TV laugh tracks.

[Aspieistj]

I absolutely refuse to watch or listen to any program with canned laughter. I get a mental image of some fool standing in front of the audience jumping around like a jerk, waving his arms, and telling people when it is time to laugh. I find it insulting! If the script and actors really do something funny then the audience will laugh spontaneously. Are there really some people who will laugh just because someone else does? I have my own funny bone and I laugh when it is legitimately tickled. Please, don't assume I am one of a herd and will act accordingly. Is this an Aspie trait?

 

[bentHnau]

I sometimes laugh just because other people laugh. Their amusement amuses me. That doesn't apply to laugh-tracks, however.

 

[tlc]

I have my own sense of humor which is different than many. But I just ignore the laugh tracks if they're there, I watch a show for what it is. No big deal.

 

[Sportster]

I actually have a sense of humor that people find amusing, but that's probably because of the way I view the world. However, I can laugh on cue with a convincing laugh that allows me to fit in. Sometimes I have laughed when not appropriate, but that's because others didn't catch what I found funny nor understood the context of what made me laugh. For instance, I laughed during Schindler's List when Goeth shot that guy for stealing a chicken. When he asked the boy if he did it and the boy pointed at the deceased and said it was him, I laughed. I laughed because the boy outsmarted the Nazis and thought quickly on his feet; the look on Goeth's face was priceless, as he didn't know what to do. Unfortunately, others around thought I had a serious problem and I was ridiculed. I didn't bother to explain, as I knew it would do no good.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

I'm not a great fan of laugh tracks, and there aren't any current shows I watch regularly that have them, but not watching shows because they have laugh tracks would mean missing out on lots of classic shows that use them, like Monty Python's Flying Circus and lots of other British comedies (did Blackadder use a laugh track? I'm thinking it did, but I'm not sure).

I remember reading something once where someone was defending laugh tracks by saying that they aren't necessarily to let you know when you should laugh but creating a somewhat "warmer" mood like you would get from watching a show with others.

 

[King_Oni]

I'm not much of a fan of laugh tracks... unless I'm using them at home (and I have, lol) but even that was a one off thing just for good laughs (no pun intended).

Sometimes I feel a laugh track is there to show the audience where the punchline of the joke is. And that actually is a sad notion if this is true.

Are there really some people who will laugh just because someone else does?

Plenty of people do this... just like plenty of people laugh on command when in a crowd for a live recording, which from what I've understood is what The big bang theory does (to name a well known show). Quite sure there's someone trying to signal when the crowd should laugh, just like when crowds should applaud at some shows.

 

[Aspieistj]

As soon as I hear a laugh track I am instantly insulted, distracted and totally turned off so I really can't watch shows with them. When I wrote this complaint I was at the computer and the TV was on. Quite often, I can enjoy listening while I do simple computer tasks. I was so annoyed I had to get up and turn off the TV. I believe this is an example of an Aspie being distracted and annoyed by an irritating noise.

 

[Cerulean]

I like them a little bit, because I'm afraid to laugh during shows because I might miss something. If there's a show with a laugh track, they write in pauses to give people time to find it funny before moving on. I still don't laugh, I only smile, but it's nice to slow it down for me a bit. Otherwise I have to watch shows a few times to catch everything.

 

[Judge]

Perhaps it's enough just to acknowledge that the concept of canned laughter likely originates from NT mentalities.

A mechanism designed to generate contagious laughter to bolster another source which in theory shouldn't require it in the first place.

Let's just say that I can take it or leave it, but that it's not native to MY culture.

 

[Aspieistj]

If I were an NT I would find the use of canned laughter demeaning. They can't decide for themselves what is or isn't funny? Although----if they are used to "group think" it might be enough to make them think something really IS funny. The duck flying on my right just changed direction so I guess I had better do so also??? This premise can go further; safety in numbers, group think, fight or flight, when in Rome????? I guess Aspies simply aren't herd animals. Is that good or bad?

 

[tree]

Those old cartoon shows with laugh tracks just seem so fake/insulting to the intelligence/pathetically manipulative.