americans answer please,why in your comedy programs you have the sound of laughter in comic moments?

Question

is it b/c you dont know when to laugh

Answer 1

yes, most of the time.

Answer 2

Background laughter makes a comic situation seem more humorous than it really is.
Because laughter is contagious, people automatically join in the laughter even when they normally would not have laughed.
Then, to explain their illogical laughter to themselves, they justify it by reasoning that the situation is humorous/comic indeed.
Most of this happens subconsciously.

Answer 3

English comedy has it too: The Young Ones and Monty Python (among others) were marred by canned laughter. We (the Irish) do it too; check out Father Ted.

Answer 4

I've heard the same laugh tracks in British shows, too. I think it is a 'trick' to make us think it's funny because laughter is contagious, but I'd rather they didn't do it.

Answer 5

This began back in the fifties, and there is an actual keyboard device to to it. It is a cheap laught getter. but many do need a cheerleader, and comedians do have professional laughers in audiences.

Answer 6

cause they are not funny ... but it's supposed to be a comedy show ... what's a comedy show without laughter ... so they throw them in ... self amusement ;-)

Answer 7

You are correct. Comedy shows, or sit-coms, are so stupid that they are not funny. Prompting is needed to tell us what we just saw was in fact humorous.

Answer 8

That is usually because the show is taped in front of a live audience.

Answer 9

It's called a laugh track. Stupid, isn't it?

Answer 10

It is to let you know that what just happened was funny, or was supposed to be funny.