Phoebe is the only character I feel “gets it” when I see the show on. Her performance is probably the strongest candidate for one that can hold up to modern scrutiny.
And it’s not like the others are doing a bad job. They are doing what they are supposed to (and more) and they do a good job of it. But there’s just something about the way she is written combined with the performance she brings to the table that makes her stand out to me
People on Reddit used to always share that clip of friends without the laugh track to show it wasn’t funny, so I’m assuming you’re referring to that. Honestly, it’s a completely dishonest representation of the show, and I say that as somebody who doesn’t particularly care for it. It’s a cultural touchstone, it’s a funny snapshot of a very specific time period, but a lot of the humor has aged like milk and even in its prime I found it too shlocky.
All that being said: The jokes are written with the laugh track in mind. The writers are not all hacks, you have simply removed a element of the joke that they are expecting to be there. That’s just as bad as pulling all character reactions when somebody says something in a show. The audience is represented by the laugh track and it’s a cue, but again, it’s expected. Then someone pulls it from a random scene and goes “see it’s trash!”
Call it lazy, call it trite, whatever, but if you remove the laugh track from any show that features one then it will 99% of the time suddenly stop being funny. It would be like removing Ron Howard’s narration from arrested development and pointing out how everybody just stands around randomly for a few seconds.
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It’s funnier than Big Bang Theory, well Pheobe is.
Getting kicked in the balls is funnier than the Big Bang Theory.
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Phoebe is the only character I feel “gets it” when I see the show on. Her performance is probably the strongest candidate for one that can hold up to modern scrutiny.
And it’s not like the others are doing a bad job. They are doing what they are supposed to (and more) and they do a good job of it. But there’s just something about the way she is written combined with the performance she brings to the table that makes her stand out to me
People on Reddit used to always share that clip of friends without the laugh track to show it wasn’t funny, so I’m assuming you’re referring to that. Honestly, it’s a completely dishonest representation of the show, and I say that as somebody who doesn’t particularly care for it. It’s a cultural touchstone, it’s a funny snapshot of a very specific time period, but a lot of the humor has aged like milk and even in its prime I found it too shlocky.
All that being said: The jokes are written with the laugh track in mind. The writers are not all hacks, you have simply removed a element of the joke that they are expecting to be there. That’s just as bad as pulling all character reactions when somebody says something in a show. The audience is represented by the laugh track and it’s a cue, but again, it’s expected. Then someone pulls it from a random scene and goes “see it’s trash!”
Call it lazy, call it trite, whatever, but if you remove the laugh track from any show that features one then it will 99% of the time suddenly stop being funny. It would be like removing Ron Howard’s narration from arrested development and pointing out how everybody just stands around randomly for a few seconds.