canned laughter

Idioms and Phrases

Also, canned music . Prerecorded sound effects that can be played repeatedly, as in That canned laughter doesn't make his jokes any funnier , or Canned music is greatly reducing the number of musical jobs available . O. Henry had the term in his story, Cabbages and Kings (1903): “We'll export canned music to the Latins.” Canned laughter today is often used in broadcasting to simulate the reaction of a nonexistent live audience. [c. 1900]