History Main / LaughTrack

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* 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 removed at [[ExecutiveMeddling [=McDonald's=] insistence]]) followed by a pan shot to a busted ceiling (caused from an earlier scene) and canned laughter.

** 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.

The 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") -- an artificial audience that did nothing but react uproariously to anything and everything.

* ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'': [[https://ozyandmillie.org/1999/04/01/ozy-and-millie-2160/ In one strip]], Millie has a boombox with a laugh track on it.

* 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.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' was later remastered without a laugh track, and reportedly the humor falls flatter than a pancake without it.

* 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.
* The Creator/DisneyChannel version of the 2017 series of Literature/TheWorstWitch, set to premiere on October 4th, 2021, will feature a laugh track to match with the channel's current sitcoms.
* Towards the end of ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', creator Creator/DanSchneider had begun to insert a laugh track in every line, regardless of there being any joke involved.
* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' also uses this very often.
* ''Series/TrueJackson'' 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.
* Creator/DisneyChannel shows ''Series/ANTFarm'', ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'', ''Series/ShakeItUp'', and ''Series/AustinAndAlly'', to name a few, make a good effort to use the laugh track button.
** Similar to the ''Series/OutOfJimmysHead'' example below, the laugh track in their ''Brian O'Brian'' shorts actually make them ''less'' funny; it's a pretty poor fit for the shorts' style.

* 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.

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

* ''Series/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".

** Taken UpToEleven in one episode where 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.

* ''Series/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".

* 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.

* A couple of sitcoms made by the Disney Channel actually have ''not'' used a laugh track -- ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'', ''Even Stevens'', and ''Jonas''. ''Naturally Sadie'', ''Phil of the Future'', and ''Life with Derek'', all of which have been aired on the channel, also do not have a soundtrack.

** In "A Bicyclops Built for Two", Katey Sagal's role on ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' is parodied when an alien, Alkazar, has Leela dressed like Peggy and Alkazar 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.

* ''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.

* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', the cast were making their own parody of a sitcom. There was CannedLaughter 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.

* A certain single-episode show summed up its content by taking the name ''CannedLaughter''. While the end credits rolled, the same quick laugh track was played over... and over... and over...

-->--'''Robert Freeman''', ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks''

Naturally, 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 and are still played straight in children's sitcoms (particularly those from Creator/DisneyChannel and Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}), though.

Naturally, 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.

* 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/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' 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.

While 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'').

* ''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 or cough from some random audience member. That set must have had some ''great'' acoustics...

* Parodied in on of the chapters of ''VideoGame/TorinsPassage'', where the protagonist visits a typical sitcom house 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.

* Parodied in on of the chapters of ''VideoGame/TorinsPassage'', where the antagonist visits a typical sitcom house 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.

** Eleven years later, their animated ''WesternAnimation/Coneheads'' special utilized this.

** Taken UpToEleven in one episode where Brain'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.
** The "Multiverse" episode parodies the laugh track used in the ''Fintstones'' 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.