Canned laughter, or a laugh track, has been part of the television landscape since The Hank McCune Show in 1950.  As the first sitcom to use Charles Douglass’ invention the “laff box,” Hank is assured as being remembered every time someone researches an article on laugh tracks.  As for the show, it was cancelled after three months.

What those early tests proved though, was it’s just as convincing to have simulated laughter play along with a TV show as having a live studio audience.  To this day, shows employ both methods to achieve a communal setting with its living room viewership.

So how do you choose?  Well, besides the need to be a control freak, production budgets are a big factor in deciding between the box or the belly.

 In the sixties, many shows were becoming costly affairs and cutting out unreliable live laughter in post was expensive and time consuming.  Eliminating the large, often obstructed view bleachers had the additional benefit of allowing producers to expand or build their sets.  Arguably better environments would add more production value than some live giggles.  Studio audiences all but disappeared for a while until some street cred was injected into TV by having an announcer start your show with “filmed in front of a live studio audience,” but the decision is still primarily financial.  In the case of the M.A.S.H. DVDs, viewers can choose for themselves if they want the laugh track on!  A great feature considering their use was hotly debated at the studio.

Common mythology has you believe the laugh track is used to tell the audience when to laugh.  That’s a bit simplistic with a dash of conspiracy theory  Actually, it was developed to give the impression that a live audience is watching the show (taping) while controlling the length and veracity of the laughter.  It was all about making sure that lines weren’t buried by the blowhard in the back guffawing too much and for too long.

Of course, ideas evolve and to a certain degree, the execution of laugh tracks is used to signal that, yes, this is a good time to chuckle.  It is based on the concept that laughter breeds more laughter.  I’ve been to some tapings for comedy specials and the jokes always play better in the room than they do on my couch.  Happiness is infectious, so hearing laughs helps you want to laugh.  I’m sure there are a number of psychology students out there that would love to argue with me, but the concept that we’re too stupid to know when to laugh is a little preposterous.  Maybe some studio exec made a comment to that effect long ago, but studio execs are generally business school morons with little more than some book knowledge on how human beings actually work.  After all, these are the people who thought Joey would be a good idea.

Some shows use a hybrid approach.  How I Met Your Mother films the show “live” (in order, minimal takes essentially) and then screens it for an audience to record their laughter.  Other shows, such as Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant Sports Night, would film some of their scenes in front of an audience and others on location, like a bar.  The location shots prohibited such a live audience and required laugh tracks to be added later.  Seinfeld is a common “did they or didn’t they” puzzle.  Jerry and the gang would rehearse in front of an audience, and then use a track for filming.

Certain shows are quite successful not using a laugh track.  On today’s network schedule, The Office invokes a cinema varite mockumentary style which requires the absence of such a device.  Other shows, such as The Monkees, started out with tracks and later eliminated them.  There’s really no right answer.  Bill Cosby insisted his 1969 The Bill Cosby Show be filmed without canned laughter and it was canned itself after 2 seasons.  When he came back in the eighties with The Cosby Show, the laughs were added and it became one of the most successful shows of its time.

Over the years, the misuse of laugh tracks has led to some strong opposition to its existence.  All the reasons Douglass invented the idea in the first place are often thrown out the window by unskilled engineers who don’t understand the nuances of creating an atmosphere as opposed to mashing the “super loud guy button” (patent pending) every time a punchline is thrown.  It can be extremely irritating.  However, it is just as unpredictable and potentially ear splitting to listen to audience laughter spurred on by an illuminated sign.  Six of one so to speak.

Still, some people cannot stand the laugh track.  I once asked a buddy who claimed to hate “fake laughter” how he felt about Two And A Half Men, a series I knew he enjoyed.  He said he loved the show, but the laughs were “really annoying.”  That show is filmed in front of an audience, so his objection is not to laugh tracks, but to laughter in general.  When it’s done right, no one can really tell the difference anymore.

In my book, as long as the laughter is not too high in the mix, used sparingly and appropriately, and the show is funny in the first place, I prefer the more controllable variables of simulated laughter.  In fact, the guys and girls who are really good at executing laugh tracks deserve some recognition for their abilities.  If you don’t like it, I understand, but you’re nitpicking a pretty minor component of the experience.

Don’t believe how effective laugh tracks can be?  Check out this absolutely NSFW clip of The Wire with canned laughs added.  It’s pretty hilarious.