ESL Podcast 242 – The Comedy Club

On Friday night, I went with a group of friends from work to a comedy club. I don’t really like sketch¹ comedy, but I do like stand- up, and the comedian² who was going to perform there was one of my favorites.

There were six of us and we were a pretty rowdy group. We stood in line outside, and when we got to the box office window, we paid the cover charge. The hostess showed us to a table right next to the stage and told us that there was a two-drink minimum³. She took our drink orders and we waited for the opening act.

The first comic told a lot of political jokes and most of them fell flat. In fact, some of the people seated in the back started to boo him and he got off the stage pretty quickly. The MC came out and tried to get the hecklers to calm down by telling a few jokes of his own, and that did the trick.

The headliner finally came out and the crowd went crazy, clapping and cheering. He did some very funny improv and had us rolling in the aisles⁴. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard!


Script⁵ by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 minimum   

adj.最低的，最小的；n.最小量，最低限度

参考例句：

• What is the minimum price?最低价是多少？
• Today's minimum temperature is 10℃.今天的最低气温是10℃。

4 aisles   

n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊

参考例句：

• Aisles were added to the original Saxon building in the Norman period. 在诺曼时期，原来的萨克森风格的建筑物都增添了走廊。
• They walked about the Abbey aisles, and presently sat down. 他们走到大教堂的走廊附近，并且很快就坐了下来。

5 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。