The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper 'Laugh Tracks' returns By Michelle Ku It's bold, it's brash and it's back. In reruns for the past four years, Laugh Tracks is returning to the small screen with original material. At 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, a private screening of the latest episode will be held at De Anza College's Advanced Technology Center screening room. Laugh Tracks will begin its television run at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28 on Channel 15. Laugh Tracks, a cable-access television show, is a comedy revue in the same vein as Saturday Night Live. The show runs for 30 minutes and the skits are written and directed by the team of Jim Barrett and Brent Turner. "We're into clean comedy, but we push the edge," says Barrett, a co-creator of the show. One of the skits, called "The Nagging Network," is a parody of the popular 24-hour home shopping channels and the quirky ways men and women use to get what they want. It begins with a man whose wife is away. He's bored and flips through the TV channels until he finds one with a woman nagging. As he watches more, he gets happier and happier. It pokes fun at women, yet it shows how important and respected women are in the lives of men, Barrett says. Although the sneak preview is free, Laugh Tracks producers are asking for a minimum donation of $5. The money will be donated to Cupertino Community Services to support battered women and children. Barrett and Turner chose to give the money back to the community because tax dollars were used to purchase the equipment they utilized at De Anza College to create their show. The city is delighted to accept any money that will be raised, said Mayor Wally Dean. "It is a very generous offer from them to the community." Laugh Tracks typically holds fundraising screenings for new episodes because the producers create one show a year after spending eight to 10 months working on it. "A lot of the local access shows utilize the studios and shoot sitcom style," Turner says. "We go on location, shoot film style, and it probably takes five to 10 times longer, but the product is better." Barrett and Turner created Laugh Tracks in 1989. During the four years they worked on the show before discontinuing it in 1992 for personal reasons, the show earned six cable television awards. After the show won the national Hometown Award for entertainment, Comedy Central was interested in picking it up. "They were seriously considering us creating the show with them as producers," Turner says. "For whatever reason, they decided against it at the last minute. They ended up running our old shows." Barrett and Turner decided to resurrect the show because they felt the time was right. They enjoyed the format of Laugh Tracks and had developed a following, so they hired new cast members and began anew. Barrett and Turner create their own props and shoot on location throughout Northern California. "A lot of people have no idea how much work the behind-the-scenes and actual preparation take," Turner says. "Jim and I do up to 70 percent of everything, and then we have other people involved in other phases of production." Barrett and Turner plan to have the next episode completed in the spring. [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 20, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.