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Why don't the characters laugh at the jokes in TV comedy shows?
Gusto Brunt
Posts: 12,351 Forum Member
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We laugh, why don't they? 
How come they all have straight faces when a very funny line is said.
The audience roars with laughter. The cast? NOTHING.:D
How come they all have straight faces when a very funny line is said.The audience roars with laughter. The cast? NOTHING.:D
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not why doesn't Linda Robson laugh?
Edit: also Uncle albert in OFAH, Alf Garnett Harold/Albert Steptoe, most of the charcters in Vicar of Dibley, Father Ted and Dad's Army..
Linda never laughs. Do I have to explain?
What do you mean?
Yeah, that's what I meant.
When Blackadder says to Baldrick "Baldrick, I want you to take this and go out and buy a turkey so large, you'd think its mother had been rogered by an omnibus. I'm going to have a party, and no one's invited but me!"
Funny line, but why should Baldrick find it funny ?
There's generally laughing/ or smirking in The Big Bang Theory when there's a cheap shot at one of the characters.
I think that's a great example you've given there. It makes it feel more natural.
I think the OP does understand. I think it's more the case that you don't understand what the OP means. Of course there are situations where deadpan is the best way to do it, but that's not the situation the OP is speaking about.
In some sitcoms the general style suits deadpan reactions from characters, such as in spoofs or parodies which are exaggerated. Sledge Hammer is a great example of this where most of the time it pretty much has to be deadpan. But in some sitcoms when it is a more true to life setup you would expect the characters to act like real people. So that when something funny happens in a scene the characters who aren't supposed to be subnormal laugh at it just like we do.
The above example of Cheers is a very good example of a sitcom where the characters within it recognise humour when somebody is a butt of a joke.
Only Fools and Horses handled it quite well too, where the characters tended to acknowledge the humour in situations they found themselves in.
But you can get a lot of sitcoms which seem to be too slick, and characters are reeling off one-liners at each other in rapid succession, but other characters in the scene don't react, and it feels more like the show is serving more to pump out the writing of the jokes rather than considering the characters in a situation. Which can feel very cold and distant. and you feel that the characters aren't really characters but more like cardboard cutout characters used to deliver lines.
You'e right, I wouldn't laugh at that either.
One show where the cast is encouraged to laugh.
Correct. Note how in my initial post I said 'characters' in comedy shows. Not actors.
Take inbetweeners fir example: when Jay makes a joke about say Neil's dad the characters laugh as it's realistic they would but when will makes a joke it's usually deadpan and works much better as the character doesn't get it
Suspend disbelief! In real life we dont trade hilarious barbs all day at each other either...