Songfacts®:

• "Laugh Track" is a song concerning love on the edge of a cliff. Matt Berninger and guest vocalist Phoebe Bridgers share their feelings of vulnerability and emotional turmoil about their crumbling romance.
  
  "Her voice is the soft edge of the song," said Beringer of his duet partner. "It takes some of the snarky, sarcastic bitterness out of it and makes it sweet and gentle."
• Berninger confesses his demons in the first verse and then recognizes her pain in the second. Bridgers joins him in the third verse, and together they reflect for the rest of the song on their rapid descent into meltdown.
  
  The title comes from the hook where Berninger and Bridgers factiously suggest adding some canned laughter to the gloomy scene. They admit it's a hopeless fix and later Bridgers doubts if they were ever genuinely happy from the start.
• Matt Berninger wrote the song with The National multi-instrumentalist Aaron Dessner, also known for his work with Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
• This is The National's third collaboration with Bridgers' following her vocal contributions to the First Two Pages of Frankenstein tracks, "Your Mind Is Not Your Friend" and "This Isn't Helping."
  
  "Years ago, we toured a lot together and got to know her really well," Dessner told Apple Music of Bridgers. "I think she really is a fan of Matt's writing and I think that song in particular Matt felt like she would embody the weird mix of dread and humor and just beauty that's in there."
• The song is the title track of The National's 10th album. Laugh Track was mostly written and recorded alongside their earlier 2023 album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein.
• The London Contemporary Orchestra plays the strings orchestrated by Bryce Dessner, The National's guitarist. They've performed on several other The National songs, including the singles "Weird Goodbyes" and "Space Invader."
• Bernard Derriman directed the animated video. Australian animator, director, and producer Derriman is known for working on the animated sitcom Bob's Burgers and co-directing its animated feature film.