I can't believe you self-starred one of my favorite sketches of all time. This rating is good enough for you with ol' Dinsy.

Also: *****

"I can't believe you self-starred one of my favorite sketches of all time. This rating is good enough for you with ol' Dinsy."

I can't believe you one-starred one of your favorite sketches. But I'm glad you like the sketch, that matters more.

I know how to treat a female impersonator.

The Flying Circus was usually really good, although a bit uneven. But something happened about 10-15 years ago: they added a laugh track to it. I was surprised at how the laugh track completely ruined the show for me. Laugh tracks are usually kinda annoying, but they're complete poison for the Circus. Much of the humor (for me) was in staring at the screen poleaxed trying to figure out what was going on. Laugh cues kinda destroy that. And for many (most?) sketches, there aren't clear laugh "moments". Yes, the Python sketches occasionally included jokes, but often the humor came from general absurdity or a build-up of nonsense. There isn't a well-defined where you're supposed to laugh.... but they inserted the laugh track anyways.

The worst part is, after they (whoever "they" is) added the track, I couldn't find any older versions w/out the laugh track. God damnit. The TV show is kinda unwatchable for me now. Bah.

Anagoraxas... I think u may be mistaken there. Afaik the show was originally taped with a studio audience.

Maybe what u saw without laughter was 'And now for something completely different' which was re-shoots of popular sketches?

"
And Now for Something Completely Different is a 1971 British sketch comedy film based on the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring sketches from the first two series. The title was taken from a catchphrase used in the television show.

The film, released on 28 September 1971 in the United Kingdom,[1] consists of 90 minutes of sketches seen in the first two series of the television show. The sketches were remade on film without an audience, and were intended for an American audience which had not yet seen the series.
"

I was going to mention that movie. Thanks for saving me the typing.

Some of Python was filmed in front of a live audience, some of it was obviously filmed in exterior locations. Shows with live audiences do have laugh tracks, by the way.

I've always thought that the laugh track grew out of the live theater traditions of vaudeville, burlesque, music halls, what have you. It was about they rhythm. The first radio comedians had worked in vaudeville, and they probably needed the sound of an audience to fill the spaces that were part of the timing that they had developed over years. It became part of the format to the extent that the networks required. The producers of MASH hated the laugh requirement, and got around it as much as they could.


The show that finally broke the laugh track's stranglehold on TV comedy may have been "The Simpsons". The earliest live-action TV comedy that I can recall that didn't have a laugh track was "Malcolm in the Middle". Not so very long ago.

There are times (rarely) when the laugh track is, in my opinion, justified. Mostly when the comedy is filmed in front of an audience, it's a kind of comedy that comes from the live theater tradition. You need the sound of the audience like a rock and roll band needs a drummer, and it's too important to leave to amateurs.

Not only was Python shot largely in front of a live audience, but in the TV show, there is some discernable echo of those music hall traditions. Over the years, Python has recreated many of these sketches in front of a live audience, and they've worked very well.

British laugh tracks are the worst, however, the loudest, most jarring. Even good Britcoms have terrible laugh tracks.

It's true that the show has always had a laugh track, at least since I first watched on PBS, circa 1975.

Oh my... you two are right. I found several sites online that mention the Flying Circus using a live studio audience for its indoor sketches.

So those annoying "laugh tracks" were always there? What the hell? I distinctly remember watching the Flying Circus in high school on PBS and noting how the lack of a laugh track was disorienting & wonderful.

Wow. False memories are so *weird*.

When you turn 60, things change. You get a discount for the movies. You go the doctor, and the nurse asks you've been falling down a lot (not as much as when I was eight) and you start pontificating about the history of TV laugh tracks. The satisfaction of sharing the benefits of my tv watching experience with younger people in their late forties doesn't really compensate me for my inability to maintain an erection.

I can boil it all down to two sentences: Movies get worse. TV gets better.

You've been a naughty boy, Clem.

I don't think it makes any sense at all. I'm not in Monty Python. So how am I "self starring"?

Back in the days of POENews, we were awarded "bulbs" for comments that people liked. They were about our comments that we wrote ourselves, and you couldn't bulb your own comment. It was disabled, built into the system.

But you can five star your own submission, because it's not about your work. I.gave those stars to Monty Python. I wasn't patting myself on the back for my expert copying and pasting technique.

I've been starring my own submissions for about 12 years now. People.started complaining about 6-8 years ago. Sometimes I submit videos that I've made.myself. Those I don't star, expect for once, as.a FUCK YOU to someone who gave me a one star that I thought was unjust, and maybe one other time when my poor sad video had sat there unrated for a.day or more.

Probably all those people were me.