Search blog.co.uk

Canned Laughter
by yackyack @ 2008-06-07 - 10:57:09

So it's Saturday morning I've had my barnet cut and am having a little laze around doing not very much at all. There's this thing on telly that Amber is watching 'Wizards of Waverley Place' about this person who has a talking zit on his forehead, a zit that insults and threatens him. Canned laughter, smiley Americans, whizz cut throughs to the next scene, you know the type; a little fast ditty, a whoosh and kazaam the next scene. What get's me though is that every single line that is uttered is followed by a chorus of audience laughter, what is it with that? Some of is is funny, but most of it isn't. I'm thinking to myself is there this school of thought in the 'make people laugh biz' that says if you do this then people will think it's funny? Is it the laughter is infectious theory? Did only fools and horses do this? Tommy Cooper shows didn't, neither do most funny films either. Can you imagine a movie that did canned laughter? No me neither.

3 comments | Permalink | Recommend this post
Tags: telly,

 
Disable ads
 

Comments: Hide subcomments

jackfrostjackfrost [Member]
07/06/08 @ 11:21

The Larry Sanders Show won critical praise for not including a laugh track. Such shows are often produced in the more expensive single camera style usually reserved for one-hour drama, using on-location shooting and high production values, as opposed to the standard multi-camera sitcom sound stage. Recent live action American sitcoms that adopted this style include Arrested Development, Malcolm in the Middle, Curb Your Enthusiasm, My Name Is Earl, The Bernie Mac Show, The Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Samantha Who?, Flight of the Conchords, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

In the United Kingdom prior to the 2000s most sitcoms were taped before live audiences to provide natural laughter. Other comedies, such as the The Royle Family and The Office which are presented in the mode of cinema verite rather than in the format of a traditional sitcom, do not feature any audience laughter.

| Show this thread
yackyackyackyack [Member]
http://robwatts.blog.co.uk
07/06/08 @ 11:33

Thanks for that perspective Jack. I love 'Curb your enthusiasm', makes me laugh big time, as do a few of the others you mentioned.

The show I referred to is a kids program (Amber's 13) maybe there's a school of thought that says that kids need to be told where a line is supposed to be funny, whereas adults (or most of us) just get the whole observational relate thing.

| Show this thread |
jackfrostjackfrost [Member]
07/06/08 @ 11:56

no worries i have kids ranging from the eldest at 31 years old to pip who is 6 years old i have learnt i suppose to keep out of there generation and let them get on and enjoy it...it comes from remembering all the critisism of my youth by my parents ..how rock and roll would fry my brain...i have had my time ..the world is theirs now ...my job is to keep away the stuff that can really hurt them ...the rest they can decide for themselves

|

Leave a comment :

Your email address will not be displayed on this site.
Your URL will be displayed.
Allowed XHTML tags: <!, p, ul, ol, li, dl, dt, dd, address, blockquote, ins, del, a, span, bdo, br, em, strong, dfn, code, samp, kdb, var, cite, abbr, acronym, q, sub, sup, tt, i, b, big, small, img>
URLs, email, AIM and ICQs will be converted automatically.
Options:
 
(Line breaks become <br />)
(Set cookies for name, email & url)
All comments from non-members will be moderated by the author.
Validation code:
Please enter the above code here:
For protection from spambots (case-sensitive).

Footer

The content of this website belongs to a private person, blog.co.uk is not responsible for the content of this website.