May 19, 2004

Canned laughter box. Ever wonder about the canned laughter heard on Brady Bunch, Bewitched, M*A*S*H, The Flintstones, et al? It was brought to you by the Mackenzie Program Repeater, an outgrowth of the early 1960s organlike Laff Box (an obscure device -- I could find no original resources online!) Its most popular use was to provide canned laughter in 1960s and 1970s sitcoms. Around 1975 networks found that it was better to pony up a real studio audience, casting these devices into the shadows. (Also see an interesting quantification on audience laughter!)
posted by rolypolyman 20 years ago
  • Excellent and fascinating post, RPMan! I read somewhere long ago that audio engineers were used on every episode of "Seinfeld" to dampen DOWN, not sweeten, the huge audience response. Did I dream this? Anyone have any knowledge of this?
  • I'm a bit tired at the moment, (so no big linky-love), but can recommend this site as an excellent resource to start researching this type of question. Anybody who wants a large-ish (380 entries) bibliog on film sound (which I compiled) is welcome to email me.
  • Also, if you join s-art-list at yahoo groups, you can email Randy Thom (sound designer on Contact, Forrest Gump, and zillions of others) with your questions. Man knows an awful lot.
  • Thanks for the tip, W!
  • all that laughter from those little machines. and i'm not surprised it's called a repeater: even as a kid i could hear the same exact laughs over and over. great link!
  • I think even in 'recorded before a live audience'-shows these devices were used (and modern variations may still be in use) to start the audience to laugh at exactly the points the scriptwriters wanted it to laugh. No live audience would otherwise laugh over those silly lines, would they? [Laugh]
  • Hey, RPM! You need to check yer tornado thread: SideDish is kicking ass on your behalf and wants to hear from you!!
  • Canned laughter box There isa WNYC radio programme (with transcription) called "Laff Box Redux" I have just created "Sound articles listed by Movies" with more than 130 articles
  • Hey, Sven! You joined! Cool!
  • interesting stuff---even if I absolutely HATED canned laughter--even studio audience stuff makes me grit my teeth KILL THE TV! ah-hunh ah-hunh ah-hunh har harharhar HAR harharhar snort guffaw yukyukyuk what a great word: GUFFAW
  • I remember many times sitting in front of the television stoned outta my mind, watching the typical round of '70's sitcoms. After awhile all I could hear was the stupid canned laughter. It was incredibly annoying. Nothing could get me doing something else faster than that canned laughter. Frighteningly creepy to my little stoner brain.
  • It's so quiet in here today, figured it wouldn't hurt to crank this thing up for some company. *plugs in repeater box* *guffaws*