“TV and film star David Niven griped in 1955 that ‘the laugh track is the greatest single affront to public intelligence I know of.’ … But consider for a moment the unheralded achievements of the laugh track. It allowed directors to leave their live studio audiences behind and shoot scenes on location. It gave at-home viewers someone to laugh along with. And, if you believe the sparse scientific research and the anecdotal evidence from Hollywood, it made jokes funnier.” – Quartz