To modern audiences, the laugh track -- that cheesy pre-recorded laughter you hear in old sitcoms -- is a real head-shaker. But stranger than the existence of the laugh track is the fact that during its apex in the 60's, one man was responsible for it. Not only that, he built a special machine specifically for the dispensing of canned guffaws: the laff box.

The biggest reason the laugh track caught on was simply because historically, live audiences could not be relied upon to laugh at the correct moment. Other times, the audiences could laugh too long or too loud, sounding unnatural and forced or throwing off the performers' rhythms.

CBS sound engineer Charley Douglass noticed these, as he put it, "God-awful" responses, and took it upon himself to remedy the situation. If a joke did not get the desired chuckle, Douglass inserted additional laughter.

Douglass eventually spent countless hours extracting laughter, applause, and other reactions (right down to people moving around in their seats) from live soundtracks he had recorded (mainly from the dialogue-less The Red Skelton Show) and then placed the recorded sounds into a huge tape machine, dubbed the "laff box"...

The one-of-a-kind device was tightly secured with padlocks, stood more than two feet tall, and operated like an organ. Douglass used a keyboard to select the style, gender and age of the laugh as well as a foot pedal to time the length of the reaction. Inside the padlocked concoction was an array of recorded chuckles, yocks, and belly laughs; exactly 320 laughs on 32 tape loops, 10 to a loop. Each loop contained 10 individual audience laughs spliced end-to-end, whirling around simultaneously waiting to be cued up.

From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Charley Douglass had a monopoly on the expensive and painstaking "laff" business. By 1960, nearly every prime time show in America was "sweetened" by Douglass’ laff box.

Full disclosure: This is one of my husband's projects.  But, I should note that I was actually a fan of Sappycards before I even knew Tim. I bought my first Sappycard in 2003.  About three months ago, he showed me the ideas for his latest series, deciding whether or not to print them. I agreed, hands down, that it was worth the investment.

I really love this project - the cards' simplicity, the slight sick and awkward humor, and the overall design (this series features mailpiece security screens on the backgrounds). Each series has its own color palate, the latest all in brown with white ink, and uses eco-friendly inks and papers.

Here are some favorites.

Congrats, Tim.

More here.

Thanks to Zero Hedge and Megan for altering us to some funny info design by Yanko Tsvetkov. Check out this sample of Tsvetkov's maps of Europe, and then don't fail to check out the rest.

Europe according to America

Europe according to France

Europe according to Italy

Europe according to Britain

Matthew Inman, the Seattle-based illustrator behind the always funny The Oatmeal has got a great new series about the good ("awesome") and the bad ("horrible") of working at home. I've excerpted two panels here; visit the original to see them all.

The Awesome

The Horrible

See more nifty icon design at iconwerk .

Imagine my dismay when I went to write this post and found the BlogLESS beards tag empty. Gladly, no one will suffer that from here on.

See more from Vanja here.

In case you have not yet caught David Thorne's recent design comedy, "yeah thats not what I was looking for" (or, Missing Missy), you are in for a treat. Read the attached teaser to whet your whistle, or head directly to 27\6 to read the whole thing.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster

Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.
Thanks Shan.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

That is shocking news. Luckily I was sitting down when I read your email and not half way up a ladder or tree. How are you holding up? I am surprised you managed to attend work at all what with thinking about Missy out there cold, frightened and alone... possibly lying on the side of the road, her back legs squashed by a vehicle, calling out "Shannon, where are you?"

Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Poster

yeah ok thanks. I know you dont like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

I never said I don't like cats. Once, having been invited to a party, I went clothes shopping beforehand and bought a pair of expensive G-Star boots. They were two sizes too small but I wanted them so badly I figured I could just wear them without socks and cut my toenails very short. As the party was only a few blocks from my place, I decided to walk. After the first block, I lost all feeling in my feet. Arriving at the party, I stumbled into a guy named Steven, spilling Malibu & coke onto his white Wham 'Choose Life' t-shirt, and he punched me. An hour or so after the incident, Steven sat down in a chair already occupied by a cat. The surprised cat clawed and snarled causing Steven to leap out of the chair, slip on a rug and strike his forehead onto the corner of a speaker; resulting in a two inch open gash. In its shock, the cat also defecated, leaving Steven with a wet brown stain down the back of his beige cargo pants. I liked that cat.

Attached poster as requested.

Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?

Hilarity ensues. Read the rest here. (Thanks to Caitlin and Megan for the heads up.)