Have you been in a sitcom audience?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/23/12 at 6:39pm

I have a question for someone who has been in the audience of a sitcom. Sometimes they set up a joke and then do a visual reveal of the joke. Do they film the scene, then stop and wheel in the visual joke? Or do they sweeten the laugh track when the camera hits the visual? How do they keep the audience from laughing at the joke before the camera hits it?

[ArtMan]

Posted: 12/23/12 at 7:33pm

I have been to many sitcom tapings. If I can recall, they stopped the camera then revealed the joke. Keep in mind, you can sit in the audience and be expected to laugh at the same joke twenty times. There maybe a problem with lines or camera angles,etc. I went to a taping of Designing Women years ago. Between them forgeting their lines and Noel (Suzanne's pig) farting, it took them six hours to film the half hour. BTW, they forgot their lines more than the pig farted.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/23/12 at 9:07pm

The also might 'Sweeten" a laugh track by showing the edited version it a micd audience and recording just their laugh track.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/23/12 at 9:44pm

I've wondered this too, mainly because I watch re-runs of a lot of old sitcoms because there did seem to at least be some real audiences rather than now that does come off a lot as canned laughter- not to generalize though. Some older shows had that too.

I remember seeing the re-runs for The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes used to also include major applause and not the kind reserved for the guest-star but when a lesson was learned. It's noticeable compared to when it happened in All in the Family (like the explosion of applause when Edith escapes from her rapist, for example) because it seemed like the thing used to cap off an episode. I figured that definitely got edited in like that scene in Annie Hall with Tony Roberts having editing control of his sitcom.

There seemed to be a certain type of audience that fit the bill of a certain show. Married... With Children seemed like one that felt genuine though I wonder how much the producers encouraged audience members to behave as rowdy as they often did (and to be fair the stuff on screen in the early seasons definitely encouraged that response).

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/23/12 at 10:00pm

"There seemed to be a certain type of audience that fit the bill of a certain show."

Yes I think so too. I always remember the audiences on Good Times were very vocal. "Slap her Wilona!" I always wondered if the producers encouraged those audiences to be vocal.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 1:44pm

just want to say... i HATE going to sitcom tapings! heck I hate going to show tapings... because like someone mentioned.. you will sit there for six freaking hours and sometimes they won't let you leave for a long period of time (if at all!)... i hated laughing at the same joke over and over...

still... it was a cool experience for the first hour or so

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 3:46pm

That's what ius so great about going to an SNLBroadcast. They can only do it once!

[DAME]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 4:47pm

A good percentage of the audience at any sitcom taping is out of work actors being paid $8.00 a hour to sit there. They are instructed not to tell the regular tourists -ticket holder audience.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 6:56pm

My favorite audience plant was the "Oh No!" lady from I Love Lucy.

[morosco]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 8:44pm

You must mean the Uh-Oh Lady!

On most of the old "I Love Lucy" shows, there was always a point in the show where Lucy set herself up to get in a jam. The studio audience usually saw the trouble coming before Lucy did, and reacted accordingly.

But there was one woman on the soundtrack of nearly every episode, who I like to call the "Uh-Oh Lady". The "Uh-Oh Lady" button had to be the most frequently used control on the laugh track machine. She popped up on countless episodes of "I Love Lucy", and I think that I've heard her on other shows, too.

If you've never noticed her, here's what she does: Lucy decides to do something stupid to get in a show or meet a movie star, and then at the crucial moment, you hear (on the laugh track) a woman saying, "Uh-Oh, hee, hee, hee!!" Every time that I hear her during an episode of Lucy, I yell out, "Hey, it's the "Uh-Oh Lady". I'd be interested to know how many times they used her on the laugh track.

I can envision a little old lady in a nursing home somewhere today telling her friends that she used to be the Uh-Oh Lady on the laugh track of "I Love Lucy". "Yessiree, I was on nearly every show. More than Mrs. Trumble!"
- Pop Culture

'I Love Lucy' didn't have a laugh track. The "Uh-Oh Lady" is presumed to be Lucy's mother, DeDe (she attended every taping). She said "Uh oh" in a lot of episodes, it's kind of funny. However, later shows DID use a laugh track, and they sometimes used 'I Love Lucy's - which would give them the "Uh-Oh Lady", too.
- Ted Nesi

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 9:12pm

The Uh-Oh lady laugh track was being used as late as the 70s. I heard her on Alice one time.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 9:13pm

Yes, the "uh-Oh" lady, I stand corrected. Thanks Morosco.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 9:28pm

or sitcom/ show audiences are groups/organizations from local colleges and universities who are given money for bringing in a certain amount of people to attend a taping... that's why I attended many.. i was the staff advisor and had to accompany my group

i love listening to the I LOVE LUCY audience on the DVDs.. like when Lucy goes to see Cornel Wilde and she loses her shoe coming down the balcony... you can hear that woman go "oh she lost her shoe" or whatnot.. hilarious

also for those of you that love Married with Children... there's always this one woman's voice that cackles in almost every episode... i own all the seasons and i started picking up on her voice... kinda annoying

[morosco]

Posted: 12/24/12 at 9:56pm

Here's the laugh track machine on Antiques Roadshow. This is the device that provided canned audience response on most of television's classics.
Charlie Douglass Laff Box

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/25/12 at 10:22pm

Visitors to LA should be warned that popular sitcoms and talk shows often invite far more people to join the audience than they have room to seat. Before show time, they seat the VIPs, then as many of those in line as they can accommodate.

The rest in line are sent home. Personally, I wouldn't attend a taping unless I know somebody and am sure I will get VIP seating. Just because somebody hands you an "invite" on the beach doesn't mean you will actually get in. (Obviously, it helps to be early in line.)

Of course with a not-so-popular show or a new show, as Dame points out above, the audience may be partially paid and you may have no trouble getting in. It really doesn't matter where you sit as the audience section isn't that big.

***

Gothampc, I have seen crews go to enormous lengths to stage the "reveal" so as to get an honest laugh from the studio audience. I think that's mostly the writers and director amusing themselves and/or pleasing the actors.

As others have noted, any attendance at a taping involves lots of retakes and "pretending" to laugh at jokes you've already heard several times.

***

One taping moment that still makes me laugh: I saw one of the first tapings of CHEERS after Kirstie Alley replaced Shelley Long. Miss Alley was on stage arranging her props and then standing just outside the "bar front door" awaiting her entrance.

Every single audience question was about Shelly Long, which I found utterly tacky and embarrassing under the circumstances, with Alley standing 20-30 feet away.

Finally, somebody asked a non-Long question: "Do the actors ever wear the same costumes again?"

Without missing a beat, Kirstie Alley popped her head in the door and announced, "Shelly never did!"

Okay, so it's not the wit of Oscar Wilde, but since I was already cringing, it broke the tension and cracked me up.



Updated On: 12/26/12 at 10:22 PM

[bobs3]

Posted: 12/25/12 at 11:01pm

These days at most "live on tape" sitcoms, small microphones are strategically placed around the set to pick up the actors voices while a different set of microphones are hung over the audience to pick up the laughs. Each microphone is connected to the sound mixing board and recorded. So lets say on the umpteenth take they get the line reading they want from an actor but not the audience response they can go back to one of the previous takes and use the laughs from that one. They can also edit out the "OMIGODS" and the "UH OHS" and "NO SHE DIDN'TS" from the audience.

When exterior scenes are filmed ("The Big Bang Theory" does a lot of these) they are edited and shown in sequence on large television screens during the live taping to get an audience reaction.

Updated On: 12/26/12 at 11:01 PM

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 12/26/12 at 12:43am

question for those that can answer about the Big Bang tapings... in the scenes in which they are having conversations walking up the five flights of stairs to their apartment, how is that done? is it one scene and they stop taping to fix it to make it look like another floor? or did they build something substantially large for that set piece

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/26/12 at 1:25am

I attended a taping as a teen Of the sitcom Nurses (remember, the pretty awful spin off of Golden Girl spin off Empty Nest), but don't remember much about it. It was at Universal Studios, and after we got tickets, they said that my sister and I were too young to go in, but at the last minute they changed their mind. (They must have really needed the audience...)

[bobs3]

Posted: 12/26/12 at 3:04am

Re: The Big Bang Theory staricase

According to my source in LA, it's one set of stairs, when they are walking up the stairs and turn the corner they cut. Set dressers appear and accessories and details are changed inside the hallway between each scene and are filmed to create the illusion that the actors are ascending or descending each floor. There is a very tiny space behind the elevator so when the actors get there they have to squeeze in the gap.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 12/26/12 at 6:39am

As Gaveston PS mentioned, the free ticket you receive does not guarantee entry. That ticket is at the lowest priority. I went to a taping of Murphy Brown, its first or second season, when it was hugely popular. The entire line did not get end. The auduence was already full of friends of friends of friends. We were the first three in line. Most everybody left. We stayed and got friendly with the pages. Finally we were let in on the remaining third of the show. This show was the exception. The other tapings, we always got in for the entire taping. But, yes, it is better to be towards the front of the line, instead of the back.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/26/12 at 8:48am

When the original TRACY ULLMAN SHOW was so popular, I got one of those "tickets" and stood in line for over two hours. I was the last one in from the line and a couple of hundred people were turned away behind me. Most had been waiting almost as long as I. (The show was totally worth the wait, but I got to see it.)

On the other hand, when THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW filmed for a week in LA, they just added chairs until everyone who showed up could get in. But they were in a movie studio of adjustable size and, anyway, the Brits are just polite like that.

If you live in LA, it's important to make at least one friend with studio connections.

[Becky]

Posted: 12/28/12 at 2:59pm

I took a tour a few weeks ago of the Big Bang Theory set, and yes, it's the same set of stairs. They said no matter what floor they are supposed to be on, they wind up the same set piece.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 12/28/12 at 3:17pm

It's the same concept as movie studios giving away extra tickets for special screenings. They do not guarantee admission but people are pissed off when they arrive late and can't get a seat.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/28/12 at 3:29pm

As someone who spent three seasons on JUST SHOOT ME, as well as countless episodes of WILL & GRACE, ROSEANNE and many others, nothing will take the fun out of a show like sitting in the studio audience.

Yea, it might be fun for the first hour or so, but if they don't have their stuff together, it can be torture sitting there for countless takes or re-shoots. It’s also very much like being stuck in Times Square for New Years Eve. Often times you aren’t allowed to move, once seated.