Old Spoofs of TV Series - why was the name often changed?

What was the alternative, a dead studio audience?

Bob Monkhouse's classic line, "what do they mean 'live dancing girls' on showbills - as opposed to what? Stiffs on a piece of elastic?"

The mind boggles!

I've managed to shoehorn that tail end of that line into squillions of conversations over the years.

Heaven alone knows how.

The old ones are the best ones, as they say...

I have noticed the quieter laugh tracks on later M*A*S*H* series on the Paramount re-runs. I wonder how many 50s and 60s American comedies were filmed before a live audience? This would be an interesting one to find out.

http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/07/can-canned-laughter.html Ken Levine was head writer for a few seasons of M*A*S*H this is his take on laughter tracks.

Cheers for the link - there are some interesting facts on this blog! I wonder if there really were many more American sitcoms that were filmed before a live audience.