0:00:00.000,0:00:02.410
This is a clip from the hit TV series,

0:00:02.410,0:00:03.763
"Parks and Recreation."

0:00:03.763,0:00:07.393
...128 ounce option.

0:00:07.393,0:00:09.905
Most people call [br]it a gallon, but they

0:00:09.905,0:00:12.595
call it the regular.[br]Now let's see what

0:00:12.595,0:00:14.705
that same clip would[br]be like if we added

0:00:14.705,0:00:15.675
a laugh track.

0:00:15.675,0:00:19.675
[rewind sound][br]...128 ounce option.

0:00:19.675,0:00:22.395
[laughter][br]Most people call it

0:00:22.395,0:00:25.585
a gallon, [laughter][br]but they call it the regular. [laughter]

0:00:25.585,0:00:28.635
It seems so wrong,[br]but for most of

0:00:28.635,0:00:32.495
television history, it was[br]so right. [background laughter]

0:00:32.495,0:00:35.145
Over the last half century[br]or so almost every

0:00:35.145,0:00:38.909
comedy on television had[br]canned laughter, [laughter]

0:00:38.909,0:00:41.869
from "I Love Lucy"

0:00:41.869,0:00:43.819
to "The Big Bang Theory."

0:00:43.819,0:00:45.619
For some, the laughter[br]is viewed as an

0:00:45.619,0:00:48.392
imposition. For[br]others, a secondary

0:00:48.392,0:00:51.022
character you almost forgot was there,

0:00:51.022,0:00:52.932
until it wasn't anymore.

0:00:52.932,0:00:54.132
In recent years, the

0:00:54.132,0:00:55.742
laugh track has been[br]used less and

0:00:55.742,0:00:57.172
less as sitcoms in[br]general have

0:00:57.172,0:01:00.061
decreased in popularity.[br]Let's break down

0:01:00.061,0:01:01.971
where the mysterious[br]laugh box came from

0:01:01.971,0:01:05.971
and where it went.

0:01:05.971,0:01:07.401
Before television existed,

0:01:07.401,0:01:09.134
there was the ballet, the opera,

0:01:09.134,0:01:11.319
magic and comedy shows.

0:01:11.319,0:01:12.419
When you went to one of

0:01:12.419,0:01:13.479
these events, you were

0:01:13.479,0:01:15.251
experiencing the[br]audience reactions in

0:01:15.251,0:01:17.568
real time.[br]If something was shocking,

0:01:17.568,0:01:19.797
you could hear and[br]feel the gasps echo

0:01:19.797,0:01:22.997
around you and[br]similarly with laughter.

0:01:22.997,0:01:25.137
But then came the radio,[br]the first ever

0:01:25.137,0:01:27.500
broadcast medium.[br]Those communal

0:01:27.500,0:01:29.302
reactions disappeared[br]as American

0:01:29.302,0:01:31.012
families gathered in their[br]living rooms to be

0:01:31.012,0:01:33.722
entertained.[br]Radio producers wanted

0:01:33.722,0:01:35.592
to develop a way to[br]give people the live

0:01:35.592,0:01:38.735
experience at home.[br]The first-ever laugh

0:01:38.735,0:01:41.590
track began with[br]Bing Crosby's radio show.

0:01:41.590,0:01:43.860
Recording pioneer Jack Mullen

0:01:43.860,0:01:45.580
recalls the creation to "Channels of

0:01:45.580,0:01:48.741
Communication," a trade journal in 1981.

0:01:48.741,0:01:51.078
"The hillbilly comic Bob Burns was on the

0:01:51.078,0:01:53.593
show one time and through a few of his

0:01:53.593,0:01:55.958
then extremely racy and off-color folksy

0:01:55.958,0:01:58.785
farm stories into the show. We recorded

0:01:58.785,0:02:01.863
it live and they all got enormous laughs,[br][laughter]

0:02:01.863,0:02:04.363
but we couldn't use the jokes. So

0:02:04.363,0:02:06.379
scriptwriter Bill Morrow[br]asked us to

0:02:06.379,0:02:09.539
save the laughs.[br]A couple of weeks later, he

0:02:09.539,0:02:11.764
had a show that wasn't[br]very funny and he

0:02:11.764,0:02:14.289
insisted that we put[br]in the salvage laughs. [laughter]

0:02:14.289,0:02:15.880
Thus the laugh[br]track was born.

0:02:15.880,0:02:18.837
Fast forward to the[br]era of early television.

0:02:18.837,0:02:20.747
Comedies were filmed[br]with a single camera

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in front of a live audience.[br]That meant

0:02:22.991,0:02:25.183
that each scene would be[br]filmed multiple times, from

0:02:25.183,0:02:28.278
multiple angles, instead [br]of the multi cams today, which

0:02:28.278,0:02:30.677
have multiple cameras[br]capturing one take.

0:02:30.677,0:02:33.169
Those separate angles[br]and takes would be

0:02:33.169,0:02:35.208
cut together and when[br]that happened, the

0:02:35.208,0:02:37.342
laughter was inconsistent.

0:02:37.342,0:02:39.151
Audiences would laugh at the

0:02:39.151,0:02:40.901
wrong time, too loudly,

0:02:40.901,0:02:44.049
for too long and were simply unreliable.

0:02:44.049,0:02:47.899
In the late 1940s, CBS sound engineer

0:02:47.899,0:02:49.560
Charlie Douglas noticed those

0:02:49.560,0:02:52.670
inconsistencies and[br]couldn't take it anymore.

0:02:52.670,0:02:54.634
If a joke didn't get[br]a desired laugh,

0:02:54.634,0:02:56.114
he would insert[br]one with the use

0:02:56.114,0:02:58.248
of a laugh track.[br]This technique became

0:02:58.248,0:03:01.117
known as "sweetening."[br]Douglas went so far

0:03:01.117,0:03:03.466
as to create a physical laugh box.

0:03:03.466,0:03:05.851
According to Ron Simon, curator of

0:03:05.851,0:03:07.769
television and radio at the Paley Center

0:03:07.769,0:03:10.242
for Media, the device was about three

0:03:10.242,0:03:12.540
feet tall, the shape of a filing cabinet,

0:03:12.540,0:03:15.310
very heavy and had slots for 32 reels,

0:03:15.310,0:03:18.480
which could hold ten laughs each. It was

0:03:18.480,0:03:20.304
officially named the audience response

0:03:20.304,0:03:22.534
duplicator, but it became known as the

0:03:22.534,0:03:25.874
"laugh box." At its best,

0:03:25.874,0:03:27.904
the "laugh box" could hold 320

0:03:27.904,0:03:30.460
laughs. Press them one at a time

0:03:30.460,0:03:32.796
and you get a similar laugh.[br][single laughs] Press

0:03:32.796,0:03:36.309
multiple keys at once [laughter] [br]and a symphony of laughter would play.

0:03:36.309,0:03:37.431
Each key represented a

0:03:37.431,0:03:39.757
different age, sex,[br]and style of laugh,

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with a foot pedal[br]regulating the length. [laughter]

0:03:43.107,0:03:45.423
The "laugh box" was mysterious though.

0:03:45.423,0:03:47.323
Since Douglas owned the patent and

0:03:47.323,0:03:49.406
created all of them, nobody outside of

0:03:49.406,0:03:51.450
him and his family[br]members had ever seen the

0:03:51.450,0:03:53.025
inside of the machine. And when

0:03:53.025,0:03:55.096
Douglas wasn't around,[br]the machine was

0:03:55.096,0:03:58.191
kept tightly padlocked.[br]In an interview

0:03:58.191,0:04:01.646
with "TV Guide" in 1966,[br]Dick Hobson said

0:04:01.646,0:04:03.999
if the laugh box should start acting

0:04:03.999,0:04:05.296
strangely, the laugh boys

0:04:05.296,0:04:06.655
wheel it into the[br]men's room,

0:04:06.655,0:04:08.281
locking the door[br]behind them so no

0:04:08.281,0:04:10.187
one can peek.[br]I mentioned the name

0:04:10.187,0:04:12.386
Charlie Douglas and it's like Cosa

0:04:12.386,0:04:14.836
Nostra, everybody starts whispering.

0:04:14.836,0:04:19.236
It's the most taboo topic in TV.[br]The first sitcom to

0:04:19.236,0:04:21.055
use the "laugh box"[br]was the short-lived

0:04:21.055,0:04:24.845
series, "The Hank McCune Show"[br]in 1950. [laughter on show]

0:04:24.845,0:04:26.290
The idea of recorded laughter

0:04:26.290,0:04:28.938
spread throughout Hollywood[br]and by the 1960s

0:04:28.938,0:04:30.887
almost every single camera sitcom

0:04:30.887,0:04:34.037
was utilizing canned laughter. But it was

0:04:34.037,0:04:35.601
only Douglas that engineered the

0:04:35.601,0:04:37.415
laughing for everyone for almost a

0:04:37.415,0:04:41.073
decade. For $100 Douglas would wheel the

0:04:41.073,0:04:43.318
mysterious box to each studio on a dolly

0:04:43.318,0:04:44.898
and sit with the producers in a

0:04:44.898,0:04:47.103
screening room and[br]decide what kind of laughter

0:04:47.103,0:04:49.383
and when. Eventually Douglas

0:04:49.383,0:04:51.108
hired a second-in-command to keep up

0:04:51.108,0:04:52.813
with the 100 hours of television he

0:04:52.813,0:04:54.734
needed to sweeten.[br]And the rest was

0:04:54.734,0:04:57.747
history. Multicam sitcoms were

0:04:57.747,0:04:59.741
popularized in shows like "Friends,"

0:04:59.741,0:05:01.071
"Frasier," "Seinfeld" and

0:05:01.071,0:05:08.820
more incorporated canned laughter.[br][Sound of "Friends" in the background]

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The actors and actresses would know to

0:05:11.102,0:05:13.122
hold for laughter, knowing that each

0:05:13.122,0:05:16.570
scene would be sweetened.[br][more sound from "Friends"] The Discovery

0:05:16.570,0:05:18.401
Channel documentary,[br]the one that goes

0:05:18.401,0:05:21.112
behind the scenes,[br]shows how it works.

0:05:21.112,0:05:23.802
[Sometimes the audience responds too big.]

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If I went with the actual[br]laugh, [laughter] that laugh

0:05:28.612,0:05:30.465
is still going through her next line

0:05:30.465,0:05:34.142
into his next reaction[br]and that's, it's

0:05:34.142,0:05:37.002
five, six seconds.[br]And in TV land that's

0:05:37.002,0:05:39.792
an eternity. [laughter][br][Sometimes we have to put in

0:05:39.792,0:05:43.112
a laughter that is shorter.][br][laughter]

0:05:43.112,0:05:44.971
It felt like comedies[br]would be like this

0:05:44.971,0:05:47.329
forever. And then "The[br]Big Bang Theory"

0:05:47.329,0:05:49.040
went off the air in 2019

0:05:49.040,0:05:50.720
and took with it one of the last

0:05:50.720,0:05:52.727
multicam sitcoms with canned laughter.

0:05:52.727,0:05:54.717
When we look at the television landscape

0:05:54.717,0:05:57.137
today almost, every single comedy is a

0:05:57.137,0:06:00.217
single-camera comedy and not a multicam

0:06:00.217,0:06:02.857
sitcom with canned laughter. You can

0:06:02.857,0:06:04.837
count on two hands how many multicam

0:06:04.837,0:06:06.927
sitcoms that use a[br]laugh track are on TV

0:06:06.927,0:06:09.271
right now, and not to

0:06:09.271,0:06:13.197
mention those that went[br]off the air this year [2020].

0:06:13.197,0:06:15.491
The use of the laugh track[br]has almost disappeared

0:06:15.491,0:06:17.591
completely from the TV lineup.

0:06:17.591,0:06:19.901
So what changed?

0:06:19.901,0:06:22.531
Dead air in television[br]used to be frowned upon

0:06:22.531,0:06:24.256
and shows would push[br]for laugh tracks

0:06:24.256,0:06:26.946
whenever possible.[br][distant laugh track]

0:06:26.946,0:06:28.776
Bill Cosby claimed[br]his first sitcom,

0:06:28.776,0:06:31.786
"The Bill Cosby Show,"[br]that ran from 1961 to

0:06:31.786,0:06:34.681
1971, failed because[br]he had insisted on

0:06:34.681,0:06:37.811
not using a laugh track.[br]Not to be

0:06:37.811,0:06:39.632
confused with the[br]very successful "The

0:06:39.632,0:06:41.915
Cosby Show" that aired[br]in the 1980s and

0:06:41.915,0:06:45.068
did have a laugh track.[br]And "MASH" fought

0:06:45.068,0:06:47.148
to not have a laugh track[br]at all, but

0:06:47.148,0:06:49.182
they came to a compromise[br]with the studio

0:06:49.182,0:06:50.392
They would use the canned

0:06:50.392,0:06:54.150
laughter, [laughter][br]but just not during the very

0:06:54.150,0:06:57.262
serious OR scenes.[br]While we associate

0:06:57.262,0:06:59.212
the 80s and the 90s[br]with the laugh track,

0:06:59.212,0:07:01.175
that was actually the[br]time when single

0:07:01.175,0:07:03.018
camera comedies[br]without canned laughter

0:07:03.018,0:07:06.258
started to take over.[br]A key player in this

0:07:06.258,0:07:09.174
transition was HBO. Their shows

0:07:09.174,0:07:11.954
"Dream On" in 1990[br]and "The Larry Sanders Show"

0:07:11.954,0:07:14.661
in 1992 ran without laughs tracks

0:07:14.661,0:07:17.024
and even garnered praise for doing so.

0:07:17.024,0:07:19.209
The airing of these shows[br]proved that comedies

0:07:19.209,0:07:21.649
could exist, and[br]exist successfully

0:07:21.649,0:07:24.385
without laugh tracks.[br]Other studios

0:07:24.385,0:07:25.375
took notice and

0:07:25.375,0:07:27.395
began to follow suit.

0:07:27.395,0:07:29.135
Then came "Curb Your Enthusiasm,"

0:07:29.135,0:07:30.257
"Malcolm in the Middle,"

0:07:30.257,0:07:31.068
"Scrubs,"

0:07:31.068,0:07:32.233
"Arrested Development,"

0:07:32.233,0:07:33.566
"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,"

0:07:33.566,0:07:34.304
"30 Rock,"

0:07:34.304,0:07:35.464
"The Office" and

0:07:35.464,0:07:37.734
the list goes on and on.

0:07:37.734,0:07:39.544
Writers and producers[br]were excited by

0:07:39.544,0:07:41.634
the change, as it[br]allowed them to stray

0:07:41.634,0:07:43.196
from the constant[br]stream of punchlines

0:07:43.196,0:07:45.650
to explore character-based[br]humor. Another

0:07:45.650,0:07:47.790
reason the laugh track fell[br]to the wayside?

0:07:47.790,0:07:50.228
According to Mike Royce,[br]the co-showrunner of

0:07:50.228,0:07:52.318
Netflix's "One Day at a Time,"

0:07:52.318,0:07:54.078
"I think one of the[br]reasons why people

0:07:54.078,0:07:55.830
don't like laugh tracks[br]is they don't like

0:07:55.830,0:07:57.740
to be told how to react. It's

0:07:57.740,0:08:00.216
an American thing:[br]Don't tell me what the

0:08:00.216,0:08:02.212
[bleep] to laugh at."[br]"T"he Big Bang Theory was

0:08:02.212,0:08:03.851
one of the last[br]big sitcoms that used

0:08:03.851,0:08:05.957
canned laughter[br]and even their creator

0:08:05.957,0:08:08.028
Chuck Lorre insisted[br]that absolutely no

0:08:08.028,0:08:10.008
sweetening took place on any of his

0:08:10.008,0:08:12.887
series, which also include[br]"Two and a Half Men"

0:08:12.887,0:08:16.296
and "Mike and Molly,"[br]stating "I do not

0:08:16.296,0:08:18.262
and have never,[br]sweetened my shows with

0:08:18.262,0:08:20.412
fake laughs.[br]I've always thought it was

0:08:20.412,0:08:23.374
pretty hateful and[br]a self-defeating practice."

0:08:23.374,0:08:24.840
For now, the laugh track lives

0:08:24.840,0:08:27.450
in a very strange state.[br]It's used in very

0:08:27.450,0:08:28.891
few shows,[br]but lives on in the

0:08:28.891,0:08:30.921
reruns of ever popular series like

0:08:30.921,0:08:34.401
"Friends," "How I Met[br]Your Mother," and more.

0:08:34.401,0:08:36.209
Perhaps history might[br]repeat itself and

0:08:36.209,0:08:38.210
we'll see a resurgence[br]in multicam sitcoms

0:08:38.210,0:08:40.110
and the laugh track.

0:08:40.110,0:08:41.741
Until then, we can thank streaming

0:08:41.741,0:08:43.457
services like Netflix and Hulu for

0:08:43.457,0:08:47.457
keeping Charlie Douglass's[br]legacy in our living rooms.

0:08:47.999,0:08:49.109
Thank you for watching.

0:08:49.109,0:08:51.029
Please be sure to like, comment and

0:08:51.029,0:08:52.799
subscribe to our channel and ring the

0:08:52.799,0:08:54.489
bell below. That way, you're notified

0:08:54.489,0:08:56.721
whenever we post a new video.[br][music ends]