THE LAUGH TRACK
I've been watching through the seasons of Friends and I have been having a good laugh through it all. I've been taking particular notice to the laugh track that is used throughout the show. I've wondered if it were real people watching the show if they'd actually laugh at the parts where the track is inserted. Sometimes it is yes and sometimes it is debatable.

It's dawned on me how humor and laughter is a community thing. Have you ever watched a "funny" show/movie and found it to be very funny, but you didn't laugh? I have. I do it all the time. If I'm watching some comedy by myself, it has to be pretty darn funny for me to laugh out loud. However, in groups I'll laugh more because other people are laughing. Or how about this one. You're watching something and you find a part funny and so you laugh and simultaneously look around to see who else is laughing. Most of the time you are not alone in your laughter and therefore feel generally accepted by your peers. But on a rare occasion, you laugh and look around and nobody else is laughing. That's when you realize that you are either slightly twisted, or maybe that wasn't intended to be a funny moment and you weren't paying close enough attention to notice.

I guess the laugh track is inserted so that you know that it is okay to laugh at that part. It's nice that the writers/producers are working together to intentionally let you know when something funny has occurred. Someone writes a joke, hoping that it will come across universally funny and the laugh track is added just for those who need a little encouragement.

Sometimes I need my own laugh track. I tell a joke or make a sarcastic comment...push a button...then everyone around me is encouraged to laugh (or laugh more).