Response to "Ha ha," he said. "Ha ha."

Chuck Klosterman's article '"Ha ha," he said. "Ha ha."' is a small examination of laugh tracks on sitcoms. Klosterman provides some observations on how laugh tracks control how the viewer is supposed to react to certain situations on the television show and how people provide their own laugh track in everyday life. I have to agree with the author's point of view that the absence of laugh tracks on certain comedy's such as 30 Rock and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are perceived to be more edgy and hip. You have to be aware of a lot of pop culture to "get" some of the jokes on those shows. But it also helps these shows to not have a laugh track like Klosterman observes with 30 Rock. When a stupid joke that Liz Lemon says is a total bust, the absence of any laughter just makes it more funny because yet another one of her jokes has failed. This dynamic makes the choice of not using a laugh track aids in the hilarity of a show, instead of hurting it; which would be contrary to what most people would think.