The history of ‘the laugh track’ says much about what the makers of television thought of their audiences, writes Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. Charley Douglass didn’t like the laughter he was hearing.

Nothing can match the energy of watching a funny movie with an theater full of laughing strangers. And it’s not just your imagination: As scientists have found, we actually think jokes are funnier ...

Charlie Watts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...