No Canned Laughter?

Have you ever noticed any moments in Seinfeld when they say a joke which deserved (more) canned laughter? I can think of two- 1) Kramer describing how eating Oreo's is like having sex with them. 2) I can't remember the episode but George says "Why because of society?", and Jerry replies "Yes, George, because of society." Mike-e

Does it usually use canned laughter? If it does I can't tell - probably because usually the shows that are canned are tragically unfunny and the audience laugh like Hyenas at the most pathetic of jokes, whereas Senfeld is funny as f***.

Nope. Seinfeld had a live audience, and the laughter you hear is the audience members. However, the editors sometimes used laughter from other points during the shoot. For example, the first time a scene is filmed it may get a big laugh, but subsequent takes don't get much of a response. They would use the laughter from the first take with the version finally used in the episode.

Better than the original question might be, can you recall specific instances where extended audience laughter screwed up the timing of the scene? Like how Kramer had to wait for the laughter to die down after George pulled the golf ball from his pocket before he could say "Is that a Titleist?"

Dave wrote:

The car rental scene after Jerry's insightful. "I don't think you do."

You figure also they had to shoot additional scenes or even reshoot existing scenes. I'm sure a laugh track was used. You can almost tell sometimes when the camera jumps- it's too quick or looks to hastily cut- some of those scenes had to have been reshot or shot after the original shooting.

Somewhat related.... I was watching "The Dinner Party" the other night. It's funny that Jerry's black and white cookie keeps swapping colors throughout the scene- one shot it's white on the left, black on the right, next shot it's white on the right, black on the left, next shot it's back as it was in the beginning, and on and on.

<<<Somewhat related.... I was watching "The Dinner Party" the other night. It's funny that Jerry's black and white cookie keeps swapping colors throughout the scene- one shot it's white on the left, black on the right, next shot it's white on the right, black on the left, next shot it's back as it was in the beginning, and on and on.>>>

"Look to the cookie"; but perhaps not so closely.

Yeah, I always just assumed it was canned. It's so perfect. Listen to the "audience" - each snicker, giggle, guffaw, and applause is like an orchestral accompaniment, but so natural. The real clue is that usually the laughter stops abruptly so it doesn't step on the next funny bit. Those editors really did a great job. They should have an Emmy for best laugh-track!