MovieChat Forums > Drop the Dead Donkey (1990) Discussion > Possibly Suffered......

Possibly Suffered......

posted 15 years ago by Chief_Watches-Many
8 replies | jump to latest

I love this show, it's a favourite of mine among many TV shows I like, and I still like it as much today as ever.

But I was thinking when wacthing the other day, would it have been better if there were no studio audience?
Or more to the point, with the amount of shows now having no audience and laughter - I think this would have been better in the modern format.

The reason is because, much of it isn't laugh out loud funny, but the kind that makes you smirk .

There are some lines, whilst funny, it feels like the audience is forced into laughing out loud where it isn't really appropriate - Which makes it seem as if it's not funny. IE It seems like a weak line/joke when it isn't.

I think this is more the case in the earlier ones, and there are one or two lines from Alex imparticular, that aren't supposed to be laugh out loud and seem to go down like a lead balloon.
But it wouldn't seem like this if, like now, there isn't an audience there to hit home the fact that something is funny and you would just find it funny or not yourself.

Just a thought, but I think it would have worked better like this.

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[–] BeansOffofToast 15 years ago

I agree I think it would have been better without the studio audience. They do seem quite forced like they are just laughing when they have been told to.

[–] Chief_Watches-Many 15 years ago

There's a particular moment where the audience shows it isn't quite up to speed, in an episode - I think it's Henry & Dido from S2.

I think it's Dave and Damien looking at Sally's dog, and the conversation goes something like:

Damien - Look at that poor pampered, sad little creature....
Dave - You can't blame the dog
Audience - Laughs loudly
Damien - Whose talking about the dog?!
Audience - Silence

They completely missed the joke, and were just eager to laugh as if for the sake of it. Dave's line ISN'T the punchline!

I mean it is a pretty obvious joke, but no joke had actually been made at the point they laugh at, and they just pre-empted it.
I can't help but imagine the writers thinking - That's one of our least intelligent/original jokes, and the audience are not even smart enough to follow it properly!

I'm sure there was an audience, and it wasn't canned with someone screwing up the timing of the laughter?

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[–] hv-price 15 years ago

Watching an early episode and there does seem to be a continuous rolling laughter/titter throughout, whether anything is happening or not.

Most of the time I tune it out, but what brings them in as some unwanted force is when Gus walks in, starts to speak, pauses to let the laughter die out, and then continues speaking.

Always seems to be Gus' lines.

[–] BeansOffofToast 15 years ago

That happens a lot. Something funny is said, someone walks in and starts talking, audience are still laughing, person has to stop and start over. Really bugs me.

[–] Jazzomaniac 14 years ago

Viewers are in general, stupid. They need the laughter to know what is funny and what is not. I prefer the laughter. It is after all a comedy. You can however over do it e.g. watch an episode of 'Friends' or 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and you realize how annoying it can be since 90 percent of the jokes in those shows aren't even funny to begin with, but then again they were made for an American audience, and they would laugh at anything. Removing the laughter altogether would destroy the comedy e.g. the last Red Dwarf episodes.

[–] Howlin Wolf 13 years ago

People don't need laughter to know what's funny in film comedy, so why should TV be any different?

I agree with you about "Red Dwarf", though... I don't know what makes that different; the camaraderie between the group, perhaps? If the audience are laughing too, it brings everyone together, in that one individual case...

Born when she kissed me, died when she left me, lived whilst she loved me

[–] Prismark10 13 years ago

I think this one needed the canned laughter. I think it bought more atmosphere. Some recent comedies without canned laughter have suffered probably because they were not so funny in the first place!

Its that man again!!

[–] 13 years ago

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