You're right about the psychology of the laugh track; that it's partly a Pavlovian-like cue that coaxes a laugh out of people who might not otherwise get a joke. Also, yes, it gives one the sense that one is part of an audience and not sadly sitting on the couch all by yourself.
I worked for a number of years as a standup comic. I did thousands of shows in front of all kinds of audiences, large and small. I was always amazed at the different kinds of laughs I could get out of an audience, depending on the circumstances, for exactly the same joke. The joke didn't change, just the size and makeup of the audience. Generally, though, the bigger the audience the better the laugh. Why? Because small groups (say, an audience of 50) make people self-conscious and less likely to be demonstrative. But big audiences of, say, 300 or 400, allow people to be vocal (sometimes not always in a good way) because they are less likely to be singled out. So the laughs are bigger and run longer. As I used to say to the rookies in the green room, if you have an audience of 20 people and half of them laugh, that's just 10 people laughing. But in a room of 200, it's 100 people laughing and it's very likely that that many laughers will convince the remainder of the audience to join in, which they almost unfailingly do. So, yeah, laughter can lead to more laughter. But the joke's still gotta be good. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Halegua Comic Art To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 3:57 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN there are other reasons also Phil one major aspect being that TV shows are intended to be over quickly (30 minutes), so the pace has to be fast. While most good comedy writers are intellectuals, the audiences are not. Urban audiences are more intelligent than rural (generally speaking) and because many people will not get a joke right away, the laugh track induces them to laugh, making those around them laugh - whether they got the joke or not. The more you laugh, the more you are likely to enjoy the show and the higher the Neilsen ratings are and therefore, the more the station can ask for advertising 70s & 80s tv to me was the worst, most pedestrian era in TV. Frequently, a joke would be told and then, after the laugh track faded, the joke would be explained!! Of course, it was explained for those who just weren't smart enough, or didn't have enough cultural knowledge to understand why that joke about New York was funny to the guy in New Jersey, but not to the guy in Oshkosh I always thought that TV - in 95% of all cases - was a true dumbing-down of culture. It's largely made for those who aren't smart enough to get off the couch for much more than another bag of potato chips and who don't read lots of books I may have the TV on alot when I work, but I don't stop working. Very often, the TV is on more for a feeling that someone is in the room and I'm not isolated in my office than it is for entertainment reasons another factor why laugh tracks are still used so widely is the studios got so used to them, they are now part of the studio lexicon and the concept of working without them is alien At 12:33 PM 3/9/2011, Phillip W. Ayling wrote: "But all live audiences are not created equal and all sitcoms are definitely not created equal" There are and were differences in those formats and it wasn't just about bigger budgets and backlots and a variety of sets. There were and are issues that relate to Union jurisdiction. Generally live TV sitcom shows (including videotape) were an outgrowth of radio and AFTRA union jurisdiction. Film TV shows like Get Smart and The Monkees were SAG jurisdiction. That also resulted in different rules regarding what is called sweetening, other overdubbing issues, timespread and what are called "pickups". On Videotape shows that are done before a Live audience, if a joke goes over really well and there is some technical glitch, the scene will need to be done over. In that case the audience is hearing the joke for the 2nd time or the pickup is done after the audience leaves. In those cases a real legitimate point could me made for inserting the real first-time laughter from "Take 1" into Take 2 for continuity. Like all things Hollywood, that got subverted into "Let's make the home audience think our show is as funny as the show taping next door by dubbing-in their laughter". ----- Original Message ----- From: Dave Rosen To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 12:11 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN Rich: Yeah, after I sent my email I remembered I Love Lucy was filmed (not taped) in front of a live audience and, of course, The Jack Benny Show, etc, etc. I simply forgot. But in the 60s a lot more sitcoms (Get Smart, The Munsters, The Monkees) had bigger budgets and so were shot like movies, on film on a variety of sets and backlots without a live audience. So the laugh track just totally took over. No real humans were reacting to the gags. The practice of shooting with a three-camera setup in front of a live audience became common again in the 70s, thanks to the ease-of-use and low cost of videotape. Also, I never said laugh tracks didn't exist earlier, in fact, starting in the 50s and especially in the 60s, they were over-used. That's why, when taping sitcoms in front of a live audience came back into vogue again in the early 70s (Norman Lear was instrumental in making the practice popular again), "taped before a live audience" became a selling point. But all live audiences are not created equal and all sitcoms are definitely not created equal. So the sweetening got heavier and heavier till we are where we are today, with mediocre shows "taped in front of a live audience" but in fact drowning in phony sweetened laughs. Ultimately my point is this: If a show is truly funny it doesn't need a laugh track. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Halegua Comic Art To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 1:27 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN Dave Live audiences have been in front of the stage for almost all the history of television and laugh tracks - if you recall - we available during the 1950s from a machine that Rudy Franchi evaluated on Antiques Roadshow Rich At 05:39 AM 3/9/2011, Dave Rosen wrote:  I had no idea a version of MASH without a laugh track existed. I'd love to see it. In the 70s, the practice of taping sitcoms in front of a live audience started (except for MASH, which was shot on film without an audience), supposedly as a reaction against the over-use of "dead" (ie, taped) laugh tracks. The idea was to get a live audience reaction to the comedy. The problem was, a lot of the comedy wasn't (and still isn't) funny, so producers soon started to "sweeten" the live audience laughter, if there was any, with recorded laughs. Flash forward to today and virtually all the "taped before a live audience" shows are totally sweetened. In other words, virtually NONE of the laughs you hear are real. Why? Because the shows aren't funny. The best test of a comedy is to watch it without the laugh track, if you can. If you don't laugh, it ain't funny. It's that simple. Best sitcom ever on US TV? For me, it was The Larry Sanders Show. Hands down. And no laugh track. Dave Message ----- From: Phil Edwards To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 3:43 AM Subject: Re: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN Yes, buit only the UK edition of MASH which the BBC insisted did not have the laugh track. Without the ghastly laugh track, MASH was quite a different show altogether. Phil ----- Original Message ----- From: Adrian Cowdry To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 7:05 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN Two and a Half Men for me is as Peter says medicore at best I'd say it was tosh. I will name a few sitcoms that have been imported to the UK that I feel had an excellent team of writers that kept the viewers coming back for more. Some might be classed as Comedy Drama. Boston Legal (one of the best US Comedy Drama's ever) Scrubs Friends Frasier Cheers All in the Family Roseanne had some very good high peaks. The Office And of course MASH There are many more that I cannot think of just yet but there is an awful lot of dross which doesn't deserve to be high rating winners. There was one series about 15 years ago made by HBO that was a little near the knuckle and it involved carnal activities of a young bachelor it had only one series but it was funny. I also think Cougar Town has potential. I will say that I think when the US writers come up with something and it's good - it is really good. But things like Will and Grace, Two and Half Men, Dharma and Greg and this new one Hot in Cleveland are truly poor examples of American Comedy. I do feel that sitcoms at their best nothing comes close to Fawlty Towers, probably The Office (UK version), and there are several that I will not name as they really are purely British that do not export well but truly are so funny that your ribs ache. It is such a shame that Sheen has come out of the closet as such an idiot but hey...if he had any sense his bank account will be quite full that he can put the bulk of it in a high interest account and sniff the interest! This never happened to the other fella. -----Original Message----- From: peter contarino <[email protected]> To: 'Adrian Cowdry' <[email protected]> CC: [email protected] Sent: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 16:40 Subject: RE: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN I have to agree with Ade on this. I donâ?Tt tend to jump into threads but this guy is so annoying I feel the need to vent. First, with the world blowing up around us, I canâ?Tt fathom how this is newsworthy. Itâ?Ts speaks poorly for the media and the public in general. Secondly, Two and a Half men is a really mediocre, low-brow show. Thirdly, I donâ?Tt know Sheen but he seems like a real scumbag and is marginally talented at best. I will depart with Ade on his comment that it is not up to US sitcom standards. I think it is completely on par with the absolute dreck that dominates the airwaves. I can scarcely think of a comedy that is any more interesting than the commercials funding them. There are several decent comedies on some of the pay channels but the Majors have set the bar so low that it is scarcely worth the trouble to watch. I feel better now. -peter From: MoPo List [ mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Adrian Cowdry Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 2:55 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN Charlie Sheen has made a right charlie of himself. He was never the greatest actor...he was never the best comedian. Obviously he was in the right place at the right time and had a great formula with an exceptionally good team of writers that made him the focal point of a TV series that was mediacore at best. There I said it. Two and a Half Men was not fantastic. Better sitcoms have been produced in the US. This series was based, lets face it, loosely around Sheen's actual hell raising lifestyle. How this series could have garnered awards I cannot fathom. The acting was stilted, the comedy was transparent. It was not up to the standards of US sitcom writing. It would be nice if now the networks cast around and get down to something a lot better and classier. Sheen has killed his career, if he ever works in Hollywood again it will be a cold day in hell I suspect. I think the man was stupid to kill the Golden Goose but I do not think his brand of sitcom will be missed. I am sure that the writing team that backs Two and a Half Men will come up with a formula as good - hopefully better - and not be saddled with an over indulged actor to lead the troops. This never happened to the other fella. -----Original Message----- From: Kirby McDaniel <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 21:55 Subject: [MOPO] ONE AND A HALF MEN http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/charlie-sheen-fired-from-two-and-a-half-men/?emc=na Kirby McDaniel MovieArt Original Film Posters P.O. Box 4419 Austin TX 78765-4419 512 479 6680 www.movieart.net mobile 512 589 5112 Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. 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