Dogs & Doghouses

Part Two: The Laugh Track

The laugh track laughs loudest when the jokes are the most carnal. Solomon compared the laughter of fools to the crackling of thorns in a fire (Ecclesiastes 7:6).

The last article was on so-called situation comedies. This one is related by a thing known as the “laugh track.” You may not at first know what one is, but I guarantee you’ve heard one before. The laugh track is the background laughing viewers hear when someone on a situation comedy says something that’s supposed to be funny. It’s a hold-over from when television was done in front of live audiences. But that’s not the case now. The laugh track was kept for reasons that I’ll discuss below. Laugh track laughter is also known as “canned” laughter; meaning it can happen whenever a producer wants it to happen. If you want some laughing on your show, just open the laugh track.

The old saying about misery loving company is reversed when it comes to the laugh track. Part of the psychology involved is that a person is less likely to laugh when they think they are laughing alone, or when what’s being said isn’t that funny. But to feel as though an entire studio audience is going over the edge in gut-wrenching laughter at what has to be the most hilarious words spoken all week helps the viewers at home loosen up and laugh, or are at least be amused. After all, if it weren’t funny they wouldn’t be playing the laugh track, right? It’s easy to forget the laughter we hear on the television is pre-recorded and, in some cases, computer generated.

If you or I were to say some of the same things we hear on television, even in similar situations, it wouldn’t be nearly as funny. If we don’t laugh during a show we begin to rightly think the show in question isn’t funny. And, in turn, we use the remote control to find something more entertaining. People who pay to have their commercials on the television don’t like low ratings. It is all about making money and laughing on the way to the bank.

Here are a few things you can try at home to get the point. First of all, the next time you watch a situation comedy, try to imagine the dialog without the laugh track. Objectively, as though you were listening to someone from your local church say the words, ask yourself, “Would that be funny?” Or, better yet, “Would I allow someone to come into my home and say that in front of my children and wife?” See, you’re smiling already.

Secondly, appreciate that laugh tracks are timed. In other words, the frequency that the laughs are released increases the closer the show gets to its final moments. Initially, the laugh track runs about once every 15 to 20 seconds. Towards the end of the show the laughter comes about every 5 to 10 seconds. This helps set the mood for the viewer, so we think that towards the end the show is getting funnier. And then, right at the very end when most situation comedies moralize and teach their “lessons”, the laugh track stops. This helps emulate the seriousness of the conclusions. By the end of the show, we’re supposed to not want it to end so that we’ll tune in again next week. This crescendo of hilarity goes by mostly unnoticed. Get yourself a stop watch, a piece of paper, and a pencil - you’ll see for yourself.

Also know there is another track, but I don’t know its name. Once in a while you’ll hear it when something that’s supposed to be particularly emotional happens; like when an unmarried character holds her illegitimate baby in her arms for the first time or when two characters who have known each other for a long time decide to commit fornication for the first time. This is the “aawwws” track. It helps detract us from thinking about things (like how difficult it is in real life for a single mom to raise a child who may or may not know who its father is and how we’re not supposed to play around with our sexuality). But don’t worry; it’s just another day in situation comedy land. The kids will be fine and the sex will be good. Might as well laugh.

Thinking back to just this past year, I can count about four or five times when I’ve had a really good laugh. Most of the time I just chuckle or smile. But every night, for every situation comedy, there are phantom audiences roaring with laughter. It’s part of the alternate reality we succumb towards when watching television. The people we watch are far happier than we are. The folks on television can be as carnal as they want and, laugh all the time about it. They are worldly and joyous, their delight comes not of the Lord.

Funniness Quiz

Here’s a little test. For each item listed, take a minute and ask yourself the following three questions:

1. Is this funny on television?
2. Is this funny in real life?
3. Is this pleasing to the true God of the Bible?

• Children talking back to their parents
  
• Cursing
  
• Displays of selfishness
  
• Double-entendre about sex
  
• Filthy Innuendo
  
• Insults
  
• Joking about fornication
  
• Lying
  
• Invoking the name of God in vain
  
• Planning to commit fornication
  
• Rudeness
  
• Stupidity
  
• Bodily noises (farts & belches)