Laughter Track

[maltrab]

I have noticed that sometimes the laughter volumes drown out some of the lines,in some episodes it seems more noticeable, A Leg up for Christmas is one that seems pretty bad at doing this, yet Alan Bell mentioned some time back that they added pauses to the lines to allow for this,I am wondering as this is a special was it canned laughter, as some specials have no laughter track at all

 

[Sarkus]

I was under the impression they never used canned laughter. Instead it was recorded when audiences saw the completed episode. However, I don't think they edited the laughter after the recording, meaning it would still be possible to have situations where the audience laughed over the next funny moment if the pre planned gaps were insufficient in length. I watched that episode recently myself but don't recall specific examples.

 

[me2]

I watched that episode with the laughter in mind tonight. I see several places where the laughter did drown out the lines but my thought was that should not happen if it was canned laughter. They would have been careful not to not cover up the lines. I felt it was because the laugh was bigger or longer than they expected, so the pauses weren't long enough.

Peter Sallis talked about this in an interview on 30 Years of Last of the Summer Wine. The example he used was Destiny and Six Bananas (which was shot just the next season). When Foggy says he used Horlicks on the dart, Bill waited quite a while before he delivered Compo's line "That's supposed to make it sleep?" The laughter went on much longer than anticipated so you heard nothing of Compo's line and only saw his lips move. So they were trying to leave the gap for the laughter; they just weren't always successful.

I know they didn't have a laughter track for Getting Sam Home? Do know of any other's that didn't use one?

 

[maltrab]

I watched that episode with the laughter in mind tonight. I see several places where the laughter did drown out the lines but my thought was that should not happen if it was canned laughter. They would have been careful not to not cover up the lines. I felt it was because the laugh was bigger or longer than they expected, so the pauses weren't long enough.

Peter Sallis talked about this in an interview on 30 Years of Last of the Summer Wine. The example he used was Destiny and Six Bananas (which was shot just the next season). When Foggy says he used Horlicks on the dart, Bill waited quite a while before he delivered Compo's line "That's supposed to make it sleep?" The laughter went on much longer than anticipated so you heard nothing of Compo's line and only saw his lips move. So they were trying to leave the gap for the laughter; they just weren't always successful.

I know they didn't have a laughter track for Getting Sam Home? Do know of any other's that didn't use one?

There was Uncle of the Bride and Big Day at Dream Acres that did not have the Laughter track

 

[me2]

There was Uncle of the Bride and Big Day at Dream Acres that did not have the Laughter track

Yes, that's right. Neither of those had a laugh track either. All of those were well over an hour in length and considered movies. The 30 minute ones would, I think, all be treated as regular programs even if they were Christmas Specials.

 

[maltrab]

Yes, that's right. Neither of those had a laugh track either. All of those were well over an hour in length and considered movies. The 30 minute ones would, I think, all be treated as regular programs even if they were Christmas Specials.

This is why I wondered if for some reason the extended movie type specials did use canned laughter,rather than a studio audience

 

[Adanor]

I am so used to having laugh tracks inserted that it makes it real special when I stop to remember that people are actually responding to actual scenes.