Why Producers Are Still Hanging on to the Notorious Laugh Tracks
The psychology behind canned laughter's success.
This is the 11th edition of the Essence!
Last night, I slept only three hours. I have a tremendous headache. My head feels 55 pounds alone. I’m not even sure if I’m writing correct sentences, but who cares.
I originally intended something else for this edition, but who cares.
So what’s the laziest thing I could do, and still get this edition sent out to you? Just send any of my articles about any marketing or writing-related topic!
I ended up deciding to pick this story I published on Medium about laugh tracks. It’s about the same topic as the last edition, but who cares.
No, but seriously, it helps convince you even more of the importance of this crucial psychological weapon.
The secret behind laugh tracks success
What state has the smallest drinks?… Mini-soda!
What does a dinosaur use to pay the bills?… Tyrannosaurus cheques!
What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?… A carrot!
Before bashing me in the comments, these jokes aren’t mine.
But let’s just say they are. How would your reaction be? What if I was standing in your face, muttering them to you with a dorky smirk? Would I get a disgusted gaze? A jab to the chin or an uppercut?
I wouldn’t do it, especially if you were having a bad day.
But, unless you’re a very distinct individual, I will do it under one condition: By having other people — who I paid in secret — around you laugh too when they hear these jokes.
You might not laugh. But perhaps a grin, a titter, or a light-hearted curse on my silliness. Or at least perceive these jokes as funnier. Anyhow, I won’t receive a jab to the chin.
I’m confident of this because that is what researchers found. It’s why some producers still believe in laugh tracks, even though the public despises them.
Research disagrees with the public opinion
It’s no secret that laugh tracks are hated by the public. Not only by the public, but other producers dislike them too. Here’s what David Niven had to say about laugh tracks in a 1955 interview:
“The laugh track is the single greatest affront to public intelligent I know of, and it will never be foisted on any audience of a show I have some say about.”
But what people say is one thing and what the data reveals is another. One study published in Current Biology proved that laugh tracks are pretty effective.
A few researchers gathered two groups — around 72 people — to take part in the study. They told participants to rate a set of 40 dad jokes, including those you’ve read above.
“They are terrible jokes. They are really bad jokes.” One of the researchers, Sophie Scott, told Nell Greenfieldboyce at NBR.
Unsurprisingly, the study’s participants rated these jokes pretty low. But when laugh tracks were added, participants rated the jokes as funnier. After adding laugh tracks, participants gave the jokes an average of a 10% score boost. It reached even 15–20% when the laugh tracks were spontaneous.
This study is only one of many proving laugh tracks are effective. As Robert Cialdini wrote in his bestselling book Influence:
“Experiments have found that the use of canned merriment causes an audience to laugh longer and more often when humorous material is presented and to rate the material as funnier.”
It is why some producers are still hanging on to the often despised laugh tracks. After all, laugh tracks helped shows such as Friends and Seinfeld to be among the top-rated shows of all time. And apparently, these producers want a piece of the laugh tracks pie, even though it’s decades old. Man with a Plan, The Ranch, and The Conners are only some of the recent examples.
The public says laugh tracks are a bad idea. Research disagrees. Many producers decided to listen to research instead of public opinion.
By rubbing the notorious laugh tracks in their audience’s faces, they seem to follow the saying, “Facts don’t care about your feelings.”
Have you ever wondered though why so many people are naively manipulated by such producers? What exactly makes laugh tracks so effective?
The psychology behind laugh tracks
“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.” — Walter Lippmann
The psychological weapon behind laugh tracks is social proof. Robert Cialdini explained in Influence the relationship between laugh tracks and social proof.
If a joke gets laughs, it has social proof of it being funny, no matter how terrible it actually is. And, as is the case with laugh tracks, even if the laughs are fake. Although we know laugh tracks are artificial, they still fool us.
Another interesting psychological weapon is convenience. American sound engineer Charles Douglass created the notorious laugh tracks with the intention of helping the audience watch, understand, and feel comfortable with a new medium, which was television.
Laugh tracks’ power isn’t only in validating jokes, but also in guiding the audience through the viewing experiment. We prefer the path of least resistance, especially when we want to relax. So when you’re watching sitcoms, knowing when to laugh and what to laugh at is pretty convenient.
Sophie Scott told The Guardian on the study they conducted, “You’re getting information not only that it’s funny, but that it’s OK to laugh.”
Most viewers, even if they hate to admit it, like this extra convenience.
Laugh tracks use social proof and convenience to manipulate us into laughing, even if we don’t consider something is funny. These two psychological weapons are pretty solid. They are the secret behind the success of the laugh tracks. If it weren’t for them, producers wouldn’t be still hanging on to the notorious sounds.
Takeaways
The study published in Current Biology is only one of many studies proving how effective laugh tracks are. It doesn’t surprise me because producers wouldn’t have added any laugh tracks if they didn’t work.
The reason behind the success of those fake laughs comes down to our psychology. It’s the strong influence of social proof and convenience. Laugh tracks, although they aren’t real, provide social proof and validates even the bad jokes. They also make watching comedy shows more convenient because they tell you when to laugh and when you can laugh.
Social proof is an unrivaled marketing weapon. It must be the secret behind the success of many ridiculously expensive restaurants and brands.
When marketing yourself or your product, try to incorporate it. The testimonies you get will be like the laughs inserted in sitcoms through laugh tracks. They will make your offers appear more valuable.
And also, try to add convenience to your service or product. YouTube Premium for example, other than the convenience of ad-free content, lets you download videos to watch offline.
By adding convenience to what you’re offering, such as an easy-to-read user guide, prospects will find it easier to go with your product or service.
If these psychological weapons of influence can fool us into believing dad jokes are funny, they must be able to do much more. Try to do your best to leverage them in your marketing and products.
Until next time,
Mohammed