh track that bore a striking resemblance to the flushing of a toilet.
90* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' actively used laugh tracks.
91* Sloppily used in the later seasons of the Hungarian stand-up comedy show ''Showder Klub''. It actually wouldn't be that noticeable if not for every other laugh ending with a jarring, high-pitched "Huh-HOOOH-huh!"
92* Not only does the original U.S. version of ''Series/HogansHeroes'' contain a laugh track (and a rather over modulated one in the earlier seasons), one of the German redubs of the series (known in English as ''A Cage Full of Heroes'') adds its own laugh track, containing a single recording of a couple of women cracking up.
93** Interestingly, Creator/{{CBS}} used this show as part of an experiment to see if comedies fared better with a laugh track than without. The pilot episode was screened to test audiences in two versions: one with laughter and one without. The first one fared better than the second one, supposedly due to the cerebral nature of the show's humor.
94* A hybrid of Laugh Track and Live Audience is the syndicated ''Series/JudgeJudy''. The audience is made up almost entirely of paid extras, who can be relied upon to laugh at the correct moments.
95* Used extensively for the infamous Canadian sitcom,''Series/TheTroubleWithTracy'', due to the fact its accelerated production schedule (''130'' episodes were recorded within the space of only about six months) made taping in front of a live audience physically impossible.
96* The Indian sitcom ''Series/DekhBhaiDekh'' often used a laugh track whenever a joke was made by any of the characters.
97* ''Series/AYearAtTheTop'' used one, judging by the promo.
98* The Brazilian version of ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'', ''Greg News'' is recorded in front of a live studio audience, but lost that when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the show to be made from host Gregorio Duvivier's home. Yet an unintentional laugh track emerged at times: while John records alone (lest his young children hear [[ClusterFBomb his copious swearing]]), Gregorio's family is watching him off-camera, and their laughter can be heard in jokes they really like. Gregorio also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXCny9dLsvE once]] mentioned how detractors compared his studio audience laughing to one mentioned in the lead of this article, ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'', making him say [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ER0UKKjraU that show's laugh track]] has an "acoustic excellence" of sounding like it was recorded underwater, with some turkeyspeacocks among the audience.
99* Most Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} and Creator/DisneyChannel {{Kidcom}}s (but see Exceptions below) are rife full of this, especially those produced by Creator/DanSchneider and It's a Laugh Productions. Most of them even use the same laugh track.
100** Possibly lampshaded in the "webcast" parts of ''Series/ICarly'' (as in, the bits where we're watching the ShowWithinAShow) with Sam's remote. Usually OncePerEpisode, she'll hold it up and press a button, which cues the laughter. It's played straight in the show proper, though.
101** Towards the end of ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', creator Dan Schneider had begun to insert a laugh track in every line, regardless of there being any joke involved.
102** ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' also uses this very often.
103** ''Series/TrueJacksonVP'' begins each episode with a narration by Keke Palmer telling us that the show was filmed in front of a live studio audience, but if you listen closely, you can still hear the same stock laughs heard in the average {{Kid Com}}. Filmed before a studio audience it may be, but laugh tracks still came into play ''some''where.
104** ''Series/ANTFarm'', ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'', ''Series/ShakeItUp'', and ''Series/AustinAndAlly'', to name a few, make a good effort to use the laugh track button.
105** For recent Nickelodeon shows, the 6.8 or 6.2 audio subcarrier sometimes carried a music+sound effect track, with no speech. Handy for catching an instrumental version of the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' theme, but the live action shows are distinctly disturbing: The show is silent save for gales of repetitive and inappropriate laughter punctuated by the occasional machine noise or dog bark.
106[[/folder]]
107
108[[folder:Music]]
109* Many of Music/RayStevens' comedy records featured laugh tracks, such as "The Streak" and "Shriners' Convention." This may be the most JustForFun/{{egregious}} use of laugh tracks ''ever''.
110* Music/JohnnyCash sometimes dubbed applause machines into his songs, most notably "Sunday Morning Coming Down". It's really, really fake-sounding.
111* Josh Wink's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKY8qpPmGnk "Don't Laugh"]] features a laugh sample synchronized to a 303 bassline.
112[[/folder]]
113
114[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
115* Most ProfessionalWrestling promotions that produce TV shows make use, to some degree, of "canned heat", which is not so much a Laugh Track as cheer tracks, boo tracks, and sometimes specific chants ([[Wrestling/{{WCW}} "Goooooooooooooldberg... Gooooooooooooooldberg..."]]). This is generally played over the stadium's PA system, in an attempt to coax the crowd into a given reaction (or, at the very least, fool the audience at home into thinking the crowd are giving a reaction). And it's also handy for importing into video game adaptations.
116* ''LVD TV'' one used the first music clip that had crowd noise Von Dutch could find with the note the original audio was lost.
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder:Radio]]
120* The first use of a laugh track on radio was on Creator/BingCrosby's show in the late 1940s. The show was the first to be pre-recorded on tape with the help of a German Magnetophon recorder. One night, comedian Bob Burns threw in a few of his folksy farm stories, which got big laughs but couldn't be broadcast due to their extremely racy and off-color nature. The laughter was salvaged and reused a few weeks later on a show which didn't get a lot of laughs, thus inventing the laugh track.
121[[/folder]]
122
123[[folder:Video Games]]
124* Strangely enough, this trope is also invoked by the ''VideoGame/GanbareGoemon'' series, the most well-known example being in ''Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon''. It works due to the general {{Camp}} nature of the games.
125* The videogame ''Gekioh: Shooting King'' has an optional mode that replace all of the game audio with a laugh track.
126* ''VideoGame/ScoobyDooNightOf100Frights'' has one, as a tribute to the original series (see below), even during gameplay. For instance, it usually pops up whenever Scooby accidentally runs into something and bumps his head.
127* ''VideoGame/ScoobyDooMysteryMayhem'' is another ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' LicensedGame that uses canned laughter.
128* ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachu'': While on the set of a ShowWithinAShow ''Maximum Music'', Tim notices that the show sounds like it has a rowdy audience but there isn't an audience.
129* The Nintendo DS version of ''Series/CoryInTheHouse'' has a laugh track during cutscenes.
130[[/folder]]
131
132[[folder:Web Animation]]
133* ''WebAnimation/NothingForever'' uses laugh track that is often placed at random points. It is more consistent in season 2.
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder:Web Videos]]
137* ''WebVideo/SteveDMonster'': The series utilized one beginning in Season Five.
138** Steve lampshades it usage in "2012: A Look Back" (S7), when he opens his ''Monstrocity News'' broadcast with:
139-->"This is ''Monstrocity News'', the only newsprogram where you can hear the sounds of laughter, other than ''[[Series/TheGreatSpaceCoaster The Gary Gnu Show]]''."
140** Subverted in "Steve Vs. Internet Commercialism" (S7), where Steve is constantly interrupted by a series of commercials, which is met with boos and hisses.
141[[/folder]]
142
143[[folder:Western Animation]]
144* Creator/HannaBarbera is perhaps the biggest offender. Almost all of its ''animated'' series have laugh tracks, firing at more or less random times. It doesn't help that by 1971, instead of using the more sophisticated and costly Douglass laugh track services, the company was using a "bootleg" laugh track machine that recycled the same five laughs over and over in a very obvious fashion.
145** The laugh track on ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' was notably edited out in the syndicated airings on Creator/{{Boomerang}}, and it was also absent from ''The Man Called Flintstone'', which made it a surreal viewing experience for those used to watching the show with canned laughter, but justified since it was a theatrical film.
146** Notably the ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' inspired ''WesternAnimation/WaitTillYourFatherGetsHome'' aired with a laugh track at first but since has been laughtrackless.
147*** It seems to be HB's policy to remove all laugh tracks when remastering its animated series. However, this can only be done if the original dialogue, music and effects tracks can be located, which is not always possible.
148*** The early ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' series from CBS had laugh tracks [[EditedForSyndication added for syndication]].
149*** The laugh tracks in the first seasons of ''Scooby Doo, Where Are You!'' were there from the get-go. Subsequent shows had the laugh track when first broadcast but the laughs were inconspicuously absent when prepared for syndication. On DVD releases, some original episodes feature the laugh track. Others don't.
150*** ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' pays homage to the franchise's use of this trope at the end of the final episode.
151*** All H-B's prime time animated comedies in the 60s had laugh tracks. Their Saturday morning shows, save for ''Scooby Doo, Where Are You!,'' didn't. The only 1970s series that didn't have laugh tracks were those animated in Australia, the odd drama shows (''Sealab 2020, Devlin'') and their WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry 1975 retool. The laugh track was abandoned in 1981.
152* The first eight episodes of ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' featured a laugh track, against the wishes of creator Jay Ward; because of the show's rapid-fire, quick-paced humor, the laugh track often played over dialogue, as there was little to no pause allowing for laughter. Jay Ward and co-producer Bill Scott fought with Creator/{{ABC}} to remove the laugh track, but it wasn't until they were able to get the show's sponsor (General Mills) to back them up, so ABC relented, and the laughs were eliminated after those first eight episodes. The first season DVD set removes the laugh track from those episodes altogether.
153* Echoed in a bump on Creator/AdultSwim, where they explain that most laugh tracks are owned by Creator/DesiluStudios, and come from TheFifties. They say the dead are laughing at you.
154* The theatrical ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' shorts had laugh tracks added when they were shown on television. This stuck out even more in a program that had almost no dialogue at all.
155** ''The All New Pink Panther Show'' pushed the laugh track to breaking point. For example, the Crazylegs Crane segments would ''open'' with canned laughter just because the character was on screen, having not done anything yet. This could be particularly annoying to that section of the audience who were [[ReplacementScrappy far from convinced that the character was funny at all]].
156* ''WesternAnimation/TheArchieShow'' was the first SaturdayMorningCartoon to use one.
157* Creator/RankinBass, following [[Creator/HannaBarbera Hanna-Barbera]]'s lead, also created a "bootleg" laugh track using samples from the Douglass library for three of their shows: ''[[WesternAnimation/TheJackson5ive The Jackson 5ive]]'', ''The Osmonds'' and ''Kid Power''. The tracks were initially of poor quality, with loud laughter at every joke, sometimes in mid-sentence, but the sound engineers improved their craft by the time ''The Osmonds'' and ''Kid Power'' went on the air and were able to at least slightly surpass the Hanna-Barbera laugh track in quality.
158** Eleven years later, their animated ''WesternAnimation/{{Coneheads}}'' special utilized this.
159* Not exactly straight, but on ''WesternAnimation/SidTheScienceKid'', Sid can produce one with his microphone, as well as applause.
160* ''WesternAnimation/CampCandy'': The justification is that John is telling stories to campers and that the laughter is coming from them.
161[[/folder]]
162
163[[folder:Real Life]]
164* Perhaps for such reasons, a Canadian show investigated whether a laugh track makes any difference. They played the sound from dry banter on a cop show for random persons on the street, and got some good laughs. They then added a laugh track and went out on the street again, and people laughed much harder. Statistically speaking, probably insignificant, but interesting nonetheless.
165[[/folder]]
166
167!!Parodies:
168
169[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
170* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMj1ijOOAjA&feature=related this]] episode of the ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' anime, we are first given a message with tells us to laugh when the icon [[note]] Suketoudara is that icon.[[/note]] prompts us to. [[note]] Followed by a practice in which the laugh is heard twice.[[/note]] Here are all three icon prompts:
171-->[[spoiler:When Kiki Mora lifts up her broom from the sand.]]\
172[[spoiler:When Kiki Mora's broom stops at the water bottle.]]\
173[[spoiler:During the chase scene.]]
174[[/folder]]
175
176[[folder:Comedy]]
177* Parodied in a sketch by Alexei Sayle... on a sketch show featuring canned laughter. He explained the technique to the viewing audience as he walked through a field, and complained about its cheapness. He then headed off accusations of hypocrisy (How could he have real viewers in a ''field''?) by revealing a large audience on portable stadium seating.
178* As early as 1959, radio comics Radio/BobAndRay were satirizing the concept by hauling out a 'laugh machine' (because "we don't feel we're getting the correct response from you [listeners],") then making it roar with joy over a deliberately awful sitcom pilot.
179* When Creator/MitchHedberg told a joke that fell flat with the audience on his ''Strategic Grill Locations'' CD, he joked that he'd edit in their more uproarious laughter from a previous joke after it.
180[[/folder]]
181
182[[folder:Comic Books]]
183* During the ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' story with the first appearance of the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., Mr. Jones has a laugh track installed in his house to emulate his "normality". It goes off seemingly at random, coinciding with him stabbing his wife and planning a massacre
184[[/folder]]
185
186[[folder:Comic Strips]]
187* In one strip of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' Calvin decides that to liven up his life, he's going to make it more like a TV show, complete with soundtrack and laugh track. His mother's reaction mirrors that of most people on hearing a laugh track.
188[[/folder]]
189
190[[folder:Fan Works]]
191* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'':
192** One episode has Tea say that she will prove that women can be equal to men. A laugh track suddenly pops up.
193** Used in the "[[ShowWithinAShow Zorc & Pals]]" segments of ''WebVideo/YugiohTheAbridgedSeries'', though in that case it's a spoof of '50s-era sitcoms.
194* Also appears in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' when Vegeta makes a {{pun}}.
195* ''WebVideo/YuYuHakushoAbridged'' has one play whenever Genbu says [[Creator/LarryTheCableGuy "Git-er-done"]]. Hiei does not approve, and forcibly interrupts Genbu's last invocation of this trope.
196* See ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' turned into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CrjYpX5M3o "a crappy '80s sitcom with a few sound effects."]]
197* ''Film/TheShining'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRtyqK4nbVU&feature=related as a Seinfeld style sitcom.]]
198* A rare written example in ''FanFic/SherlockHomesVsJackTheRipper'', whenever Watson does something stupid, "da audience laffs".
199[[/folder]]
200
201[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
202* A laugh track starts playing in ''Film/{{Fireball}}'', to the great dismay of Drossel, who is convinced it is caused by intruding spies.
203* Used in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' in one scene with Scott and Wallace to show how inflated Scott's ego had gotten (to wit: he thought he was [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Jerry Seinfeld]]) We then find out that the laugh track was actually a sound coming from Wallace's stove.
204* An [[BlackComedy utterly dark version]] appears in ''Film/NaturalBornKillers''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXq2rsaOxWQ The scene]] detailing Mallory's [[AbusiveParents horrifically]] [[ParentalIncest abusive]] [[DomesticAbuse childhood]] is done in the style of a classic multi-camera sitcom called ''I Love Mallory'', complete with a laugh track. Mallory's father insulting and threatening to beat up her mother, groping Mallory and her brother asking if he was born of incest with her all have the "audience" rolling in the aisles. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXq2rsaOxWQ MASSIVELY disturbing.]]
205* ''Film/AnnieHall'' features a scene in which Alvy watches in disgust as his friend edits canned laughter a sitcom. At one point, he remarks "[[DeadpanSnarker Got any booing on there]]?"
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder:Literature]]
209* Creator/HarlanEllison wrote a story, "Laugh Track", about a woman whose ghost possesses all of the laugh tracks on TV (because her laughter appears on the tape that's copied to make all of them), and instead of laughing complains loudly about the quality of the shows concerned and television in general.
210* In Creator/RobertRankin's ''A Dog Called Demolition'', The Shrunken Head pub has a laughter track installed, greeting Danny with gales of laughter, though he can't work out where it's coming from.
211* In ''Literature/WiddershinsAdventures'', this trope is played for horror by the evil fairie Iruoch, who is constantly accompanied by an invisible choir of children who laugh at his every quip.
212* The Tines in the ''Literature/ZonesOfThought'' novel ''The Children of the Sky'' can only communicate with humans by reproducing the sounds of human voices, since their native tongue is TheUnpronounceable. But since they can reproduce virtually any audible frequency (and many inaudible ones), they can speak in multiple voices simultaneously or even, Johanna notes, ''provide their own laugh track''.
213[[/folder]]
214
215[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
216* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'':
217** While it never actually used a proper laugh track (though it was shot in front of a studio audience), the show features a few sketches in which canned laughter and applause tracks were triggered by one of the characters -- including the "UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun Show" (which parodied American sitcoms) and the "Interesting People" sketch, in which Michael Palin can be seen reaching off camera to turn the applause on and off. In the National Bocialist rally scene, all the applause for Mr. Hilter's speech comes from a gramophone which Ron Vibbentrop is working.
218** Taken a step further in their running gag of using obvious black-and-white stock footage of applauding audiences throughout the series.
219* Referenced in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "BreadAndCircuses", where we see a 20th century TV technician turning the canned applause on and off on a programme. Fine, except it's a 20th century ''Roman Empire'' and the programme consists of televised gladatorial fights to the death.
220* ''Series/TVFunhouse'' (as [[SpinOff its own show]] and on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'') uses parody laugh-tracks, especially for their send-ups of Saturday morning cartoons of the seventies. Their ''HarlemGlobetrotters'' parody includes the same staccato baritone "Heh-heh-heh-heh" after every line.
221* An episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' shows Servo using a laugh track every time Crow utters his newly adopted "SitCom" catchphrase "You Know You Want Me Baby!" The really old cassette player Servo is using ultimately eats the laugh track.
222* A certain single-episode show summed up its content by taking the name ''Series/CannedLaughter''. While the end credits rolled, the same quick laugh track was played over... and over... and over...
223* Done during the [[TrappedInTVLand sitcom segment]] of the ''Changing Channels'' 5th-season episode of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. That episode was a [[AffectionateParody riff]] on TV in general...
224-->'''Sam:''' We could die in here.\
225''[canned Laughter]''\
226'''Dean:''' ''How is that funny?'' Vultures!
227* A ''Series/FrenchAndSaunders'' sketch (featuring Dame Helen Mirren and Julia Sawalha) parodying sitcoms had the incessant laugh track constantly interrupting the already terrible punchlines, ruining the timing of the actors by cutting them off when they were speaking, making the whole thing SoUnfunnyItsFunny, until they got annoyed and walked off the sketch.
228* In an episode of ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Tracy Jordan is having a drug induced hallucination which gives him an epiphany moment which gets interrupted by a laugh track, he becomes quite annoyed by them mocking him.
229* In the Pierce Brosnan episode of ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', a particularly bad pun from Rizzo provokes no reaction whatsoever, causing Clifford to remark that "Even the laugh track didn't think that was funny."
230* Used for the imaginary ShowWithinAShow ''Pyro and the Idiot'' in the ''Series/CornerGas'' episode "Self-Serving."
231* The short-lived Creator/ComedyCentral sitcom ''Big Lake'' featured a laugh track, but its presence was for ironic and sarcastic purposes - the stuff that it triggered on were often [[CringeComedy very uncomfortable]] or [[BlackComedy dark]] situations - essentially mocking the laugh track by using it incorrectly.
232* In the early local episodes of ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'', Christine says the show has no laugh track because it's both the right thing to do and they can't afford (although they added it in when they went to Nickelodeon). Then they show a clip from the local farm report with a laugh track added in.
233* The ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Life In Four Cameras" is a parody of classic sitcoms (as the latest patient is a former ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' writer) and features a laugh track in several {{Imagine Spot}}s.
234* The CBS editions of ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' and ''Series/MatchGame'' had notoriously obvious audience reaction tracks (mainly of "oohs") in their early years. It sounded odd on ''Match Game'' simply for an Audience Match answer being revealed.
235** Goodson-Todman's syndicated reboot of ''Series/{{Concentration}}'' repurposed ''Price'''s audience reaction tracks of "oohs" during the Head Start portion of the game (showing four prizes on the board). They tried to make prizes like cat food and candy sound awesome.
236* A skit by Brazilian TV show ''TV Pirata'' had a "syndicate of canned laughter", which reclaimed for better conditions such as not laughing at bad jokes... while laughter emerged from almost every line, of course.
237* ''Series/{{Community}}'' opened its fourth season with canned laughter and applause - then it turned out this was Abed's mental "happy place" where he pictured himself and his friends in a sitcom.
238* ''Series/{{House}}'' has a dream sequence with House and Wilson raising Cuddy's daughter in a sitcom setting, complete with laugh track.
239* The Archer, a villain on the 60's ''Series/Batman1966'' TV series, used a laugh track in his crimes, his henchmen carrying the device around and turning it on at appropriate moments. He stole it from a "producer of so-called comedies".
240* Done as a CoolAndUnusualPunishment in the last episode of ''Series/{{Danger 5}}'', when Hitler imprisons our heroes in a sitcom starring himself: ''Hitler's Haus''.
241* Used in one episode of ''Series/MrRobot'', which starts off with a parody of 90s sitcoms, with Elliot's family as the stars on a road trip. It's just as weird as it sounds.
242* Milton Berle and Mickey Rooney did what were probably the earliest "canned laughter" jokes (complete with literal laugh can) in 1954 on ''The Buick-Berle Show''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVJ-fplYJr8 Here is the clip.]]
243-->'''Milton Berle:''' Hey, this is a boon to writers!\
244'''Mickey Rooney:''' Boon to writers! It's the biggest thing to comics since writers!
245* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' parodies the use of laugh tracks in the episode "Old Lady House: A Situational Comedy", where Dennis puts sound effects over surveillance footage of Charlie and Mac's moms to make a sitcom out of their exploits, with characters noting that the laugh track not only [[ViewersAreMorons tells them when something is funny]], it turns what would otherwise be [[DudeNotFunny uncomfortable situations]] into something funny and palatable.
246* A very deliberately fake-sounding one is used in the "Dickie and Dino" segment of ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' episode "Bomb" to mock the bad jokes told by Dino.
247* ''Series/ForAllMankind''. Three astronauts are stranded on the Jamestown Moonbase with their only entertainment a Betamax tape with a few episodes of ''Series/TheBobNewhartShow''. When the tape gets eaten in the player, they've all long since memorized the whole thing and just act it out themselves, complete with laugh track.
248* In ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', the episode "Class Clown" deals with the gang trying to replace the previous class clown (who has moved out of the school), and Cookie's approach is using a device that adds laugh track to whatever people say, claiming that laugh track makes everything funnier.
249[[/folder]]
250
251[[folder:Music]]
252* Sent up in Music/WeirdAlYankovic song, "Ricky," which parodies ''Series/ILoveLucy'' (to the tune of Toni Basil's "Mickey"):
253-->''Oh Ricky, what a pity, don't you understand,\
254that [[LampshadeHanging every day's a rerun and the laughter's always canned]]!''
255[[/folder]]
256
257[[folder:Radio]]
258* One sketch on ''Series/DeadRingers'' suggested adding [[Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue Barry Cryer's]] characteristic laughter as a laugh track could make any show sound funny.
259* Even today (2021) the Creator/{{BBC}} tends to record its comedy shows in front of a live studio audience. This can backfire: the cast of ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain'' have spoken about the unpredictable nature of a hyped up audience. Creator/JohnCleese recalls there would always be people who laughed at points where no joke was intended, and that at other times the whole audience might miss the actual intended joke, thus throwing the cast out.
260[[/folder]]
261
262[[folder:Roleplay]]
263* ''Podcast/RandomAssault'': Sometimes used for laughs to parody the format of TV sitcoms.
264[[/folder]]
265
266[[folder:Video Games]]
267* The Laugh Track gets weaponized in ''VideoGame/DiceyDungeons'', where one of the [[spoiler:Jester's]] possible finale cards in Episode 6 is named that, which Curses their enemy into making their next attack have a 50% chance of missing.
268* In ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Ultra'', an unlockable blooper reel features a laugh track. Being the ''Kirby'' series, all of the laughter is unintelligible squeaks.
269* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfKyrandia III: Malcolm's Revenge'' has what is presumably a parody of this: laughter will often occur after Malcolm's comments, regardless of whether they are intended to be funny. Thankfully, it can be disabled in the options menu.
270* Paying the Undodog 100 coins in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'' causes him to tell a bad Mario-themed joke (“Why is the Angry Sun so Angry? Somebody ate all of his desert!”) before playing a laugh-track.
271* Parodied in the second chapter of ''VideoGame/TorinsPassage'', where the protagonist visits a typical 1950s sitcom house[[note]]Still monochrome in the otherwise colourful game. And with such signs of its time as Music/ElvisPresley portrait.[[/note]] where every spoken line is followed by one of three very recognizable laugh tracks, to the point of any conversation being very long, tedious and frustrating.
272* ''VideoGame/VersusUmbra'': Discussed. At one point, Adrian watches ''JustForFun/{{Buddies}}''. When Michael calls it one of the terrible shows with a laugh track, Michael responds that the laugh track is an awesome feature as it tells when the show is supposed to be funny.
273[[/folder]]
274
275[[folder:Web Animation]]
276%%* YouTubePoop videos will occasionally parody this.
277%%** An example comes from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyHsY9W1_A "ARNOLD THE PIG PENETRATES EVERYONE."]]
278%%--->'''[[Franchise/StreetFighter Akuma]]:''' GOUKEN, I'M HOME.
279%%** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eeh8IJ4W0U The Link and King Show]] series, basically a [=YouTube=] Poop sitcom starring characters from VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames, uses a laugh track a lot.
280* ''WebAnimation/SpaceTree'': Used in ''[[http://spacetree.keentoons.com/bee.html Face Bee the Face Bee]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment in Your Face]]!'' [[OverlyLongGag Perpetually.]]
281* In the Flash short "[[WebAnimation/NapsterBad Metallica Millionaire]]", parodying ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', there is a laugh track every time a contestant does something wrong or dumb.
282* The ''WebAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'' episode "A Smidge of Midge" uses a laugh track in attempt to emulate sitcoms from the early 1960s, the time during which Midge dolls began production. Skipper asks a few times if anyone else can hear the disembodied laughter, but no one answers.
283* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', [[MonsterClown Cegorach]]'s appearance in Episode 25 is accompanied by a distorted, unnerving laugh track that comes close to hysterical screaming, and plays over the opening theme.
284* The first episode of Creator/BradJones' show ''LLOYD'' had this:
285-->'''Glynis''': I've got news for you: the date is going poorly.\
286'''Lloyd''': You think if I yelled out "bartender I'll take another" that a laugh track will start playing?\
287'''Glynis''': Why don't you try it and see?\
288'''Lloyd''': Bartender, I'll take another.\
289''The laugh track plays [[LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn before the bartender mutes a television.]]''
290* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlueFamilyShatters'': In "Phase's Reputation", when Zero walks in, a studio audience cheers from offscreen.
291* ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' had an episode titled [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "The One With A Laugh Track".]]
292[[/folder]]
293
294[[folder:Webcomics]]
295* ''Calamities of Nature'' asks the question, [[http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=412 why do sitcoms still use laugh tracks?]]
296* ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'': The grandmother of Tony and Olivia uses a tape recorder to turn her family life into a sitcom.
297* ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'': [[https://www.housepetscomic.com/comic/2018/11/07/laughter-in-a-can/ Tiger uses Bluetooth speakers to set up his own]], programmed to respond to certain situations, like saying his catchphrase. The unfortunate drawback is that it's glitchy, and sometimes ignores him but laughs at other people saying it.
298* ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'': [[https://ozyandmillie.org/archives/comic/ozy-and-millie-295/ In one strip]], Millie has a boombox with a laugh track on it. Her mother uses the power of theme music the next day to retaliate.
299[[/folder]]
300
301[[folder:Web Videos]]
302* ''WebVideo/CLWEntertainment'': The ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' announcement [[https://youtu.be/ySEfqD4HB7Q "Just Finished a HUGE Episode of Doraemon!!"]] features a very repetitive laugh track PlayedForLaughs. The same soundbite plays whenever anything happens in the video.
303* ''WebVideo/JakeAndAmir'': In 'Studio Audience', Amir uses a soundboard to create one. Inexplicably, he also downloads the YMCA and multiple fart noises on the same board, and frequently mixes them up.
304* ''WebVideo/RedLetterMedia'': The Plinkett reviews often use it as SarcasmMode, such as when Anakin and Padme are having a romantic conversation that's particularly cringeworthy.
305* Used in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's review of ''Film/{{Grease}}'' after Sandy says that she now knows that Danny truly respects her.
306* In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HTqbxYsYwc The Dr. Steel Show, Episode 1,]]'' Music/DoctorSteel enters his lab at the beginning of the show to wild applause, which he reacts humbly to... then [[LampshadeHanging reaches over and turns a dial which turns off the applause track]].
307* Creator/BradJones uses this in his ''WebVideo/EightiesDan'' web series, which is a parody of 80s era sitcoms. He lampshades it in his ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' review as WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob.
308-->'''The Cinema Snob:''' Careful with that laugh track; we need it for the next "80s Dan"!
309* ''WebVideo/PittsburghDad'', being an homage to classic sitcoms, adds a Laugh Track for stylistic reasons.
310* Laugh tracks constantly play through the ''WebVideo/BoardJames'' episode "Full [=House/Do=] The Urkel", frustrating Board James to no end. [[spoiler:There's the implication that [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness it's all Board James's imagination]].]]
311[[/folder]]
312
313[[folder:Western Animation]]
314* Most Hanna-Barbera animated series of the late 1950s and into the 1960s have laugh tracks. Justified somewhat with ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' as it was intended to be an animated variant on live-action sitcoms such as ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' which were recorded in front of audiences at the time.
315* In the ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode "The Cloning", a possessed television used inappropriate laugh tracks in its efforts to scare the people watching.
316* As part of her obsession with regaining her former sitcom fame, Baby Doll from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' carries a laugh track on tape with her everywhere and plays it at moments she thinks are appropriate (along with "Ohhhh..." and "Awww...").
317** From the same series, there's ''Christmas with the Joker,'' where he uses a laugh track in [[DissonantLaughter grossly inappropriate fashion]] while describing his murderous plans. It's possibly a secondary LampshadeHanging that the "audience" he's using is revealed to be cardboard cutouts.
318* ''Toys/LegoFriends'': When appearing on a competitive baking show, the host produces a remote and keeps activating Canned Laughter or Applause sound effects. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when a reverse angle of the studio audience area reveals there isn't actually an audience. Cue the FunnyBackgroundEvent when Stephanie checks under a microwave to find out where the sound is coming from.
319* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' played with this a couple times.
320** As in the "Love-Matic Grandpa" portion of the spinoff episode.
321--->'''Moe:''' I'm so desperately lonely.\
322''[canned laughter]''
323** Another episode had a StudioAudience hoot after Marge makes a suggestive comment. Homer immediately says "Bart, I told you not to play the TV so loud!", followed by Bart looking ashamed and the "TV audience" going "Uh-oh!"
324** Another episode had Mr. Burns taking over all the TV stations and putting on his own stupid shows to blackmail Homer. Every single line had canned laughter after it, even though nobody was telling any jokes. [[note]] But then again, that remains true [[TakeThat even when other shows play this trope straight]]. [[/note]]
325** The episode "$pringfield", in which Marge develops a gambling addiction. Marge promises Lisa she will give up gambling, saying she will stay home. The two of them hug, with Homer saying, "Aw... just like on TV". Cue to Homer tripping over a chair, with canned laughter.
326* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
327** An episode has a gag of Brian making some comment to Peter, followed by canned laughter and applause; the two of them fidget while waiting for it to die down.
328** Also used during the opening host segment of the "Viewer Mail" episode. Stewie claims he swiped the can from ''Series/DharmaAndGreg''.
329** In PTV, Stewie and Brian make a sitcom called ''Cheeky Bastard''. Stewie claims that the show is "recorded in front of a live audience", but the (fake) laughing is actually provided by him.
330** An earlier episode had a gag involving an actual studio audience having moved in across the street. Peter eventually gets fed up with them and goes to call the cops.
331** In one episode, Brian's heavily edited show is played before a live studio audience. Every time James Woods and another actor says something, the audience laughs at the line and it's the same ''exact'' laugh every time, making it sound like the laughter is canned.
332** The "Multiverse" episode parodies the laugh track used in the ''Flintstones'' when Stewie and Brian travel to a dimension where everything is made by Creator/HannaBarbera; nearly everything Rock Peter and Rock Lois says triggers canned laughter.
333** "Series/TwoAndAHalfMen was filmed in front of a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GrV3OZdjP8 live ostrich]]."
334* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' had the canned laughter in Blooper's segment. In season 5 however, it [[spoiler: turned out that the host was hallucinating it and the laughter changed into distorted (while telling nobody to "STOP MOCKING ME!"]]
335* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Jakovasaur", the household of the Jakovasaurs is presented as a typical DomCom, complete with laugh track. When Cartman comes to visit, he wonders [[LampshadeHanging where all the laughter is coming from]].
336** Also in South Park, the episode "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery" used a laugh track which also prompts a similar reaction from Cartman (because the episode is a parody of Scooby Doo). This episode also features Korn (guest voiced by the actual band), and Kenny in an ED-209 costume. ''ItMakesSenseInContext''
337* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': Billy wishes for the perfect dog, but he doesn't know which of the four dogs he should take home. He then convinces Grim to use the magic of his scythe to combine all four dogs into one single perfect dog named Wiggy Jiggy Jed. The dog (who is a parody on Hanna-Barbera characters like Yogi Bear) in question makes quirky jokes that are immediately met by a disembodied laughing. The cast take note of it right away.
338-->'''Mandy''': Where is that creepy laughter coming from?
339* The ''Justice Friends'' segment of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' uses laugh tracks in parody of live-action sitcoms (of which it borrows a format).
340* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' featured two parasite characters living on Spunky, whose adventures were spoofs of typical '60s sitcoms. The scenes with them have laugh tracks, which the rest of the show lacks.
341** The ShowWithinAShow ''The Fatheads'' also had a laugh track, with the characters mugging for the camera whenever it played. Of special note, however, is that instead of a group of people, the track consisted of a single guy laughing hysterically.
342* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'' featured some jokes uncharacteristically followed by a laugh track, until Mung finally orders a stop to "the canned laughter." This being "Chowder", it was quite [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin literal]].
343* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', the president of the network which airs "All My Circuits" proves how evil he is by saying, "I once put a laugh track on a sitcom that had no jokes in it!"
344** In "A Bicyclops Built for Two", Katey Sagal's role on ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' is parodied when an alien, Alcazar, has Leela dressed like Peggy and Alcazar sitting on his couch with one hand down his trousers ala Al Bundy, with alien rats and pigs as friends of his who contribute the 'live audience' catcalls and whoops.
345** "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" has a segment spoofing ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', where the characters comment on the mysterious laughter they keep hearing, even when they don't say anything funny.
346* Parodied in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' where the title character says "I thought we weren't going to have canned laughter on this show" after knight in armor laughs and runs off after a dragon.
347* A ''[[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers Venture Brothers]]'' episode ran flashbacks of Rusty and Pete's college days with a laugh track added to evoke an '80s sitcom.
348* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries'' didn't normally use a laugh track, but included a brief snippet of a laugh track following one of the jokes in "You Slipped a Disk" as well as the second half of the episode, "Chow About That?," apparently as throwaway gags.
349* The 1991 show ''Spacecats'' had an episode dealing with a native tribe chief who wants canned laughter and applause after everything he says.
350* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Powerpuff Girls|2016}}'' revival episode "Somewhere Over The Swingset" had the girls entering an alternate world Townsville where everything is 50's sitcom perfect and every line is met with canned laughter/reactions. The girls even want to know where the laughter is coming from.
351** Original series episode "The City Of Clipsville" was the girls and the Professor looking back at their past. It ends with the voiceover and superimposed caption "''The Powerpuff Girls'' was recorded in Burbank in front of a live studio audience," with canned laughter and applause over it.
352* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', the cast were making their own parody of a sitcom. There was this every time somebody made a joke, no matter how cheesy or lame it was. Later, [[ButtMonkey Stumpy]] walks in through the door, and a laugh track plays, causing him to get annoyed.
353* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS5E8TheTest "The Test"]] Gumball decides to try and break out of his role as [[LoserArchetype the loser]], which causes the show to turn into a lame, outdated sitcom centered around Tobias. As well as the show [[StylisticSuck suddenly having poorer video and sound quality]], it adds a laugh track that, as Sarah points out, gets louder the worse the joke is.
354* ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs2017'': Hector Evilman's creation in "Inventors Only" with mice enacting Series/{{Seinfeld}} plays laugh tracks, with Hector explaining: "and this is something I call Mice TV, the only sustainable future of entertainment! What makes it funny is the laugh track telling you it's funny." This leaks into the real world as the track plays when Flint remarks "I came here expecting to get killed." Followed with a D'awww when he continues with "all you've done is murder my fears...with friendship."
355* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': The episode “Quack Pack!” Is a parody of 90s sitcoms, so naturally, the show takes jabs at the laugh track. Huey even notices it, and is horrified that there are these omnipotent voices that are laughing at them. [[spoiler: They actually are trapped in a sitcom set. During another one of the family’s adventures, Donald gets his hands on a [[GenieInABottle magic genie’s lamp]] and accidentally wishes that he had a normal family, which the genie interpreted to mean a sitcom family]].
356* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Derision", Kim is transformed into Dark Humor, whose powers cause other people to start playing malicious pranks. Every time such a prank is played, a laugh track is triggered. At one point, Ladybug (pretending she was hit by Dark Humor) glues a Lucky-Charm-created toilet bowl to Dark Humor's head, which results in a laugh track even though she's only faking.
357* ''[[WesternAnimation/RockPaperScissorsNickelodeon Rock, Paper, Scissors]]'': In "The First Lou Episode", after not giving him exactly fifteen minutes of total time on the news for fame resulting in Lou only having 14 minutes and 48 seconds, he shouts that he's raising the rent with a laugh track accompanying. [[spoiler: It then zooms out revealing that the entire episode was on a computer from the titular trio to propose an idea for a new show they have called Rock, Paper Scissors, Lou]].
358[[/folder]]
359
360!!Exceptions:
361
362[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
363* Subverted in David Lynch's ''Rabbits'', in which a surreal sitcom whose only dialogue is out-of-order and nonsensical is ''still'' punctuated by a laugh track.
364[[/folder]]
365
366[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
367* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' is a notable exception, all the funnier for a lack of a laugh track in almost every episode (there is one exception in the ImagineSpot episode ("My Life in Four Cameras") which parodies the traditional SitCom) -- the lack of a laugh track allows for innovative use of SoundEffects instead.
368* NBC actually advertised its Thursday night comedy block (which ''Scrubs'' [[ChannelHop was]] a part of) as being completely laugh-track free. [=NBC=]'s shows have been (since ''Friends'' ended at least) completely devoid of laugh-tracks or any similar substitutes.
369* ''Series/PoliceSquad'' had neither a laugh track nor a live studio audience. The DVDCommentary talks about how they fought with the executives about this -- however this is inadvertently subverted because the creators hadn't seen the shows for a while, and laughed at the jokes -- making their commentary a laugh track in and of itself.
370* A couple of sitcoms made by the Disney Channel actually have ''not'' used a laugh track -- ''Series/EvenStevens'', ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'', ''Series/PhilOfTheFuture'' and ''Jonas''.
371* The Canadian sitcoms ''Series/CornerGas,'' ''Series/LittleMosqueOnThePrairie,'' ''Series/MadeInCanada'' and ''Series/RobsonArms'' avoid Laugh Tracks. (Except, as noted with the ''Corner Gas'' example elsewhere on this page, for comedic effect.)
372* ''Series/TheMonkees'' got rid of their laugh track in the middle of their 2nd (and final) season, and the non-laugh track episodes have such a different feel it almost seems like they're part of a different show.
373* ''Series/TheKennyEverettVideoShow'' on ITV in the late 70s was unique in that there was no studio audience, but the viewer could clearly hear the cameramen, floor manager, writers and other studio crew laughing out loud off screen.
374* ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'' ditched their laugh track after series 2. (The original {{Radio}} series had a live studio audience.)
375* The ChristmasSpecial of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' finally ditches the laugh track.
376* As did ''[[TheMovie Drake And Josh Go Hollywood]]''.
377* Same deal with the ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' movie.
378* ''Series/RedDwarf'', which was considered by a lot of fans to have a laugh track, was in fact filmed in front of a live studio audience throughout most of its eight-series run, at least the bits that weren't on location or technically complicated.
379** The exception is Series VII. It was not recorded in front of an audience at all, due to the fact so much of it was filmed on location and involved complex special effects, but it was screened to an audience in post-production in order to provide a laugh track -- it mostly works, but there are a couple of conspicuous points where the actors pause for laughter and there is none. Three episodes from Series VII were available in extended versions without laugh tracks - on a VHS called Xtended (later also on the Series VII DVD) - but this did not get very good responses from fans. As a result, the makers abandoned their idea of not using laugh tracks in Series VIII (by returning to the format of recording episodes in front of a live audience).
380** The ''Back to Earth'' mini-series that constituted Series IX, was totally filmed on location (or at the Shepperton soundstage), and has no laughter track.
381*** The pre-recording of ''Red Dwarf'' sequences played back to the audience on screens didn't begin with series VII, though. Long before then, numerous episodes had had lengthy sequences pre-recorded due to their reliance on location shooting or effects work. For example, the series IV episode "Bodyswap" was entirely pre-recorded, due to the actors having to overdub each other's voices.
382*** During "Bodyswap", you can hear ''the cast of the show'' on the laugh track. (They were sitting in the audience during the laughter recording.)
383** Craig Charles and Chris Barrie only agreed to return for Series X if it was filmed in front of a studio audience. Unfortunately this took up so much of the budget that all location filming had to be cancelled. This had the knock-on effect of making the scripts for episodes 5 and 6 unusable as they relied heavily on locations they could no longer afford. The replacement script for episode 5, "Dear Dave", was cobbled together so fast they could only film half of it in front of the audience. The rest of the scenes were filmed in post-production and the finished episode aired for fans at a convention to complete the laugh track.
384* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' is one of those cases where people bitch and moan about the "laugh track"... and are ignoring the fact the series was taped in front of a live audience. Live audiences can provide situation-specific reactions that would be difficult to get from a can; in one episode, a tarantula crawls across Al's face while he sleeps, and as the audience's "Eeeew!" dies down, one voice rises above the crowd to ask, "Is it real?"
385** The show's studio audience by the latter half of the run was actually filled with hardcore fans of the show that were excited to be there (versus the "Hey you're visiting Hollywood, come in and watch a TV show being filmed!" that many shows did) and maybe at times were a little...overboisterous (the many moments where its obviously breaking the flow of the characters waiting abnormally long times to speak or continue a conversation because the crowd's going crazy),[[note]]In one of David Garrison's return guest shots, the applause at his entrance goes on for so long that he actually breaks character for a moment, comically looking at his watch.[[/note]] but the crew and actors were always extremely offended at the notion. They didn't NEED sweeteners/canned laughter.
386* Another series that averts this is ''Series/TheITCrowd'', also recorded before a live studio audience.
387* ''Series/ILoveLucy'' was filmed in front of a live studio audience, and is rumored to be the source of a good deal of the canned laughter used in later shows.
388** All other sitcoms which starred Creator/LucilleBall or were produced by her Creator/DesiluStudios also used a studio audience instead of a Laugh Track, largely because that's how it was done on ''I Love Lucy''.
389** The pantomime segments from ''The Red Skeleton Show'' are also rumored to be a source for canned laughter.
390* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' is probably the most famous example of a show drawing ''attention'' to their live studio audience; a random cast member announcing that fact would be the first thing audiences heard every episode (as opposed to most shows, like ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', which did so over the end credits). Not that they really needed to; watch any given episode and you can hear every last titter, clap or cough from some random audience member. That set must have had some ''great'' acoustics...
391* Most sketch shows are filmed in front of studio audiences. In shows that have a weird sense of humor or play with format a lot, this is often self-evident, because there'll be a lot of apprehensive tittering if the audience doesn't know where a sketch is going, or one person howling uncontrollably while the rest of the audience is just mildly amused, or occasionally a punchline or an [[{{Beat}} important silence]] being ruined by premature laughter. Understandably, performers of shows like this can get quite exasperated when they're accused of using canned laughter -- why would anyone deliberately add in audience reactions that ''get in the way of the jokes''?
392* According to the "liner notes" on the ''Monty Python's Flying Circus Ultimate Collector's Edition'', the Pythons ''never'' used a "laugh track". The laughter on their skits all came from the studio audience. If a routine didn't get enough laughs, they didn't "sweeten" the laughs- they just left that routine on the cutting-room floor and didn't air it.
393* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' did sketch comedy without a live audience. The formative years for the show were shot in Edmonton, Alberta, where television talent was apparently so sparse that the laugh track was done by the guy who did the farm reports, just adding laughter at regular, arbitrary intervals.
394* ''Series/DeltaHouse'', a sitcom version of the surprise hit movie ''Film/AnimalHouse'', went beyond canned laughter to canned wolf whistles, canned villain-booing, etc. in a vain attempt to capture the feel of the movie.
395* The current trend of {{mockumentary}} style sitcoms like ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' and ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' has dealt another blow to the laugh track. Obviously, shows like these ''can't'' use laugh tracks, since that would destroy the illusion that the shows consist of documentary footage. This type of series doesn't use music (except in the opening credits) for the same reason.
396* Some Nick shows have no laugh track, such as ''Series/Zoey101'', ''Series/BigTimeRush'' and ''Series/TheTroop'', which are somewhat unusual for the channel but are all [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by ''not'' being typical ThreeCameras KidCom shows ''and'' being shot extensively on location. It also helps than Zoey 101 is a dramedy and ''The Troop'' is an action/adventure show. Subverted at least with ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' in which the laugh track was replaced with a set of specific "stand-in" sounds[[note]] (the show was filmed mostly on-location, and by the time it premiered, laugh tracks were on their way out)[[/note]], having one for a determinate situation.
397** Same goes for some Disney Channel Shows, such as the channel's earliest shows, the show ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'' and more recently ''Jonas L.A.'' which was shot on location in (you guessed it!) L.A. Jonas L.A. also was Disney Channel's first show with a continuing story in each episode. It too was a drama, so no need for laugh track.
398* In a surprising example, the Canadian KidCom ''Series/WinginIt'' avoids using a laugh track.
399* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' is one of the few shows that proudly uses a StudioAudience. As the show became more popular most of the audience consists of die-hard fans, thus the laughter tended to be a bit more aware of the nuances of the show and were anticipating the punchlines (ie Sheldon starts an innocuous sounding dialogue about Windows 7 and there are some snickers at "It is much more user friendly" before the actual joke of "[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks I don't like it]]"). [[RealityIsUnrealistic This resulted in many people assuming the show did, in fact, use a laugh track]]. One Chuck Lorre VanityPlate at the end of an episode featured a [[http://chucklorre.com/?e=532 composite picture]] of the studio audience with the caption "This is our 'laugh machine'"
400** Additionally, as common in similar shows there are some locations where a studio audience would not be able to attend such as an actual park or street corner. The show also has a sequence where the characters climb the stairs to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment, which are filmed in piecemeal fashion because each floor is a redress of the same set, making it difficult for the studio audience to laugh at a punchline set up on a previous floor.
401* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' doesn't use a laugh track either.
402** ''Malcolm in the Middle's'' ultimate legacy is that, along with the British sitcom ''Series/{{Spaced}}'', it's considered to be the TropeCodifier of the single camera, laugh track-free sitcom. Since ''Malcolm'' premiered, it's become popular for high-quality, single-camera sitcoms like ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'', ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', ''Series/ThirtyRock'', ''Series/{{Community}}'', ''Series/PeepShow'', ''Series/TheInbetweeners'', ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' and ''Series/FlightOfTheConchords'' (among others) to eschew laugh tracks entirely. Coincidentally (or rather not) these shows are usually some of the most acclaimed comedies on television, with laugh-addled comedies seen as lowbrow. Naturally, some (specially people related with the laugh track) have often complained that the stuffiness of modern comedies (specially regarding the British-influenced "{{Mockumentary}}" format) has made them devoid of any climax, even if their criticism is dissed as UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism).
403* Oddly enough, ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' was supposed to have a laugh track in its early stage of production, as we can see with the pilot episode (it's included in the [=DVDs=]). They actually showed the episode in front of an audience and recorded their laughter. Julian Barratt and Creator/NoelFielding found the audience overdid it so much that they decided not to keep it. It sounds disastrous indeed, as The Boosh is clearly not a "laugh out loud" type of comedy.
404* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' was recorded in front of a live studio audience, as announced at the end of nearly each episode. In the later seasons they stopped using live audiences, presumably because they were distractions to the actors; they played back each episode to the audience instead.
405** However later seasons, as well as the AfterShow ''Series/ArchieBunkersPlace'', used a laughtrack reportedly at Carol O'Connor's insistance.
406*** Most of the sitcoms in the [[SharedUniverse All in the Family Universe]] such as ''Series/{{Maude}}'', ''Series/GoodTimes'', and ''Series/TheJeffersons'' were also taped in front of a live audience.
407* Latin American hits, ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' / ''Series/ElChapulinColorado''. It is a long story. These shows were originally filmed in front of a StudioAudience and then got increasingly abusive of the laugh tracks late in their run, but the later sketch show ''Chespirito'' from the same author that often included ''El Chavo Del Ocho'' and ''El Chapulin Colorado'' did not have a laugh track and it was explicitly mentioned that it was for respect of the audience. However, it is worth noticing that it actually used certain music tracks that played after each joke.
408* The Seinfeldian German sitcom ''Pastewka'' doesn't use a laugh track. German critics agreed that this vastly improves the [[DeadpanSnarker deadpan]] quality of the show.
409* ''Series/HomeImprovement'' not only used a live studio audience's laughter, but they also got their extras from audience volunteers. For "[[ShowWithinAShow Tool Time]]" the studio audience was the ''actual'' studio audience, and you can see how people are laughing at the gags on the show as though they were at a sitcom taping.
410* ''Series/TheDailyShow'' and likewise its sister show ''Series/TheColbertReport'' are filmed in front of a live audience. Both hosts interact with it fairly often, usually by telling them an off color joke was still funny, or criticizing their choice to laugh at a gag.
411** Even more annoying than the audience laughing at a bad joke: the audience bursting in laughter too soon, obviously mistaking a mere set-up line for the punch-line. It's the exact opposite of LateToThePunchline, but it still confirms that ViewersAreMorons.
412* ''Series/{{Titus}}'' used a live studio audience, but with a twist in style. Every episode had a main story taking place primarily in [[ClosedCircle one location]] and in approximate RealTime, and this was performed as a play. A FramingDevice called the neutral space (a black and white room where Titus talked directly to the camera) divided up the action with a {{Flashback}}, ImagineSpot or other type of gag to put the main story in perspective. The cast would record the various NeutralSpace-related bits on Wednesday, but also rehearse the main story all week for the Friday taping. At the taping they would perform the main story live for the StudioAudience, but would also show the audience video of the Neutral Space material in the appropriate place in the overall episode, capturing the laughter as a complete episode rather than in piecemeal.
413* Creator/BillCosby's first sitcom, the 1969-71 series ''Series/TheBillCosbyShow'', aired without a laugh track at Cosby's insistence (and over the objections of [[ExecutiveMeddling NBC executives]]).
414** Later ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' was taped in front of a live audience.
415* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' had a live studio audience - and, like the audiences from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' and ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', it was ''very'' in-your-face and obnoxious. However, predecessor series ''Series/GoodMorningMissBliss'' used a conventional laugh track; and since the two shows are part of the same syndication package, it makes for a good education as to the differences between the two.
416* Creator/StevenMoffat's sitcom ''Chalk'' provides a case-study in one of the dangers of using a studio audience. The audience for the first series found the show hilarious, to the extent that a second series was commissioned before the first had even aired, and the BBC compared it to ''Fawlty Towers'' in the publicity material. The problem was that the show's loudness, while excellent theatre, did not translate at all well to television and the first series flopped while the second was being made. The second was aired, but in increasingly lesser graveyard slots.
417* ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}'': Series 1-9 were filmed in front of a clearly visible studio audience. When this was impossible in series 10-12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the producers scorned to use a laugh track, and instead screened each recorded episode to a smaller audience in post-production, recording their genuine laughter and using that.
418* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' used a studio audience. "Will's Misery" ends with a gag where Carlton freaks out and runs screaming across the set and [[NoFourthWall out into the audience]].
419* Unusually for a {{Britcom}} from TheSeventies, ''Series/TheTroubleWithYouLilian'' was aired with no laughter - audience or canned - of any kind.
420[[/folder]]
421
422[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
423* ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' initially had this, but the makers didn't want it and it was subsequently dropped. Combined with ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' never using one except to subvert it, ''TV Guide'' praised both shows back in the day (the early 1990s) for this avoidance.
424[[/folder]]
425
426[[folder:Western Animation]]
427* ''WesternAnimation/GlennMartinDDS'', a ''stop-motion'' show, had a laugh track for about 8 episodes until it was removed entirely because the creators claim "it gave the show too much internal thinking".
428* ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' used this in the episode "Please Retire" and "Under the Sea Monster". WordOfGod states that this (along with a episode-long "drawn in front of a live audience" gag) is done whenever the crew thinks an episode could have been better, but they didn't have enough time to fix any problems with it.
429* ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas'' was supposed to air with a laugh track, a common element of children's cartoons at the time. Charles Schulz objected, maintaining that the audience doesn't need to be cued to laugh. The special was so successful that it completely '''exterminated''' the use of a laugh track in animated comedy, nowadays a laugh track is almost ''never'' used in Western animation except to make fun of its existence.
430* The 1988 ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' episode "Bat With A Golden Tongue" had Mighty Mouse attempting to help Bat-Bat kick his joke-telling addiction. Bat-Bat's last word to the audience was "Just say no to canned laughter" (which was replaced with a guy screaming at [[ExecutiveMeddling [=McDonald's=] insistence]]) followed by a pan shot to a busted ceiling (caused from an earlier scene) and canned laughter and applause.
431* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TheAlvinShow''. Ross Bagdasarian insisted that the show skip the addition of a laugh track, against the wishes of the network. Though there was the sound of clapping that sounded like it came from a recording in "''Wild, Irish Rose''."
432[[/folder]]
433
434!!Exploited:
435
436[[folder:Western Animation]]
437* In ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'', Alastor, the Radio Demon, speaks like a 1920s or 1930s radio personality (because [[DemonOfHumanOrigin he once was one]]), complete with a constant RadioVoice, even though he's personally present. This is accompanied by didactic period music and a subtle laugh track that sometimes appears when he laughs (though noticeably, [[NothingIsScarier not when he laughs as part of a threat]]). This is used for sinister effect, as a reflection of his demonic powers.
438[[/folder]]
439----
440->[[SelfDemonstratingArticle Ahahahahahaha! *clap clap clap*]]

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