its so ubiquitous it feels like it was a requirement…

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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    588 hours ago

    There were accusations of using a laugh track - recorded laughter added in post-production - so having authentic laughter was a selling point if you’d stumbled across a show coming on after something else.

    I’m sure those ones also used laugh tracks, because they didn’t say “Actual audience laughter.”

    • @[email protected]
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      45 hours ago

      Many that were filmed in front of a live audience still had a laugh track. Either to correct them not laughing or not laughing enough at the clearly excellently written jokes, or laughing at things they weren’t supposed to was removed or dampened.

    • @[email protected]
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      197 hours ago

      They’d mix in laughter from earlier takes into later takes. Obviously people are going to laugh more the first time they hear a joke than on the second or third time hearing it. So that seems reasonable to me.

      Saying “actual audience laughter” wouldn’t mean it isn’t a laugh track, ie. actual audience laughter recorded from something else. In the end it’s all recorded laughter no matter what they did. So “filmed before a live studio audience” would be the best way to describe it.

    • The Snark Urge
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      198 hours ago

      Filmed in front of people who are being told when to laugh just doesn’t sound as good, but that’s showbiz