History Main / LaughTrack

* ''GrrlPower'': The grandmother of Tony and Olivia uses a tape recorder to turn her family life into a sitcom.

* ''ThatsSoRaven'' and ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' are also glaringly obvious because the shows are filled with special effects that could not possibly have been shown to any live audience. It's pretty bad when even the 9 year old wonders how the audience could react on the spot to Raven having her visions or when Alex gave one of her spells.

** Oddly, these shows and every DisneyChannel show was [[FollowTheLeader inspired by]] ''LizzieMcGuire'', which did not have a laugh track.

* Two Garry Marshall-produced sitcoms (''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' and ''HappyDays'') had laugh tracks in their inaugural seasons, before shifting to a live StudioAudience.

** The old daytime version of ''WheelOfFortune'' was known for its [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxzUTF15Nd0 canned applause]]. Compared with the combined cheers and applause from the current syndicated version's live audiences of 3,000 people, 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. The sweetening is particularly noticeable during this infamous "Megaword" [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHzQLXHFCoQ category puzzle]]. It becomes obvious that the same audience groaning sound is recycled throughout!
** ''Super {{Password}}'' 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!

* ''Any'' recent live-action "cartoon" produced by {{Nickelodeon}} or the DisneyChannel (but see Exceptions below) is rife full of this - most of them even use the same laugh track.

* Done during the sitcom segment of the ''Changing Channels'' 5th-season episode of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. That episode was a [[AffectionateParody riff]] on TV in general...
--> Canned Laughter
-->'''Dean:''' ''How is that funny''? Vultures!

* Strangely enough, this trope is also invoked by the ''GanbareGoemon'' series of VideoGames, the most well-known example being in ''Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon''.

* Latin American hits, ''ElChavoDelOcho'' / ''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 ''ElChavoDelOcho'' and ''ElChapulinColorado'' 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.

In 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'' ("laughers"); a senior laugher signals all the others when to laugh. In all the others (as happened in Mexico), comedies without it were openly stated to have no laugh track because they respected their audience, most notably the Chespirito programs, such as ''ElChavoDelOcho''. A less direct version in US media is the ''"{{Cheers}} is filmed before a Live StudioAudience"''-style disclaimer.

* HarlanEllison wrote a story, "Laugh Track," about a woman whose ghost possessed all of the laugh tracks on TV (because her laughter appeared on the tape that was copied to make all of them), and instead of laughing complained loudly about the quality of the shows concerned and television in general.

** The exception is Series VII. It was not recorded in front of an audience at all, but 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.
** The channel ''Back to Earth'' easter special is filmed on location (or at the Shepperton soundstage), which has no laughter.

* The 1980s comedy ''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.

* Two Garry Marshall-produced sitcoms (''TheOddCouple'' and ''HappyDays'') had laugh tracks in their inaugural seasons, before shifting to a live StudioAudience.

[[ViewersAreMorons Closed-captioning for the humor-impaired]].

** This troper isn't sure what episode it was, but he remembers seeing someone watching a sitcom with a laugh track after every sentence. The lines we hear from the show is a typical conversation from acquaintances or friends meeting up again (Hello, how are you, etc.).

** The ShowWithinAShow ''The Fatheads'' also had a laugh track, with the characters mugging for the camera whenever it played.

* [[WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob Brad Jones]] uses this in his ''WebVideo/EightiesDan'' web series, which is a parody of 80s era sitcoms. He lampshades it in his ''CannibalHolocaust'' review as The Cinema Snob.

* The Canadian sitcoms ''Series/CornerGas,'' ''Series/LittleMosqueOnThePrairie,'' ''MadeInCanada'' and ''Series/RobsonArms'' avoid Laugh Tracks.

* When 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.

* 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.

* In the 1980s, there was a situation comedy series written and produced by Creator/MelBrooks (yes, ''that'' Mel Brooks) called ''The Nutt House'' (which was TooGoodToLast). ExecutiveMeddling resulted in laugh tracks, because the executives felt that ViewersAreMorons. The result was loud, jarring, clumsily dubbed-in laughtracks that often drowned out the punchlines.

* BillCosby's first sitcom, the 1969-71 series ''TheBillCosbyShow'', aired without a laugh track at Cosby's insistence (and over the objections of [[ExecutiveMeddling NBC executives]]).

* This is also mentioned in the AndyKaufman {{Biopic}} ''ManOnTheMoon'', when Andy explains why he is not interested in doing a [[{{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 JimCarrey since only the first line appeared in the script.)

* The ''TwilightZone'' episode "Cavender Is Coming", guest-starring Carol Burnett, featured a laugh track (as it was a pilot for a sitcom). The director was so offended by this that he refused to be in the studio when the laugh track man was present.

[[AC:Web Comics]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/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.