Sometimes the internet is more than just the destroyer of all civilization. Sometimes it gives us moments of pure beauty, like this clip of Friends where the laugh track has been completely replaced by Seth Rogen. Hear Rogen’s distinctive laugh—so hearty, so forced—after every wisecrack and putdown from the Friends. His laugh is like the warm, soft embrace of a (probably hungover) mall Santa, so innocent and yet so artificial, and it’s a beautiful counterpoint to the comforting nostalgia of Friends. Actually though it just underlines how obnoxious the rhythms and rat-a-tat punchlines of traditional sitcoms can be by punctuating every would-be joke with Rogen’s annoying and insincere braying. This is the show that dominated TV for a decade, that left a permanent impact upon the culture, and we as a people need to finally come to grips with what that says about us, this video implicitly makes us realize. Or shit, maybe it’s just funny to see and hear two things that don’t belong together like this. All I know is that this short video makes me laugh and also makes me a little sad, although the second thing is probably just the inescapable product of existing in the present day. I guess let’s try to forget the world around us and escape into a shimmering fantasy land where the audience for every episode of Friends is Seth Rogen, alone, laughing uproariously at the clockwork hackery of the most American and most ‘90s sitcom of them all.
Thank you, @rorystrahanmauk, for making this dream a reality.
changed the laugh track in friends to seth rogen pic.twitter.com/OEDfoeETeB
— seth rogen go on thot police (@rorystrahanmauk) July 13, 2018