In “Cinema, or the Laughing Gas Party,” Laughter: Notes on a Passion, Parvulescu discusses the history of laughter and cinema, breaking down the physicality of facial expression and the process of laughing. In an important section Parvulescu focuses on the work of Horkeimer and Adorno, who both discussed the role of laughter in the culture industry. Adding to this, Parvulescu brings up the debate that has ‘accompanied laugh tracks from their introduction in the early 1950s.’ Laugh tracks are use to indicate to an audience how they should respond, ‘we laugh when we are told to laugh: “the product prescribes each reaction.” This idea can be looked down upon as ‘the cultural industry has managed to co-opt even laughter’ however this technique is used across media. Any film or show that utilises music uses certain sounds, tonality, dynamics and temp to indicate the emotions of a scene to the audience. In their creation the laugh track was ‘thought to produce a sense of presence and liveness at a time when television shows were increasingly filmed rather than live productions.’ Now it is the norm for all fictional television to be pre-recorded. The laugh track can seem like a dated tool for creatives today however some of the most beloved shows of the 21st century feature the laugh track. Sitcoms are where one is most likely to find a laugh track in use. These shows tend to have a cult-like following and run for many more seasons than shows from different genres. Iconic series like Friends (Marta Kauffman, David Crane, USA, 1995-2004) and The Big Bang Theory (Chuck Lore, Bill Prady, USA, 2008-2019) were shot constantly with live audiences. These shows would then air with either inserted pre-recorded laughed or the genuine reaction of the live audience from the taping. It’s also interesting to note that many shows created for children use laugh tracks. Popular studios like Nickelodeon and Disney are still using laugh tracks (Wizards Beyond Waverly Place {Disney Plus, USA, 2024-} ) as a way to engage children and help them start to comprehend the comedy they are watching on their screen.
Despite being looked down upon, with the use of a laugh track seen as ‘the culture industry exploiting the laughing variation on ‘the passion for the real’ and audiences turned mechanical in their reactions, shows with laugh tracks are still adored today. Many internet editors have taken the laugh track out of their favourite scenes and have shown the importance of its role. Without the laugh track the comedic scene falls apart and rather than being humorous characters become deranged. The Laugh track can be seen as a cheat or a mechanical tool within art however if used in the correct setting they can be indispensable to comedy. Audiences should not notice when a laugh track is used but feel its absence when it is gone.
https://youtu.be/WnmEPGGJoq4?si=tkYA15YyWAhM6m90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs
Friends (Marta Kauffman, David Crane, USA, 1995-2004)
The Big Bang Theory (Chuck Lore, Bill Prady, USA, 2008-2019)
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (Disney Plus, USA, 2024-)
Anca Parvulescu, “Cinema, or the Laughing Gas Party,” Laughter: Notes on a Passion (Cambridge: MIT, 2010), 119-155.
I think you are correct when you say that laugh tracks “can be indispensable to comedy”, but I think that’s the problem. You should not notice the their absence when removed, because that means the writing is bad. If the writing is funny without a laugh track then I see no harm in increasing laughter with a laugh track, but a laugh track being used over a bad joke can be painfully telling of poor writing. I think it is interesting that sitcoms are slowly turning away from laugh tracks with shows like New Girl, Modern Family, The Office, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and it is also interesting that I think the other thing that these sitcoms that reject the laugh track have in common is a much more dynamic camera set up than sitcoms like Friends, How I Met Your Mother and the Big Bang Theory.