Results tagged “Reggie Perrin” from Birmingham Mail - Is It Just Me

The BBC have done it again. They bring back Reggie Perrin in a new series, which was not bad to be fair, and stick one of their collection of banal laughter tracks on it.

This was the one recorded in a care home for cretins when the van bringing that day's medications had broken down.

Laughter from an audience actually watching a show has an empathy with what is going on. Canned laughter is just an annoying irritation totally out of context which just fills in the gaps between lines.

Whoever thinks it improves a comedy has no sense of humour or timing and perhaps should look for a job in something other than entertainment.

We actually know if something is funny and don't need a laughter track to guide us, particularly when lines worth no more than a smile are getting side-splitting guffaws. And if it isn't funny, then the BBC will soon know - we'll stop watching, which will make the laughter very empty indeed.