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Cringe comedy
Cringe comedy, also called cringe humor, is a TV and film comedy genre evoking amusement plus vicarious embarrassment, exemplified by The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Peep Show, and Nathan for You, typically in mockumentary form.
Laugh track
Laugh track: recorded or canned laughter added to TV and radio comedy so it sounds like an audience is laughing. Invented by Charley Douglass's Laff Box; first used on The Hank McCune Show, NBC, September 9, 1950; meta-analysis shows positive effect on viewers (r = .391).
Sitcom
Sitcom (situation comedy): episodic TV comedy with a fixed cast and setting, from radio-era origins and I Love Lucy's multi-camera live-audience format to single-camera shows like The Office and Modern Family.