I never really thought of laughing tracks until reading this article. Klosterman is really against laughing tracks and thinks they are the stupidest things we have created. He says that the purpose of the laughing track is to cover up poor writing. He also thinks that laughing tracks program us to think something is funny just because other people are laughing. I agree and disagree with the author. I don’t think that they are the dumbest things we have created for television because I sometimes enjoy the laughing tracks. I don’t really mind them. On the other hand, I do agree that laughing tracks try to cover up bad writing. Something’s that are said on sitcoms are so stupid but yet they still have the audience laughing.
Also, I do think that maybe things are funnier to me because other people are laughing in the background. When you’re having a conversation with someone and they say something that you don’t think is funny, but someone else laughs, you most likely will find yourself laughing too. While I’m watching movies, if someone laughs at a part, I usually do too, even if I don’t understand the joke or don’t particularly think it was funny. Klosterman also had said this in his article when he was talking about a foreign movie with subtitles. There will be people that laugh in the audience at a joke that doesn’t translate just because they want to show off or make other people think that they understood the joke, even if they have no clue. I thought this was funny because I see myself doing this. When I watch a comedy with friends and a joke is said that everyone else understands and laughs but me, I join in and laugh pretending that I understood the joke too.
I also agree with another thing that Klosterman says. He says that sitcoms aren’t always funny, but they are in the “form of funny”. We aren’t stupid people and we can tell the difference between comedy and non funny things, but we don’t have to laugh at the funny things because the laughing track already does it for us. This tends to make us laugh at things that aren’t really funny. I think this happens to some people because in their head they know they are watching a “comedy” so they “should” be laughing. But if the laughing track is doing it for them at the actual funny parts, then during non funny parts they will laugh just so they are laughing.
One of the best things, I thought, that Klosterman pointed out in the article was about non-famous comedians. He says, “The only thing people in New York won’t laugh at are infamous stand-up comedians; we really despise those motherfuckers, for some reason.” I agree with him 100 percent. When you hear from other people that a “so and so” stand-up comedian is funny, you’ll want to watch them, and your reaction usually is that you think he/she is funny too. When you’re watching comedy central and one of your favorites come on, for example, Katt Williams. I laugh pretty much the whole time, but then when they have someone come on after him that I never heard of before I automatically think they suck and turn off the station. I don’t even give the comedian a chance just because I haven’t heard of him before. So what he is saying is true. We hate the infamous people for “some reason”; basically because we don’t know who they are, and don’t give them 2 minutes to even listen to their jokes.
