I am not a fan of The Big Bang Theory by any means, but removing the laugh track on any show will make the jokes less funny due to the pacing for edits. They hold on shots longer to add in laughs... this makes for long uncomfortable silences when laughter is removed. And timing is very important in comedy.
If someone removes the laugh track, they should also remove the long silences to give it a better chance. I don't think it would help TBBT much for me, but comedy is subjective.
You are partially correct. The pacing is a thing, for sure.
But if you do watch those videos there are plenty of non-joke pauses for laughs. I can recall one where one of the guys walks up to the others sitting in the cafeteria and says "hey guys"... pause for laughs. He wasn't dressed funny, he wasn't doing anything odd, just... "time to laugh, I guess".
IMO, canned laughs are the tool of those that aren't really that good at writing comedy.
I'm not saying this is what they or other shows do, but just saying it was filmed before a live audience does not necessarily mean that it's the sound of that live audience that makes it to the broadcast product. Easy enough to add a laugh track to augment or even completely replace the sound of a live audience.
EDIT - in fact there's even a name for it - Sweetening
Well, in the case of BBT that’s specifically what the article says - the sound of laughter on set is the audience. But yes historically laugh tracks were used to replicate that. And for a long time most people didn’t know it was a laugh track.
It wasn't "just" the audience. Sweetening enhances the laughing - it doesn't replace it.
I always thought of it this way. You see fun videos of sitcom outtakes, everyone is having fun on set. This means multiple takes. How hard would you imagine it is for an audience member, on the 15th take, to laugh? Sweetening.