A laugh track (a.k.a. canned laughter, laughter track, fake laughter) is a separate soundtrack with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows. It was invented by American sound engineer Charles "Charley" Douglass.

Prior to television, audiences often experienced comedy—whether performed live on stage, on radio, or in a movie—in the presence of other audience members. Later, radio and early television producers attempted to recreate this atmosphere by introducing the sound of laughter or other crowd reactions into the soundtrack.

In 1946, Jack Mullin had brought a Magnetophon magnetic tape recorder back from Radio Frankfurt, along with 50 reels of tape (it was one of the magnetic tape recorders that BASF and AEG had built in Germany starting in 1935). The 6.5mm tape could record 20 minutes per reel of high-quality analog audio sound; Alexander M. Poniatoff then ordered his Ampex company to manufacture an improved version of the Magnetophon for use in radio production.Bing Crosby eventually adopted the technology to pre-record his radio show to both avoid having to do it live as well as performing it again for West Coast audiences.

Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom, starring Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton. It originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996 to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff. The main characters on the show are also loosely based on Romano's and Rosenthal's real-life family members.

The show reruns in syndication on different channels such as TBS, TV Land, and in most TV markets on local stations. From 2000 to 2007, KingWorld distributed the show for off-network syndication. In 2008, CBS Television Distribution took over King World's distribution, although its logo is retained on TBS. CBS only owns American syndication rights; ancillary rights are controlled by HBO and Warner Bros. Television (WBTV distributes the series outside the US in conjunction with HBO; while HBO Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video own DVD rights worldwide).

The show revolves around the life of Italian-American Raymond Barone, a newspaper sportswriter for Newsday living with his family in Lynbrook, Long Island, New York. Whiny and flippant, Raymond does not take many things seriously, making jokes in nearly every situation, no matter how troubling or problematic, and constantly avoiding any sort of real responsibility.