Please Laugh - JEB

I actually did my essay more or less on this topic. I found it very interesting the way people see the laugh track. (If you’re curious here’s the article I used, but if it doesn’t work it’s “Laughing Together” on Academic Search Premier http://search.ebscohost.com.libproxy.furman.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=66469859&site=ehost-live) It’s basically a focus group that watches sitcoms with and without a laugh track and then talks about what their perception of the laugh track is.  Essentially, they were all fairly aware of the laugh track in watching the show, and all but two really disliked the laugh track believing it was almost condescending, telling them when to laugh. And yet, the average sitcom still feels the need to use it, and those shows are still popular. As much as people don’t like the laugh track in theory, they in practice, it doesn’t seem as though they mind it all that much.  If anything, it seems to really help shows reach the mainstream.  

Why is that though? Everyone seems so opposed to it, but at least on some level, they must like or rely on it. Two of the people in the study openly liked it. One of them said it turned it into a group experience which I found interesting.  Humans are social creatures so it would make sense that the impression of having multiple people there would make a difference.  It’s sort of similar to the screens in Fahrenheit 451 which served the purpose of giving the feeling of being surrounded by other people, providing a sense of society without being social.  On the other hand though, another person in the group argued that it served simply as a cue to the jokes.  It’s like someone walking you through the humor.  Though this is precisely why some don’t like it, maybe they still rely on and appreciate it. Lots of other shows that don't use a laugh track still will have some way of pointing moments of comedy out with moments of silence as characters in the show react or with complete breaks from the scene in shows like Modern Family or the Office with the interviews or the narrator in Arrested Development. It's a function that producers really seem to find necessary.