We start shooting our new "2 Broke Messy Girls" series this weekend with Vika and Penelope. Had one question, should we add a laugh track to the shoots?
Personally, I'm not a fan of the idea, but you could always see how it sounds to you and others with an edited clip or two (though I imagine that would be rather time consuming for you).
If the laughter occurs when someone gets pied or slimed then personally I would love that, as it ups the humiliation factor. We hear the audience finding it funny that someone is humiliated by being pied or slimed.
I'd have to say no, for me personally and my tastes - and what i like about Messygirls in general. I think there's a style of comedy that would call for it (Rich has done some of this at SS for example), but I feel like what you do generally works best without it.
However, if the performances are arch enough that they feel like they're almost going for that kind of "on the nose", ba-dump-bump delivery of a sitcom, maybe it would enhance?
I just know that the bulk of the MG videos i've seen blend specific lines of dialogue with a fair amount of organic, mutual sensuality.
So i guess, depends on how deep/letter-perfect you're going for with the 2 Broke Girls homage. But my mind says: deliver the girls and their bodies/personalities in those waitress uniforms, and kind of let the magic take over.
MG. One of your great strengths is going all out for niches. And effectively making separate series of media for each one with little compromise other than broadly following your house style. You know you will capture that part of the audience completely, even if you temporarily alienate others. Maybe this is just such an occasion when it's worth doing. Much of the audience doesn't like having this imposed on them (like music) but I think the laughter track is inherent within this particular trope: the sitcom spoof. Many will find it evocative of either, humiliation - or simply the kind of slapstick that you are parodying - but with mess to the extreme. That audience will go for it big time! If it doesn't work, as others suggest - you issue an edit without the laughter track.
I have to agree with a couple of the other posters; the laughing can add to the humiliation. Also, it can definitely fit in with the sitcom parody.
For example: the first time the laugh track would be added, the two ladies can look kind of disbelievingly at the camera. After a couple of times, one could say to the other, "Where did all those people come from?" It's obvious to *us* that there's no audience, so I think it would be funny to kind of "mock" the laugh track! (After she asks where all the people came from, there could be uproarious laughter! )
Love you, too
