Not to be laughed at

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 17

Not to be laughed at

From

Robin Charteris

in London

The extent to which “canned” laughter is used in television comedy shows often draws criticism from viewers. In Britain, “The Two Ronnies” and “Yes Prime Minister,” the sequel to “Yes Minister,” are seen as persistent culprits, although many American shows are considered even worse.

Publishing a letter from a screen actor, the television critic of a London

newspaper has revealed the process in which “canned” laughter is obtained. "Laughter on audience shows is always, in a sense, manipulated because it is recorded selectively by the sound engineer. “There are various microphones above the audience. The engineer listens to each one separately before the show starts (a ‘warm-up’ man gets the audience to laugh for this very reason). “The engineer picks out the best ones, the jolliest

laughers, and so on, then locks all these individual mikes into one master control.” The unnamed actor explained that the microphones were switched on at the end of a joke line, and switched off before the actor moved on to the next line. “If a shot has to be performed again for any reason, the audience cannot be expected to laugh a second time, so the laughs from the previous ‘take’ are used, though they may have to be chopped off or lengthened.”