Audiences Get It

Thank you for your illuminating story on the history of the laugh track in situation comedy (“Need Laughter for Sitcoms? Can Do,” by David Folkenflik, Feb. 13).

A wonderful recent case study was the exceptional and underappreciated “Sports Night.” After the well-publicized battle fought by its creators, Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme, with ABC to do the show without canned laughter, one can see the show both with (the early episodes) and without (the second season). It is fascinating to watch its development as the laugh track was phased out. Characters evolved and deepened, and the sophistication of the comedy was allowed to breathe, providing some of the most charming moments of television in recent memory.

As a TV director, I take note of the fact that, if given the chance, audiences will rise to the occasion to find a joke or situation funny without being spoon-fed.

PHIL KAUFMANN

Sherman Oaks

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As the son of Jess Oppenheimer, creator-producer-head writer of “I Love Lucy,” I was surprised at its erroneous inclusion in a list of shows that “relied on canned laughter.” The fact is that my father, Lucy and Desi were all determined to use only the real laughter of the show’s studio audience.

None of the audience laughter you hear on “I Love Lucy” reruns was ever generated by a machine. It is the genuine sound of people enjoying the comic genius of Lucille Ball, at the top of her form. Charlie Douglass, inventor of the “laugh machine,” never used it to “sweeten” “I Love Lucy’s” laughter. Those laughs were just right--so right, in fact, that Douglass chose to fill his machine with them! As a result, one can still hear many familiar “Lucy” laughs on some current sitcoms.

So the statement that “I Love Lucy” relied on a laugh track has it backward. In fact, it was the laugh track that relied on “I Love Lucy.”

GREGG OPPENHEIMER

Santa Monica