So funny that you said this - we just noticed the same thing! We were just talking about hearing him laugh in the background.Then I went and read your comment! 😆
I have all this on DVD and was watching this episode and heard that laugh and thought Desi was off screen watching with the audience and was laughing along with them. Never mistaken that laugh!
I love how the audience is going hysterical when she says Martha the 4th time and he approaches her with that pie. That really enhanced the comedy of the scene. I Love Lucy audiences were great throughout the run. In one of the Connecticut episodes they laughed for 65 seconds when Lucy did the tango and got eggs cracked all over her. And when she poured hot plaster on Ricky for "hair restoration" they went, "Ohhhhhhhhbhhh!!!!!!!" as Ricky shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?!" Just made the great comedy all the better.
It was Desi who came up with the three camera system for filming the episodes and for there to be a live audience because he knew Lucille performed better in front of a live audience. Desi Arnaz was a genius when it came to this stuff. Most people don't know how much this dynamic husband and wife team changed how television was filmed.
This is an old vaudeville/burlesque sketch, and it's followed almost verbatim. Frank Scannell (who played the bum) had some vaudeville experience, and he and Ball recreated the scene very well.
