Last Laugh

Canned Laughter Canned 

In a move to lessen the artificiality of news, entertainment and life in general, the California state legislation has introduced a legislative bill to prohibit canned laughter on television as a method of bringing television shows in line with a truthful response to comedy.  The union of voice-over artists has issued a statement indicating their opposition to the legislature as it may affect their union members that provide laughter tracks for television shows.  The initiator of the legislature counters that the audience response should be guided by humor on display, not about the timing of a laugh track. 

Karal Ann Marling, professor of American studies and art history, indicated there is a concern about canned laughter being a symptom of a larger social willingness to accept things uncritically, which included political messages as well as commercial product messages. "It's a kind of decline in American feistiness and an ability to think for yourself," she said. "It certainly is embedded, but that doesn't make it a good thing. There are a lot of things that we do every day of the week that aren't good things. And this is one of them."