Laugh track

A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the U.S., where it was most used, the term usually implies artificial laughter (canned laughter or fake laughter) made to be inserted into the show. This was invented by American sound engineer Charles "Charley" Douglass.

The Douglass laugh track became a standard in mainstream television in the U.S., dominating most prime-time sitcoms from the late 1950s to the late 1970s. By the 1980s, the Douglass family was eventually outrivalled by other sound engineers who created stereophonic laugh tracks different from the original analog track, and many single-camera sitcoms started diverting from a laugh track altogether to create a more dramatic environment.

U.S. history

Radio

Before radio and television, audiences experienced live comedy performances in the presence of other audience members. Radio and early television producers attempted to recreate this atmosphere by introducing the sound of laughter or other crowd reactions into the soundtrack.