From: Bill Shute, San Antonio College In regards to sitcoms/variety shows shot in front of a live audience... I have attended tapings of a number of sitcoms and a few Tonight Shows, and my experience is that the actual response of the audience is "sweetened" with canned laughter and that the mix is usually about 40% real and 60% canned. I have a very distinctive laugh and can thus recognize myself on the soundtrack, and I remember jokes that only got light laughter suddenly sounding full when the show aired, with my guffaw surrounded by a sea of laughter that wasn't there live. However, the "real" response was always used as a foundation for the sweetening, much like a basic track is then added to with overdubs in the recording industry.