Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Do you like to tell jokes? If so, have you ever thought about getting up on the stage at a comedy club and performing in front of an audience as a stand-up comedian? It must be a really stressful experience. Either you’ll tell some great one-liners that have the audience roaring, or your duds will fill the room with silence. Many of today’s most popular comedians, such as Jay Leno, Woody Allen, and Jerry Seinfeld, started out as stand-ups.
One of the most exciting things about seeing a comedian perform live can be that question of whether the stand-up’s jokes will succeed or fall flat. It’s just not the same when you’re listening to a comedy recording or watching a video. Find out what Greta and Mason think about stand-up comedy in this comedy English lesson.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Greta: Hey, do you like stand-up comedy?
Mason: I do like stand-up comedy.
Greta: Really? Well, one of the new things that stand-up comedians are doing is putting together festivals, which are weekend-long giant events where all these stand-up comedians will descend on a city, and it’s sort of like a smorgasbord of stand-up comedy. Have you ever been to one of those?
Mason: You know, I haven’t, but it sounds great, because I don’t really like comedy clubs. For as much as I like stand-up comedy, I find that the places who host it are generally terrible.
Greta: Yeah, that’s true. I prefer seeing comedy live to watching it recorded, like on TV, but you’re absolutely right about comedy clubs.
Mason: I totally agree with the live thing, because I find when they’re doing more recorded specials, that’s all the polished material. They’ve already honed all of those jokes. You don’t get any of those candid moments when they just throw out some one-liner, kind of off the cuff.
Greta: That’s true. And you also don’t get those moments where a comedian you really like has such a dud of a joke. And it’s kind of fun to see somebody try something and fail at it and try something else.
Mason: Yup.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Present Perfect Tense" from this lesson 
Quizzes
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Discussion
Greta and Mason both like stand-up comedy. That means they both enjoy hearing comedians stand up and tell jokes to an audience. Greta’s excited because she wants to go to a comedy festival, which is an event where many comedians come to a city and perform all over town.
Mason thinks this sounds good, because maybe all the performances won’t be in comedy clubs. He likes comedy, but he often doesn’t like comedy clubs. This is hard for him because he still prefers live comedy to recorded comedy.
Greta feels the same way. She likes that when you see a comedian perform live, you can see them a little less rehearsed. That might result in some great jokes, and also some duds. Either way, it shows that even a funny comedian can fall flat sometimes.
Do you like stand-up comedy? Who is your favorite comedian? Who is the funniest person you know?
Comments
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Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
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Chile |
In chile is common to watch stand comedy in television, It has a programa called “el club de la comedia”, it’s very good and funny
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Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
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China |
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Qatar |
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Egypt |
I love comedians much, in addition to improvisation; either live or not I prefer off the cuff more than written one. I’m not bold enough to up on a stage and represent a live show wherever, on the other hand I adore one-liners with my friends, Laugh heartly!!!!!!!!! I have a friend who really fills our school days, trips, everywhere we go with hysterical laughing. It’s a talent to make someone laughs from the heart! Guys, Do you know how many face muscles move, when you smile? And how many body muscles move, when you laugh? How many calories you burn ,when you laugh? Do you have any idea that only laugh which can do a sport for some of your face muscles? Really ,really if you know ,you won’t stop laughing!! |
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Spain |
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China |
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Japan |
I think it’s in person’s blood to be a stand up comedian. It involves many aspects like gestures, the tone of the voice, the timing of the joke ( when is the best time to throw a punchline, in order to be more effective) and even on-the-spur-of the-moment actions. The stand-up comedian is in the groove with the audience, sort of feel it how to present more effectively.. It’s one of the thing that kind of inherited, othewise get the job as an undertaker :)
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India |
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Syrian Arab Republic |
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Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
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Spain |
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Hong Kong |
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