Movies - TV
Seinfeld's Comedy Never Had To Lean On A Laugh Track
By ANYA STANLEY
"Seinfeld" is ostensibly about nothing, but looking back over its nine-season run reveals that the '90s American sitcom was everything. Where the typical process for comedy shows involves enhancing audience laughter in post-production, the minds behind "Seinfeld" muse that they never needed such augmentation.
"The Contest" is an episode that was sure to get plenty of laughs, but the episode is often cited as the show's most influential. The premise: George, Jerry, and Kramer bet $100 each, as well as Elaine, who had to put $150 due to the men's protests that it's easier for women to abstain, on who can hold out from masturbating the longest.
"We did not enhance laughs as a comedy usually does in the editing room or the finished mix of the show," said episode director Tom Cherones. "We ended up, over the years, taking out more laughs that covered lines than we did adding laughs," Cherones recalled, adding, "So it
was all real. It just happened."