Editing Laugh track (section)

===Early live U.S. television, film; "sweetening"===
In early television, most shows that were not broadcast live used the [[Single-camera setup|single-camera]] [[filmmaking]] technique, where a show was created by filming each scene several times from different [[camera angle]]s.<ref name="Kitman"/> Whereas the performances of the actors and crew could be controlled, live audiences could not be relied upon to laugh at the "correct" moments; other times, audiences were deemed to have laughed too loudly or for too long.<ref name="Kitman"/>

[[CBS]] sound engineer [[Charles Douglass|Charley Douglass]] noticed these inconsistencies, and took it upon himself to remedy the situation.<ref name="Levin">{{cite news |first=Eric |last=Levin |title=Who does all that laughing? |work=[[TV Guide]]|date=April 8, 1978}}</ref> If a joke did not get the desired chuckle, Douglass inserted additional laughter; if the live audience chuckled too long, Douglass gradually muted the guffaws. This editing technique became known as [[Sweetening (show business)|sweetening]], in which recorded laughter is used to augment the response of the real studio audience if they did not react as strongly as desired.<ref name="Levin"/> Conversely, the process could be used to "desweeten" audience reactions, toning down unwanted loud laughter or removing inappropriate applause, thus making the laughter more in line with the producer's preferred method of telling the story.<ref name="Hobson Help">{{cite news |first=Dick |last=Hobson |title=Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Laff Box |work=TV Guide |date=July 9, 1966}}</ref>

While still working for CBS, Douglass built a prototype laugh machine that consisted of a large, wooden wheel 28 inches in diameter with a reel of tape glued to the outer edge of it containing recordings of mild laughs. The machine was operated by a key that played until it hit another detent on the wheel, thus playing a complete laugh. Because it was constructed on company time, CBS demanded possession of the machine when Douglass decided to terminate his time with them. The prototype machine fell apart within months of use.<ref name=prattarchive/> Douglass developed an expansion of his technique in 1953 when he began to extract laughter and applause from live soundtracks recorded (mainly from the [[pantomime]] segments of ''[[The Red Skelton Show]]''), and then placed the recorded sounds into a huge tape machine.

These recorded laughs could be added to single-camera filmed programs. The first American television show to incorporate a laugh track was the [[sitcom]] ''[[The Hank McCune Show]]'' in 1950. Other single-camera filmed shows, like ''The Pride of the Family'' (ABC, 1953–54), soon followed suit,<ref name=tvparty/> though several, like ''[[The Stu Erwin Show|The Trouble with Father]]'' ([[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], 1950–55), ''[[Beulah (series)|The Beulah Show]]'' (ABC, 1950–52) and ''[[The Goldbergs (1949 TV series)|The Goldbergs]]'' (several networks, 1949–56), did not feature an audience or a laugh-track. ''[[Four Star Playhouse]]'', an anthology series, did not utilize a laugh-track or audience on its occasional comedy episodes, with co-producer [[David Niven]] calling the laugh track "wild indiscriminate mirth" and stating that "I shall blackball the notion if it ever comes up. Not that it will. We shall carry on without mechanical tricks".<ref>{{cite news |last= Maynard |first = John |date= January 9, 1955 |title= David Niven Fires a Volley at TV's Most Irritating 'Ghost' – Canned Laughter |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X31QAAAAIBAJ&pg=6036,537621 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160510121536/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X31QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VxAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6036,537621 |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 10, 2016 |work= [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel#Milwaukee Sentinel|The Milwaukee Sentinel]] |access-date= 3 April 2020}}</ref>

====Multi-camera shows====
Soon after the rise of the laugh track, [[Lucille Ball]] and [[Desi Arnaz]] devised a method of filming with a live audience using a [[Multiple-camera setup|setup of multiple film cameras]]. This process was originally employed for their sitcom ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', which used a live [[television studio|studio]] audience and no laugh track.<ref name="Levin"/> Multi-camera shows with live audiences sometimes used recorded laughs to supplement responses. [[Sketch comedy]] and [[variety show]]s eventually migrated from live broadcasting to [[videotape]], which allowed for editing before a show was aired. Physically editing a taped audience show (then using [[quadruplex videotape]]) before electronic dubbing arrived caused bumps and gaps on the soundtrack;<ref name="New Yorker">{{cite magazine |title=The Talk of the Town: Laughs |magazine=The New Yorker |date=September 10, 1984}}</ref> Douglass was then called upon to bridge these gaps.

Both performers and producers gradually began to realize the power behind prerecorded laughter.<ref name="Hobson Help"/> While witnessing an early post-production editing session, comedian [[Milton Berle]] once pointed out a particular joke and said, "as long as we're here doing this, that joke didn't get the response we wanted". After Douglass inserted a hearty laugh following the failed joke, Berle reportedly commented, "See? I told you it was funny".<ref name="Kitman"/> The comedian [[Bob Hope]], while working on one of his television specials, took Douglass's hands in his own and began rubbing them to create the effect of limbering up Douglass's fingers, saying "OK, now, give me some good laughs."<ref name=neveda>{{cite news | first = Ed | last = Cohen | title = The Last Laugh | work = [[University of Nevada, Reno|Nevada Silver & Blue Magazine]] | date = Spring 2007 | url = http://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/671946-2007Spring.pdf | access-date = December 10, 2015}}</ref>