Night Court : 'The Laugh'

'The Laugh'

Anyone notice the signature laugh periodically during the show? I'm not talking about the closing credits laugh by Weege, the one during the show itself.

I've noticed what sounds like two signature laughs, one's a loud guffaw that drowns out those of the studio audience (it's more like just two or perhaps three really loud outbursts), the other sounds like more of a penguin-esque cackle. Not as loud as the guffaw but definitely unique, standing out from the others.

On a side note I noticed Seinfeld has one, again periodically and largely with Kramer, but this one (or two) in Night Court really stand out. I'm guessing at least one might be Weege himself but I'm not sure how believable it would be for a show's creator/producer to do that during a show taping. That second penguiny laugh I'm not sure but it does sound different. Wondering if anyone noticed these, and who the other laugh might be.

Considering these are prominent in Night Court and Seinfeld, I was wondering how common it is for shows to include a signature laugh. Maybe a laugh track they insert post-taping? I dunno.

Re: 'The Laugh'

I don't know about this one, but the one during Seinfeld that you're likely referencing is Larry David. He was usually sitting and standing a little closer to mics and didn't hold back when a scene made him laugh. This may be a similar case and not entirely on purpose.

Re: 'The Laugh'

I always thought it was Harry Anderson supplying that particular laugh, as it sounds very similar to his voice....

Re: 'The Laugh'

mean at the end of the show when it shows warner bros logo

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Me too I noticed that a few weeks ago when I was watching the show that the laugh sound a lot like Harry.

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OMG, thank you for mentioning this! I thought I was the only one who noticed this. There is definitely someone on the set whose distinct laugh you can hear consistently throughout the entire run of the series. You say there are two laughs, but I've only ever heard the one distinct laugh, so I know exactly what you're talking about. I have always wondered about that.


Considering these are prominent in Night Court and Seinfeld, I was wondering how common it is for shows to include a signature laugh.


I don't think it's all that common, but it does happen more often than people think, and no, I don't think they're "inserted" into the show. Most of the time, it's from someone who was either on the set or in the audience legitimately laughing along with the audience.

Three more examples I can think of right off the bat are Married with Children, Monty Python and Fawlty Towers. With WMC, there were three distinct laughs, I think. One was from the laugh track. One was from an audience member, a woman with a throaty, smoker's laugh, and the last one was from Amanda Bearse (who played Marcie) in the last few seasons of the show. You can sometimes hear her chipmunk laugh in the background of the episodes she directed.

The Monty Python one really drives me up the wall because it not only gets louder with every new season, it carries over onto John Cleese's show, Fawlty Towers. To date, there's no information as to who this person was, although you can hear his distinct laugh throughout the entire run of both Monty Python and Fawlty Towers.

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IM wodering who is the woman screaming when somebody mentions strip search lol

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Yes! I've noticed it, too....I thought I was the only one. It's very loud and deep and it stands out markedly against the other laughs in the audience.

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Another series with one of those distinct laughs in several episodes is Taxi. Anyone know which one I'm talking about? I'm not a vocal expert so I can't describe technically what it sounds like (guffaw, etc.), but it sounds to me almost like a seal bark. It almost always comes in pairs and usually right as the main audience laughter is dying down, so it really sticks out. My brother and I noticed it so long ago and have re-watched the episodes so many times that they almost wouldn't be the same without it. They would lose some of their Taxi-ness.

Re: 'The Laugh'

It's from Chuck Weege, his father.
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