Jack Playing Violin on the Show

[Roman]

Well, I can think of at least two pre-2005 TV non-studio audience comedies, besides Scrubs and Arrested Development, that didn't use a laugh track - Malcolm in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show. All of these shows lasted for several seasons too. As far as the animated comedies, I'd point out that The Flintstones and many of the cartoon comedies of the 1960s and 70s used laugh tracks so the decision by the current animated producers to go without was a break from tradition, not a continuation of one.

Now as far as non-studio audience TV comedies that use a laugh track, I don't recall any over the past couple of decades. I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched may have been the last. Any more recent?

To bring this back to Jack Benny, I remember an interview with Fred De Cordova who produced and directed many of Jack's television shows before moving on to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. De Cordova mentioned how Jack used the non-studio audience/laugh track approach with increasing frequency during the latter years of the show and that, in place of the audience's response to time his reactions, Jack relied on the director counting off "laugh, laugh, laugh" for his timing. I can't imagine though that it worked as well as when he had the audience.

[Maxwell]

Well, I can think of at least two pre-2005 TV non-studio audience comedies, besides Scrubs and Arrested Development, that didn't use a laugh track - Malcolm in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show. All of these shows lasted for several seasons too. As far as the animated comedies, I'd point out that The Flintstones and many of the cartoon comedies of the 1960s and 70s used laugh tracks so the decision by the current animated producers to go without was a break from tradition, not a continuation of one.

Now as far as non-studio audience TV comedies that use a laugh track, I don't recall any over the past couple of decades. I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched may have been the last. Any more recent?

To bring this back to Jack Benny, I remember an interview with Fred De Cordova who produced and directed many of Jack's television shows before moving on to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. De Cordova mentioned how Jack used the non-studio audience/laugh track approach with increasing frequency during the latter years of the show and that, in place of the audience's response to time his reactions, Jack relied on the director counting off "laugh, laugh, laugh" for his timing. I can't imagine though that it worked as well as when he had the audience.

M*A*S*H used a laugh track in the non-surgery scenes. Other sitcoms rather than using canned laughter, did film in front of an audience, but again, you have the sound of laughter. In the history of television, very few comedies have dared go without some kind of enhancement, whether provided by a machine or audience reaction.

[shimp scrampi]

As I pointed out a couple of years ago when this thread was new... my how time flies... There were different ways of obtaining a "laugh track" for a comedy not filmed in front of an audience. The technology differed a bit here and there, but basically you 1. could show the edited film to an audience and record their actual reaction to the complete film, OR 2. you could just use the machine that used taped laughs and plug them in as appropriate.

I know Burns and Allen used the "record the natural reaction" method. Other filmed comedies clearly used the glaringly harsh canned laughter.

Now, there is the famous anecdote about Jack reacting badly to the canned laughter. But, the filmed Benny shows have a complicated production history. Burns' McCadden productions and Desilu each produced some of the fifties shows on film, at different studios and with different setups. I can clearly tell that in some of the filmed shows the "Burns and Allen" method was used, as a slightly off-timed joke (e.g., it got a bigger laugh than the director thought) has an unnatural die-down where as the other laughs have a natural wave and crest sound.

You can compare this to any of those single-camera filmed '60s sitcoms with the canned laughter (Bewitched, Green Acres, Addams Family, Beverly Hillbillies) and the difference is night and day.

So, it would seem like all three methods were tried at various times on Jack's show (plus the live broadcasts with studio audience). I believe it was one of the last seasons where they went to the three-camera, filmed with a live audience "I Love Lucy" setup.

But, I haven't noted any obviously "purely-canned" laugh shows. Perhaps Jack rejected this approach after that initial experience Gerry describes earlier in this thread? Seems to me most of Jack's filmed shows have a mostly "natural" laugh track.

And, for comparison's sake, don't Jack's Frank Tashlin-directed GE Theater episodes omit the laugh track? I can't recall. At the very least it is much subdued.

[Brad from Georgia]

I have to disagree with Maxwell's comment about the "lack of success of comedy shows that dare go without a laugh track." I don't think any comedy today uses a laugh track. Of course, the comedies that are filmed before an audience don't use a laugh track. But the many comedies that aren't done with an audience (The Office, Scrubs, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Everybody Hates Chris, My Name is Earl, etc.) all film without a laugh track. As far as the success of these laugh track-less comedies, well, it's hard to beat The Simpson's record of nearly 20 years and still going strong.

I have to point out that on one episode of The Simpsons, Harry Shearer reads a disclaimer in a hushed announcer-like voice at the beginning: "The Simpsons is animated before a live studio audience."