| | |

Understanding jokes, comedy and phrasal verbs


Hello, I’m Jane at DailyStep English.

Understanding English jokes and humour will help you make friends and do business.

So, let’s start today, with Brendan’s new video. Also, in next week’s Level 5 Lessons you can learn more about English humour.

But first, can you understand these jokes?


Host: Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Harry Hilarious. He is here to tell you his hilarious jokes. Give him a big round of applause. (sound of clapping)


Harry Hilarious:  Good evening ladies and gentlemen. What a lovely audience and what a great venue. This is the kind of place you play twice in your career, once on the way up and once on the way down. It’s great to be back folks! (sound of laughter) I used to work as a teacher in a school and one day a pupil said to me ‘Sir, sir my pen has run out’, and I said ‘well, you’d better run after it.’ (sound of people laughing)

 

 

Why is it funny?   By Jane Lawson at DailyStep.com


Let’s take a look at the jokes that Harry uses in his comedy show:


Joke 1: ‘This is the kind of place you play twice in your career, once on the way up and once on the way down. It’s great to be back folks!’


Here, Harry is suggesting that his career is in decline because he is returning to a venue where he appeared  before he became successful enough to appear in bigger venues.

This is a classic comedy technique, where the comedian laughs at himself.



Joke 2: ‘I used to work as a teacher in a school and one day a pupil said to me ‘Sir, sir my pen has run out’, and I said ‘Well, you’d better run after it.’


This is a very common type of joke in English, using a double meaning.  In this case, the joke uses 2 meanings of: RUN OUT


Meaning 1:if a supply of something runs out, there is no more remaining because it has all been used.

(
note: here, RUN OUT is a phrasal verb because it has a completely new meaning from the literal meanings of RUN and OUT.)


‘My pen has run out’  means ‘My pen has no more ink, because all the ink has been used.’


We can also say ‘My pen has run out of ink’, or ‘My car has run out of petrol’.


Meaning 2: to exit by running


(note: this is not a phrasal verb because it uses the literal meanings of both RUN and OUT. So, here, RUN OUT is a verb + a preposition.)


Here, the teacher deliberately misunderstands the pupil by imagining that the pupil’s pen has legs and has run out of the classroom.’


So,  ‘My pen has run out’ could mean ‘My pen has run out of the room.’


When the teacher says ‘You’d better run after it’, in other words ‘You had better chase it,’, he uses a common comedy technique of answering wrongly based on  a double meaning.

.


Subscription Form (#5)


If you enjoyed my Audio Blog, please share it. Thank you 🙂

How to speak English fluently and understand fast English


DailyStep English Audio Lessons are designed to help you learn to speak and understand English at the speed that we speak it.

No matter how good your English is, you need to be able to follow a fast conversation in order to participate.

DailyStep English courses are fully accredited and you can get an internationally-recognised certificate for your CV or resume.

How to use your lessons:

How to slow the audio:

How to Start Daily Audio Lessons

✔   Daily Audio Lessons +  Premium Audio in my Blog Library
✔   Your lessons never expire – you can take them again any time
✔   
Change your level any time
✔   
100% happy or your money back!


.

.

If you like this, please share it. Thank you :)

Similar Posts