The Sycophantism Of Comedy Audiences

[Graag]

Damn straight - and if they do have a laughter track (hey, some do), it comes from a live recording, where the audience may be prompted, but still has a goddamn sense of humour. I'm thinking Red Dwarf and numerous other british SitComs here.

The laughter does not necessarily mean the comedy is bad - even canned laughter can sometimes be used on good material (e.g. latest series of Alan Partridge).

[MosesPresley]

I have been to many live comedy shows. A comedy show is so much funnier when you are sitting there in the middle of a laughing audience. The laughter is more infectious than some sort of self-conscious sycophancy.

[Solly]

Originally posted by Graag
Damn straight - and if they do have a laughter track (hey, some do), it comes from a live recording, where the audience may be prompted, but still has a goddamn sense of humour.

If they have a sense of humour why are they laughing at such complete pap.

Laughing at pratically anything does not mean having a good sense of humour.

[MOBIUS]

How about David Letterman, that show is so unfunny he should quit already!

We even made it into the audience and they try and get you to laugh at some utter drivel

Jay Leno pisses all over him every way imaginable, and he's hit and miss as well...

[General Ludd]

Most television shows either use canned laughter, or they tell the audience to laugh. It's a big part of a comedy routine to let your audience know when there is supposed to be a joke, and that's often enough - if they hear other people laughing, they'll just assume it's funny and laugh along. Of course, it's really lowbrow comedy if it has to rely solely on that. (as most comedy is)


Edited to add that if it's not canned laughter or an applause sign, a comedian will often queue the jokes with a certain kind of presentation, or a tone of voice, ect..

[Urban Ranger]

Monty Python's Flying Circus

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Dissident
I want to use this space to show my appreciation for the word sycophant. It just sounds cool.

It almost sounds like a homicidal elephant

[Asher]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
How about David Letterman, that show is so unfunny he should quit already!

We even made it into the audience and they try and get you to laugh at some utter drivel

Jay Leno pisses all over him every way imaginable, and he's hit and miss as well...

I think Letterman's WAY better than Leno in every way imaginable.

That's what you get for being British and having that pisspoor sense of humor.

[Solly]

I prefer natural, situational comedy.

[spartak]

Well you do live in wales...

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Boddington's
I prefer natural, situational comedy.

Most of us have seen precious little evidence of you possessing a sense of humour...

[Dis]

Letterman is not funny!!!!!!!!!

His show is more entertainment. He does sequences that aren't funny but entertaining. Well to the average american- I don't find them entertaining.

But he is the better interviewer. He has the ability to draw stuff out of celebrities that Jay Leno could never hope to do.

But Jay Leno has a better monologue (well until recently- last night was horrible). And he has Headlines. Granted they don't write headlines, but they are hilarious nonetheless.

[Dis]

Also a study was done on laughter (it was on TLC or something). Just the sound of laughter can make people laugh. They played prerecorded laughter on a tape player to people on the street and it did indeed cause people to laugh.

But I hate laugh tracks. I prefer shows taped in front of a live studio audience. You get more unexpected reactions that way even though they use the applause/laughter sign. Sometimes you get really loud laughter, sometimes not that much.

[Sirotnikov]

I prefer shows taped in front of a live studio audience.

that's right.

i feel awkward when there's a good comedy without any audience laughter. obviously canned is bad. very bad. however it's just funny that when you begin to smirk, you suddenly feel all... lonely.

[Asher]

So watch it with friends, Siro.

Laughtracks and audience laughter annoy me more than adds to the show, mostly because they always find things funny I think isn't funny. And to have people constantly laughing at bad jokes bothers me.