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Views #686 | Intermediate 5

Cool Comedians

Ken and Wendi talk about famous comedians in the United States.

Script
Vocab
Quiz


Ken	Wendi

Wendi: Alright, we've been watching some comedy lately. I wanna know who your favorite comic is?

Ken: My favorite comic? It's a draw between Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock.

Wendi: Is Chris Rock really like, is he still doing something?

Ken: No, he really hasn't done anything recently, but still like, yeah, he's pretty, a pretty funny guy.

Wendi: He it totally funny.

Ken: He's hard to top.

Wendi: When is the last time he was totally working a lot, though?

Ken: It's gotta be maybe five years ago.

Wendi: Yeah, it's been awhile.

Ken: Yeah. Now he's like... I don't even know what he does anymore. Maybe he's an actor now.

Wendi: He's flipping burgers.

Ken: Yeah, he has to feed his family.

Wendi: Yeah, what about Dave Chappele? What's his deal? He's kind of?

Ken: Dave Chapelle?

Wendi: He's still working?

Ken: Yeah. Maybe. He was really popular a couple of years ago when he was doing the Chapelle Show, a couple of his stand-ups came out, but...

Wendi: Is that finished?

Ken: He...which?

Wendi: The Chappelle Show.

Ken: It's taking a break or something. What I heard was that he went crazy and he like checked himself into an insane asylum.

Wendi: For serious. For real.

Ken: Like all the pressure from work was getting to him and stuff. Like he just wanted break.

Wendi: That's so amazing.

Ken: Or he ran off to Africa or something.

Wendi: You know what, that is just incredible because, it's like you know, the whole grass is greener concept. It's like, you think if you're a comedian and you're making people laugh all day and you're on stage and you're laughing too that you're probably having fun but at the end of the day, I guess work's work.

Ken: Yeah, work's work and he was doing, like he mentioned in stand-up he was working maybe 16, 18, 20 hours a day.

Wendi: Really!

Ken: Yeah, so even like hard to study...

Wendi: What was he doing for 20 hours a day?

Ken: Uh, like just doing his show. Like I guess it takes a lot of preparation and...

Wendi: That's crazy.

Ken: Even with all the help in the world, I guess he's still, you know, you have to make it quality, so it takes time and effort.

Wendi: Yeah.

Ken: So, even if it is comedy, it might not be fun twenty hours a day.

Wendi: I guess that's like the funny thing, you just think if someone's a comedian, it just all comes naturally. It's like it all just comes spur of the moment, but I guess the real thing is that a lot of work goes into it.

Ken: Yeah, I think so. Like to be creative on a consistent basis is probably isn't the easiest thing in the world.

Wendi: Yeah. I think so. It sure is for me anyways.

Wendi: Are you a Seinfeild fan?

Ken: Seinfeild...

Wendi: Not really. I'm reading your body language.

Ken: No, I did watch a few episodes, here and there, when it was on TV and I was bored, but...

Wendi: You're not a big fan?

Ken: Like I started watching it after the show ended like you know when everybody was watching the season finale, like I had never really regularly watched the show and I didn't even catch the season finale, but so, me friends were like, "Did you watch it? Did you watch it?" and I'm like, "No."

Wendi: I think it's brilliant. I think it's incredibly brilliant.

Ken: Yeah, it's a good show.

Wendi: Yeah.

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

a draw between

It's a draw between Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock, if you ask who my favorite comic is.

When there is a 'draw' between two competitors, it means that they are equal or even in terms of points. It's the same as saying there is a tie. Notice the following:

For my favorite place that I've been, it's a draw between Greece and Turkey.
The best kind of food is a draw between Indian and Thai.

hard to top

Chris Rock is totally funny and he's hard to top.

'Hard to top' means difficult to beat or conquer. Ken is saying that it is difficult to be funnier than Chris Rock. Notice the following:

Whitney Houston's singing voice was hard to top.
It's hard to top some of the Will Ferrell movies.

flipping burgers

I don't know what he does anymore, if he's an actor now or he's flipping burgers.

'Flipping burgers' is an informal way to say that someone is working at a fast food restaurant. It can also be used to mean 'cooking hamburgers.' Notice the following:

He flipped burgers at McDonald's all through high school.
I never thought I would be 24 years old and still flipping burgers.

stand-up

When he was doing the Chapelle Show, a couple of his stand-ups came out.

For comics, a 'stand-up' is a comic act that they do in front of an audience. Notice the following:

Do you ever go to see stand-up comedy?
The stand-up he did when he was really young is the best.

the grass is greener

It's like the whole grass is greener concept, where you have to work really hard.

'The grass is greener' is used to say that you always want what you don't have. Even if your life is pretty perfect, you can look at someone else's life and think that it is better than yours, then if you work hard to get what they have, you will want something else. Notice the following:

You have a beautiful house and a good job. It's a grass is greener situation, because you would never really want his life.
Many people think they would like to be celebrities, because they would like to be rich. I think it's kind of a grass is greener situation.

Answer these questions about the interview.