Talking about laughing

Introduction Georgie and Phil have a real conversation in easy English about laughing – what we do when we find someone or something funny. Learn to talk about jokes, sitcoms and stand-up comedians. Vocabulary comedy entertainment, like a film, TV show, book or stage play, that is funny sitcom TV series with the same characters appearing each week in different situations; a situational comedy joke a funny story, comment or trick stand-up comedy entertainment where a comedian stands on stage and tells jokes or funny stories to an audience Transcript Georgie Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. We are back with another conversation in easy English to help you learn. I'm Georgie.   Phil And I'm Phil. And you can find a video version of this podcast with subtitles to help you learn on our website. That's bbclearningenglish.com.   Georgie Hi Phil, how are you doing?   Phil I'm doing very well. How are you doing, Georgie?   Georgie I'm pretty good, thank you, Phil. Phil, today's topic is what makes us laugh. So, things that are funny.   Phil Ah, that's such a great topic! And what makes you laugh, Georgie?   Georgie Lots of things make me laugh. I have a terrible habit of scrolling on TikTok and I love funny videos. So, animals doing silly things, people doing silly things. Yeah, that makes me laugh a lot. What about you?   Phil Oh, I think similar – social media things can be very funny and particularly the ones that you see a lot. I like watching funny things on TV, so maybe if you've got a sitcom where there's, like, a story or a situation and it's… funny things happen and there's jokes. But sometimes also, like, stand-up comedy, where it's just one person standing up telling jokes and... because if they're really good at it, it's really funny.   Georgie Mmm... true. When people are funny, it's just really good to have them around. I love it when people let their strange and weird side come out, so they might do some silly impressions, act strangely, do funny voices – that makes me laugh a lot. We have a few people in the office that make me laugh.   Phil Mmm.. yeah. Do you find your family funny? Because I find my family very funny. When we get together, we laugh a lot about strange things, probably that... probably other people wouldn't laugh at, but we do because we, kind of, know each other. Do you find the same?   Georgie Yeah, it's... My family – I wouldn't say they're funny people, or I wouldn't describe them like that, but I still laugh at them, particularly my dad, because he can be very strange and funny, and my sister and I often laugh at the things he does. But yeah, it's really nice to laugh with family, isn't it?   Phil Yes, yes. Do you like to laugh often?   Georgie Doesn't everyone? Everyone loves to laugh! It makes the day go quicker. It's always good to smile. I think it releases good hormones – dopamine and things like that. And that makes us happy.   Phil Yes, yeah. Yeah, I love laughing. I love having a reason to laugh.   Georgie Mmm. Do you... Would you describe yourself as a funny person?   Phil Erm... I don't know. I'm not the best judge. My children would say no!   Georgie You make me laugh, Phil, sometimes. I would... I would say you're a funny person.   Phil Thank you, thank you. That's good. I don't think my kids would agree! OK. So, Georgie, do you like making other people laugh? How do you do it? Georgie Oh, I love making other people laugh! I'm not sure I... I'm the funniest person, but I sometimes put on silly voices or do weird things. I don't know. And I also like to send people funny videos, because if I find them funny, I want to share them with other people.   Phil You're very good at finding funny videos, Georgie. I've seen lots of them!   Georgie Yes. OK. Let's recap the language we heard during the conversation, starting with comedy – this is something like a film, TV programme or book that is funny on purpose.   Phil A sitcom is a funny TV series with the same characters every week. So, for example, Friends is a popular sitcom.   Georgie We also had joke, which is a funny story, comment or trick that makes people laugh.   Phil And we also talked about stand-up comedy, which is where a funny person, a comedian, stands up on stage and tells everyone jokes.   Georgie That's it for this episode of Real Easy English. Go to our website to find the free worksheet to test what you've learned. Go to bbclearningenglish.com.   Phil And we'll be back next week with another Real Easy English conversation. Bye for now!   Georgie Goodbye! Now try this... Watch The London Letter Challenge. Download a free worksheet. Discover more programmes for your level.  Find all our latest programmes.