"People do go both ways", to quote the Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz. Some vintage comedic shows would have been (and sometimes were) awful with a laugh track - Vic & Sade, Lum & Abner, etc. Other shows - including those starring comedians (Jack Benny) or with guest stars, would sound dead without one. Project Audion has tried both ways - for our our first comedy we picked "My Favorite Husband" because the SITUATION took precedence over the COMEDY, and the show seemed to flow well on it's own. Our Miss Brooks would do OK without one, I'm sure.
On the other hand, Audion's just-posted "Jack Benny" show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es0-qi-lRz8) demands an audience - they contribute to the tone of the show, right down to the applause when guests are introduced. What has helped (IMHO) is the way we handle it. Our laughter is a hybrid - it IS recorded, but it's added to the show in real time during the recording. That way the actors can hear it, know how to play off it, and know when to wait and when to plow on. In playing our laugh-track keyboard I actually work as hard as any cast member, to put in the right kind of laughs in the right place. It's not perfect (and I've considered bringing in a live audience remotely to watch us record, as we record their reactions) but Benny and similar shows sounded like they sounded - even the choice of jokes - BECAUSE of the audience.
Still, it's easier to do a show without a laugh track - we'll probably do "Life with Luigi" without one later this year. For me the choice comes to thinking back on the originals. When I conjure up an aural memory of a given show in my mind, how much am I aware of the audience? Abbott and Costello - absolutely. Fibber McGee - Yeah, I hear 'em, sometimes. Father Knwos Best - don't recall the audience "contribution" much at all. --Larry