Laugh track

A laugh track is pre-recorded laughter played in a repetitive manner to create the false illusion of other people laughing at jokes during a television show. It is designed to have a Pavlovian effect on viewers, particularly dimwitted ones.

Over time, a laugh track has a deadening effect on the intelligence of the real audience. Liberals rarely object to it, although it is not used in many sitcoms created by established liberals, including Tina Fey (30 Rock), Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm), atheist Ricky Gervais (The Office), Mitchell Hurwitz (Arrested Development), Greg Daniels and Michael Schur (Parks and Recreation), and Dennis Leary (The Job). Sitcoms which mostly portray non-family topics such as The Big Bang Theory, the highly sexualized How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement use them - they all run on CBS. Likewise M*A*S*H creator (and former Huffington Post blogger) Larry Gelbart famously wanted the series to run without a laugh track, but was overruled by the network (a compromise was reached in which most O.R. scenes omitted the track). The notably pro-homosexuality show Modern Family does not use a laugh track either.