The Laff Box
99% Invisible1 Maj 2018

The Laff Box

For nearly five decades, the laugh track was ubiquitous on television sitcoms, but in the early 2000s, it began to disappear. What happened? How did we get from the raucous canned laughter of the Beverly Hillbillies to the silent, sly “joke every 20 seconds” of 30 Rock? The curious story of the laugh track starts with one man who created the laugh track as a homemade piece of technology that took over the sound of television and then fell out of fashion with the rise of a more modern sense of humor. What happened to the laugh track is one of the cultural mysteries that are being explored on Slate’s new monthly podcast: Decoder Ring with Willa Paskin

The Laff Box

Plus, Roman talks to The West Wing Weekly co-host Joshua Malina about his time acting on Sports Night, which was a turning point in the history of the television laugh track.

Learn more and subscribe to Decoder Ring

Subscribe to The West Wing Weekly

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avsnitt(775)

The Megaplex!

The Megaplex!

Back in the early 1990s, movie theaters weren't that great. The auditoriums were cramped and narrow, and the screen was dim. But in 1995, the AMC Grand 24 in Dallas changed everything. It was the very...

16 Mars 202133min

Artistic License

Artistic License

Idaho was the first state to slap a slogan on a license plate, “Idaho Potatoes,” which may not seem like a big deal, but it turns out this idea would end up having outsized consequences, and not just ...

9 Mars 202134min

Florence Nightingale: Data Viz Pioneer

Florence Nightingale: Data Viz Pioneer

Victorian nurse Florence Nightingale (played in this episode by her distant cousin Helena Bonham Carter) is a hero of modern medicine - but her greatest contribution to combating disease and death res...

2 Mars 202137min

The Batman and the Bridge Builder

The Batman and the Bridge Builder

Mark Bloschock is an engineer from Texas, and in the late 1970s he got a job with the Texas Department of Transportation renovating the Congress Avenue Bridge. The bridge was a simple concrete arch br...

23 Feb 202133min

12 Heads from the Garden of Perfect Brightness

12 Heads from the Garden of Perfect Brightness

The story of the twelve bronze zodiac heads that are at the center of a fight over the repatriation of Chinese cultural heritage. Most believe all such cultural artifacts should return to China, but m...

16 Feb 202136min

Judas and the Black Messiah, Episode 1: The Chairman

Judas and the Black Messiah, Episode 1: The Chairman

Proximity, 99% Invisible, and Warner Bros. present the “Judas and the Black Messiah Podcast,” an official film companion from the Radiotopia podcast network from PRX. In the “Judas and the Black Messi...

12 Feb 202136min

The Doom Boom

The Doom Boom

Bradley Garrett is the author of Bunker: Building for the Times. People have always built underground survival shelters to stay safe from things like plagues or hurricanes. But in modern history, we'v...

9 Feb 202133min

Judas and the Black Messiah Trailer from 99% Invisible and Proximity Media

Judas and the Black Messiah Trailer from 99% Invisible and Proximity Media

Proximity, 99% Invisible, and Warner Bros. present the “Judas and the Black Messiah Podcast,” an official film companion from the Radiotopia podcast network from PRX. In the “Judas and the Black Messi...

8 Feb 20213min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

badfluence
framgangspodden
rss-jossan-nina
varvet
uppgang-och-fall
rss-borsens-finest
rss-svart-marknad
avanzapodden
fill-or-kill
bathina-en-podcast
dynastin
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
svd-tech-brief
lastbilspodden
borsmorgon
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
rss-dagen-med-di
rss-den-nya-ekonomin
24fragor
market-makers