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Warning: if you don't want to hear a comedy writer rant about "laugh tracks," this isn't the thread for you. I'll be reposting funny dog videos soon enough. So, I've got a new multi-camera sitcom coming out with Kevin James. 1/
There've been a few complaints about us using a "laugh track." We don't. We - like most multi-cams - shoot in front of an audience and record their laughs. Scenes that we don't shoot live - like outdoors scenes - we edit and play for the crowd and record their laughs. 2/
What you're hearing is real. I've done single-cam (no audience) shows and multi-cam. I enjoy writing both. But with this show, we wanted the energy that a crowd brings, like live theater. It's just like SNL shoots their sketches in front of an audience and you hear laughs... 3/
...while Key & Peele shot their sketches without an audience. Or how Jimmy Kimmel shoots in front of an audience. It's a choice. If a joke doesn't work and no one laughs, we rewrite the joke while we're shooting or lose it. The most dishonest thing we do is *cut* laughs. 4/
There's a moment in the third episode where the actors literally had to hold for a thirty second laugh - it's about three seconds in the episode, because it would have felt too fake to keep it in. 5/
If multi-cams aren't your style, so be it. I love them. The audience never took me out of Cheers or The Cosby Show or Big Bang Theory. I think our actors come alive in front of a crowd, and I'm thrilled we shoot it the way we do. 6/
But the bottom line is: it's not a "laugh track" and we're not telling you where the jokes are. Pretend you're sitting in a room with two hundred of your closest friends, enjoying some comedy. (On February 15th on Netflix.) End rant.
