"A joke is a joke, but I've noticed that the public is more sophisticated now. They don't seem to be hand-fed as they were in the early days. Now, we take the light approach as far as trying to drive home a joke with audience reaction. I think that it's okay to back off a little bit especially on a live-audience show. Go with the show and let them tell you."

    About This Interview

    In his two-and-a-half-hour interview, Carroll Pratt (1921-2010) talks about his start in feature films at MGM in the sound department where his father worked. He speaks in great detail about the audience reaction (laugh) machine created by engineer Charlie Douglass, for whom Pratt worked after leaving MGM. Pratt describes the device and the types of responses that the machine was capable of doing from whistles to belly laughs. Pratt describes the updated version of the laugh machine, which he created with his brother in the 1970s, when he split from Douglass and started his own company called Sound One. Pratt talks about providing laugh tracks for numerous television series throughout the years (including the longest laugh he ever recorded, for The Mary Tyler Moore Show), until his retirement from Sound One in the mid-1990s. B-roll consists of a few photos of Pratt at work and a short video piece in which Pratt shows where he keeps his Emmy awards. Karen Herman conducted the interview on June 12, 2003 in Philo, CA.

    All views expressed by interviewees are theirs alone and not necessarily those of the Television Academy.
    People Talking About ...
    Play Full Interview

    Chapter 1

    On his early life and influences; on working in the sound department for various productions at MGM; on his early experience with television, and on how people at the film studios reacted to it

    10:32

    On working on sound in the postproduction of I Love Lucy; on mixing sound for The Mickey Mouse Club; on the kind of equipment he used in sound mixing in the early years, and on the professionals he collaborated with

    10:04

    On the Hollywood Blacklist; on working with sound engineer and laugh track creator Charles Douglas; on the "laugh machine"

    07:44

    Chapter 2

    On the "uh-oh" sound in the laugh track for I Love Lucy; on the mechanics of the laugh track and how it worked; on tailoring a laugh track to a show, using M*A*S*H as an example

    11:58

    On working with his mentor Charlie Douglas on various shows adding laugh track, and on working with producers; on television critics reaction to the laugh track, and on the purpose of the laugh track

    09:50

    On his own sense of humor; on how Charlie Douglas worked, and on competition in the laugh track industry

    06:17

    Chapter 3

    On recording audiences for laugh tracks in the early days, and on working with the audience to get reactions; on leaving Charlie Douglas' company, and on striving to for a better quality laugh track; on improving on the laugh track after leaving Charlie Douglas, and on starting his own company

    10:49

    On providing a laugh track for Hogan's Heroes; on working with Lucille Ball during his career, including The Lucy Show; on providing laugh track for Green Acres, Bewitched, Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and I Dream of Jeannie

    09:05

    On consulting with producers on shows he provided the laugh track for; on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family

    08:10

    Chapter 4

    On providing a laugh track for The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show; on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show; on providing a laugh track for The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons, Mama's Family, and The Bob Newhart Show, and on not getting screen credit for his work

    13:24

    On providing a laugh track for Hee Haw, on dealing with regional and ethnic audiences when creating a laugh track, and on creating a laugh track for American shows that have been dubbed into another language; on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    11:43

    On providing a laugh track for Soap, which proved a challenge as the show was a soap opera parody, and on providing laugh tracks for Kate & Allie, and Family Ties; on the challenge of providing laugh tracks for animated series

    03:28

    Chapter 5

    On the most important elements of sound design, and on his distaste for digital sound; on recording Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) at which Barbra Streisand is an expert, on what a re-recordist does, and on doing Foley; on providing sports sound effects

    09:19

    On dealing with the limitations of early television set speakers, and on modifying equipment once the technology improved; on providing audience reaction enhancement for live shows like The Emmy Awards; on his retirement, and on leaving his company in good hands

    11:16

    On his greatest career achievement, and on how many hours of television he'd sound enhanced; on advice to aspiring sound professionals; on how audience laughs have changed and evolved over the decades

    08:11

    Chapter 6

    On how audience reactions have evolved over the decades; on the most common plot lines for situation comedies

    07:30

    On the possibility of the laugh track becoming obsolete; on what awards, including the Emmy Award, have meant to him in his career; on how he'd like to be remembered

    03:02

    On b-roll pictures from his career- with a laugh track machine; 1989 at Warner Bros. having done Love Boat; mid-'80s with his laugh track machine; at a screening at Warner Bros.; winning an Emmy Award; with his Emmy Awards at his home

    03:12

    Andy Griffith Show, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:16

    Barney Miller

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    05:29

    Benson

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    05:29

    Beverly Hillbillies, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Green Acres, Bewitched, Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and I Dream of Jeannie

    04:26

    Bewitched

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Green Acres, Bewitched, Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and I Dream of Jeannie

    04:26

    Bob Newhart Show, The (1972-78)

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons, Mama's Family, and The Bob Newhart Show, and on not getting screen credit for his work

    03:35

    Brady Bunch, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:16

    Carol Burnett Show, The (1967-78)

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons, Mama's Family, and The Bob Newhart Show, and on not getting screen credit for his work

    03:35

    Dick Van Dyke Show, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show

    04:33

    Eight Is Enough

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    05:29

    Emmy Awards, The (Primetime and Daytime)

    Carroll Pratt on providing audience reaction enhancement for live shows like the Emmy Awards

    05:30

    Family Ties

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Soap, which proved a challenge as the show was a soap opera parody, and on providing laugh tracks for Kate & Allie, and Family Ties

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Soap, which proved a challenge as the show was a soap opera parody, and on providing laugh tracks for Kate & Allie, and Family Ties

    02:06

    Fawlty Towers

    Carroll Pratt on providing the laugh track for The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart (which he characterizes as a take-off on Fawlty Towers)

    00:39

    Gilligan's Island

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:16

    Green Acres

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Green Acres, Bewitched, Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and I Dream of Jeannie

    04:26

    Happy Days

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:16

    Hee Haw

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Hee Haw, on dealing with regional and ethnic audiences when creating a laugh track, and on creating a laugh track for American shows that have been dubbed into another language

    06:14

    Hogan's Heroes

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Hogan's Heroes

    02:19

    I Dream of Jeannie

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Green Acres, Bewitched, Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and I Dream of Jeannie

    04:26

    I Love Lucy

    Carroll Pratt on working on sound in the postproduction of I Love Lucy

    02:40

    Carroll Pratt on the "uh-oh" sound in the laugh track for I Love Lucy

    02:16

    Jeffersons, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons, Mama's Family, and The Bob Newhart Show, and on not getting screen credit for his work

    03:35

    Kate & Allie

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Soap, which proved a challenge as the show was a soap opera parody, and on providing laugh tracks for Kate & Allie, and Family Ties

    02:06

    Kraft Music Hall, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family

    05:50

    Love Boat, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    05:29

    Lucy Show, The

    Carroll Pratt on working with Lucille Ball during his career, including The Lucy Show

    02:20

    M*A*S*H

    Carroll Pratt on tailoring a laugh track to a show, using M*A*S*H as an example

    02:29

    Mama's Family

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons, Mama's Family, and The Bob Newhart Show, and on not getting screen credit for his work

    03:35

    Mickey Mouse Club, The

    Carroll Pratt on mixing sound for The Mickey Mouse Club

    02:31

    Mork & Mindy

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    05:29

    My Favorite Martian

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:16

    My Three Sons

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Green Acres, Bewitched, Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and I Dream of Jeannie

    04:26

    Odd Couple, The (1970-75)

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family

    05:50

    Partridge Family, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family

    05:50

    Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family

    05:50

    Soap

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Soap, which proved a challenge as the show was a soap opera parody, and on providing laugh tracks for Kate & Allie, and Family Ties

    02:06

    Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:16

    Steve Allen Show, The (1968-72)

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family

    05:50

    Taxi

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    05:29

    Emmy Awards

    Carroll Pratt on providing audience reaction enhancement for live shows like the Emmy Awards

    05:31

    Carroll Pratt on what awards, including the Emmy, have meant to him in his career

    00:47

    Hollywood Blacklist

    Carroll Pratt on the Hollywood Blacklist

    02:26

    Industry Crossroads

    Carroll Pratt on the Hollywood Blacklist

    02:26

    Technological Innovation

    Carroll Pratt on dealing with the limitations of early television set speakers, and on modifying equipment once the technology improved

    03:18

    Television Industry

    Carroll Pratt on the Hollywood Blacklist

    02:26

    Carroll Pratt on television critics reaction to the laugh track, and on the purpose of the laugh track

    05:25

    Carroll Pratt on his retirement, and on leaving his company in good hands

    02:27

    Sound Mixer

    Carroll Pratt on the kind of equipment he used in sound mixing in the early years, and on the professionals he collaborated with

    04:53

    Carroll Pratt on the "laugh machine"

    02:54

    Carroll Pratt on the mechanics of the laugh track and how it worked

    07:13

    Carroll Pratt on tailoring a laugh track to a show, using M*A*S*H as an example

    02:29

    Carroll Pratt on recording audiences for laugh tracks in the early days, and on working with the audience to get reactions

    05:33

    Carroll Pratt on improving on the laugh track after leaving Charlie Douglas, and on starting his own company

    01:44

    Carroll Pratt on consulting with producers on shows he provided the laugh track for

    02:18

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Hee Haw, on dealing with regional and ethnic audiences when creating a laugh track, and on creating a laugh track for American shows that have been dubbed into another language

    06:14

    Carroll Pratt on the challenge of providing laugh tracks for animated series

    01:20

    Carroll Pratt on the most important elements of sound design, and on his distaste for digital sound

    03:37

    Carroll Pratt on recording Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) at which Barbra Streisand is an expert, on what a re-recordist does, and on doing Foley

    04:31

    Carroll Pratt on providing sports sound effects

    01:11

    Carroll Pratt on dealing with the limitations of early television set speakers, and on modifying equipment once the technology improved

    03:18

    Carroll Pratt on providing audience reaction enhancement for live shows like The Emmy Awards

    05:30

    Carroll Pratt on advice to aspiring sound professionals

    00:39

    Carroll Pratt on how audience laughs have changed and evolved over the decades

    05:16

    Carroll Pratt on how audience reactions have evolved over the decades

    03:47

    Sound Professionals

    Carroll Pratt on the kind of equipment he used in sound mixing in the early years, and on the professionals he collaborated with

    04:53

    Carroll Pratt on the "laugh machine"

    02:54

    Carroll Pratt on the mechanics of the laugh track and how it worked

    07:13

    Carroll Pratt on tailoring a laugh track to a show, using M*A*S*H as an example

    02:29

    Carroll Pratt on recording audiences for laugh tracks in the early days, and on working with the audience to get reactions

    05:33

    Carroll Pratt on improving on the laugh track after leaving Charlie Douglas, and on starting his own company

    01:44

    Carroll Pratt on consulting with producers on shows he provided the laugh track for

    02:18

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Hee Haw, on dealing with regional and ethnic audiences when creating a laugh track, and on creating a laugh track for American shows that have been dubbed into another language

    06:14

    Carroll Pratt on the challenge of providing laugh tracks for animated series

    01:20

    Carroll Pratt on the most important elements of sound design, and on his distaste for digital sound

    03:37

    Carroll Pratt on recording Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) at which Barbra Streisand is an expert, on what a re-recordist does, and on doing Foley

    04:31

    Carroll Pratt on providing sports sound effects

    01:11

    Carroll Pratt on dealing with the limitations of early television set speakers, and on modifying equipment once the technology improved

    03:18

    Carroll Pratt on providing audience reaction enhancement for live shows like The Emmy Awards

    05:30

    Carroll Pratt on advice to aspiring sound professionals

    00:39

    Carroll Pratt on how audience laughs have changed and evolved over the decades

    05:16

    Carroll Pratt on how audience reactions have evolved over the decades

    03:47

    Animation

    Carroll Pratt on the challenge of providing laugh tracks for animated series

    01:20

    Children's Programming

    Carroll Pratt on mixing sound for The Mickey Mouse Club

    02:31

    Comedy Series

    Carroll Pratt on working on sound in the postproduction of I Love Lucy

    02:40

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Hogan's Heroes

    02:19

    Carroll Pratt on working with Lucille Ball during his career, including The Lucy Show

    02:19

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Green Acres, Bewitched, Beverly Hillbillies, My Three Sons, and I Dream of Jeannie

    04:26

    Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family

    05:50

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:14

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons, Mama's Family, and The Bob Newhart Show, and on not getting screen credit for his work

    03:35

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Barney Miller, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy, Eight is Enough, Taxi, and Benson

    05:29

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Soap, which proved a challenge as the show was a soap opera parody, and on providing laugh tracks for Kate & Allie, and Family Ties

    02:08

    Carroll Pratt on the most common plot lines for situation comedies

    03:43

    Music Shows & Variety Shows/Specials

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, My Favorite Martian, Happy Days, and The Andy Griffith Show

    05:14

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Carol Burnett Show, The Jeffersons, Mama's Family, and The Bob Newhart Show, and on not getting screen credit for his work

    03:35

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for Hee Haw, on dealing with regional and ethnic audiences when creating a laugh track, and on creating a laugh track for American shows that have been dubbed into another language

    06:14

    Sports

    Carroll Pratt on providing sports sound effects

    01:10

    Lucille Ball

    Carroll Pratt on working with Lucille Ball during his career, including The Lucy Show

    02:19

    Charlie Douglas

    Carroll Pratt on working with sound engineer and laugh track creator Charles Douglas

    02:24

    Carroll Pratt on working with his mentor Charlie Douglas on various shows adding laugh track, and on working with producers

    04:25

    Carroll Pratt on how Charlie Douglas worked, and on competition in the laugh track industry

    04:56

    Carroll Pratt on leaving Charlie Douglas' company, and on striving to for a better quality laugh track

    03:29

    Mary Tyler Moore

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show

    04:33

    Barbra Streisand

    Carroll Pratt on recording Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) at which Barbra Streisand is an expert, on what a re-recordist does, and on doing Foley

    04:31

    Dick Van Dyke

    Carroll Pratt on providing a laugh track for The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show

    04:33

    All Interviews

    Loading Interviews...