Things I Hate: Laugh Tracks

I can't stand TV shows with laugh tracks.

Sure, I used to watch a lot of them. I grew up on the Disney Channel, after all. As I grew older, something about the laugh tracks began to rub me the wrong way. Each pre-recorded laugh grated on my brain, until I began to boycott all TV shows with laugh tracks.

Due to my penchant for self-analysis, I began to dig into myself to try and determine why they bothered me so much.

The history of laugh tracks started with an attempt to force people to think an unfunny radio play was funny. Then, it was added to stabilize differences between laughter in studio audiences in multi-camera sitcoms.

Then, it was to cover up the fact that they stopped using a studio audience. That's all well and good, or at least expected.

But I don't feel they have a place in the modern world of television. Now, they're both condescending and awkward, for one thing. When they're used now, completely without the help of a studio audience, I feel like the writers are screaming: THIS IS FUNNY BELIEVE ME IT IS FUNNY LOOK HOW FUNNY I AM HAHAHAHA.

And when it actually isn't funny? It's incredibly awkward. It's like crickets, but with laughs.

Funnily enough, I seem to be in the major minority in this opinion. Scientists actually found that laugh tracks make things funnier. We succum to peer pressure, as a species. Personally, I was always the outcast, so peer pressure wasn't really a thing for me, as I didn't have peers. Perhaps that's why I find laugh tracks grating rather than inducing an urge to conform.

This study suggests laugh tracks aren't going to go away, and I am probably the only one who boycotts shows that use laugh tracks. Bummer.