I have an aversion to laugh tracks - the moment I hear a laugh track, I go to another channel.
Back then, Pro Tools only had four or eight tracks, so we couldn't actually hear all the tracks. We could only hear eight at a time, so if a song had 25 or 30 tracks, we wouldn't be able to hear it until we went into the studio an put it all on tape. The process was a little bit backwards.
It should be a law for one whole year that all laugh tracks are Seth Rogen. The world would get ever so slightly better.
I'm still finding my feet in many ways as a performer. I'm not an extrovert, and certainly the attention isn't what drew me to it, and I find that quite jarring at times. I used to stress a lot about shows and get palpitations before shows, but eventually you learn to love it, and it is a thrill.
In point of fact, I'm not sure there are too many comedies with laugh tracks anymore. Most of what you hear is live studio audience laughing as a show is filmed. If this prompts you to wonder who those actual human beings are who are laughing at some of this stuff, that is a mystification I share.
I like getting my own thoughts out right now, I have fans to solidify, so that's why I don't do tracks with too many younger rappers or newer artists. People may consider me to be a music snob or whatever, but I like to preserve what's mine and I also don't just do tracks to do tracks, I make every song with a purpose.
Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950’s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.
We hear so many records these days that are done with click tracks, as opposed to a drummer.
I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.
I hear odd tracks from my albums every now and again on the radio, or maybe a friend plays me something.
For so long, TV consisted of a limited number of shows a year, and those shows had to appeal to as many people as possible. The joy of TV now is that shows don't have to be broad anymore - they can be small, weird, and niche.
Yes I agree shows sometimes go over dramatic, hit tracks get repeated, but then why not also talk about the kind of interesting shows that the medium is churning?
Laugh. Laugh as much as you can. Laugh until you cry. Cry until you laugh. Keep doing it even if people are passing you on the street saying, "I can't tell if that person is laughing or crying, but either way they seem crazy, let's walk faster." Emote. It's okay. It shows you are thinking and feeling.
It's interesting, even in popular culture, in our vernacular now, the whole idea of 'fake news.' You hear it repeated on scripted television shows, on reality shows, you just see it everywhere, even in other countries.
I feel like comedy is doing well right now because there's so many avenues to be seen. Whether it's through the Internet with social media or web videos and now there's so many networks and TV shows.
The reason for backing tracks is to not veer off too far from the record and have what the fans actually want to hear. Artists use backing tracks just so they can stay close to the record and what the consumer heard for the first time. It's not to be confused with lip synching or anything like that cos that's not happening at all.