Origin of Laugh Tracks in Comedy

We have taken the “Laugh Track” to be a given in most Comedy shows these days.. but when did this all start?  Here is some from Ask Yahoo..

The “Hank McCune Show” was the first program to use mechanized guffaws, way back in 1950. As Wikipedia explains, until TV came along, people always experienced comedy with fellow audience members at the theater or movies. It was believed that without a “hey dummy, it’s OK to laugh” cue, folks wouldn’t know how to react to actors falling down stairs and tripping over ottomans.

Perhaps the fear that the audience would forget to enjoy themselves should have raised some flags that the script needed more work, but apparently it didn’t (laughter). The laugh track went on to become an essential element of TV comedy and is still used today in groaners like “Will & Grace” and “Stacked” (boos).

Despite fathering the evil invention, Charley Douglass received a special Emmy award for engineering in 1992 (outraged screams). He died in 2003 (solitary cough).

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