Shadowing Practice: Barack Obama Being Hilarious for 18 Minutes Straight! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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309 sentences
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1
How do you make Obama's eyes light up?
2
Shine a flashlight in his ears.
3
That's pretty good.
4
Love him or hate him, but there's one thing almost nobody disagrees on.
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Obama might be the funniest president in American history.
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I'm so in love with you.
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You know there's a Snapchat filter that gives you a flower crown?
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Of course I know that student.
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And here's 18 minutes of proof.
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I'm alright with the president wearing jeans.
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I'm not alright with the president wearing those jeans.
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Can I just say something?
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I think that's mean and I don't think there's anything wrong with the jeans you wear.
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Jimmy, I think they've got a point.
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For years, people questioned whether Obama was even born in America.
16
Rather than getting defensive about it, he turned the whole thing into a hilarious joke at a presidential dinner.
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Tonight, for the first time, I am releasing my official birth video.
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I want to make clear to the Fox News table, that was a joke.
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But he didn't stop there.
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He also made a hilarious video where he's trying to get his driver's license just like everyone else.
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And you can probably guess exactly where that goes.
22
44?
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Finally.
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So I'm gonna be in DC for a while and I thought I'd take up driving again.
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What's the name?
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Barack Hussein Obama.
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Yikes.
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Well, since you don't have a driver's license, you're gonna need a birth certificate.
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Really?
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Really.
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It's real. Is it?
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It's real.
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But is it?
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It all started after Donald Trump spent weeks saying Obama wasn't born in the US.
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At a 2011 dinner, Trump was sitting right in the audience, and Obama had prepared something specifically for him.
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What followed is one of the most talked about moments in the history of political comedy.
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Donald Trump is here tonight.
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Now, I know that he's taken some flack lately, but no one is happier,
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no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald.
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And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter.
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Like, did we fake the moon landing?
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What really happened in Roswell?
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And where are Biggie and Tupac?
44
Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House.
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Five years later, at the 2016 dinner, Obama couldn't resist doing it again.
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By then, Trump was actually running for president.
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You know I've gotta talk about Trump, although I am a little hurt that he's not here tonight.
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We had so much fun the last time.
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And it is surprising.
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You've got a room full of reporters, celebrities, cameras, and he says no. Is this dinner too tacky for the Donald?
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What could he possibly be doing instead?
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Is he at home eating a Trump steak?
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Tweeting out insults to Angela Merkel?
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What's he doing?
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Obama even pointed out that Trump didn't really have much experience dealing with foreign leaders.
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Well, at least not in the traditional sense.
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The Republican establishment is incredulous.
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They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be president.
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But in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world.
60
Miss Sweden.
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Miss Argentina.
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Miss Azerbaijan.
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And there's one area where Donald's experience could be invaluable,
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and that's closing Guantanamo because Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground.
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Obama was so confident back then about one specific thing regarding Trump's future.
66
Well, we all know how that one aged.
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I'll leave it to you to speculate on how this whole race is going to go.
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I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president.
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And the reason is because I have a lot of faith in the American people.
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And I think they recognize that being president is a serious job.
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A few moments later.
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Well, I just had the opportunity to have an excellent conversation with President -elect Trump.
73
Obama built a reputation for staying cool and calm no matter what was thrown at him.
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That calm eventually inspired a whole comedy character, an anger translator who says what the president is really thinking.
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It's just that I was hoping that...
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Well, that we could, I wanna make this clear, have a...
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Okay, uh, Luther, are you available to translate?
78
Yes, ma 'am.
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I was hoping we could spend some time together.
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When is the last time we had sex, woman?
81
Re -election night?
82
What does a brother not named Bill Clinton have to do to get some f* in this house?
83
But then Obama took it to the next level.
84
He actually invited Luther, the anger translator, to join him on stage at a real event, to express what he was really feeling.
85
What happened next was absolutely hilarious.
86
The non -stop focus on billionaire donors creates real problems for our democracy.
87
And that's why we're running for a third term!
88
No, no, we're not.
89
We're not?
90
Who the hell said that?!
91
And then Obama starts talking about climate change.
92
He gets more and more upset about it, which is exactly what the anger translator is there for.
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And what happens next between the two of them is absolutely priceless.
94
But we do need to stay focused on some big challenges, like climate change.
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Hey, listen y 'all, if you haven't noticed, California is bone dry.
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It looked like a trailer for the new Mad Max movie up in there.
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Instead of doing anything about it, we've got elected officials throwing snowballs in the Senate.
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Okay, okay, Mr. President, okay, I think I got it, bro.
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It is crazy.
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What about our kids?
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What kind of stupid, short -sighted, irresponsible bull?
102
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
103
Whoa, hey!
104
What?
105
Okay, no, hey.
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All due respect sir, you don't need an anger translator.
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You need counseling.
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I'm out of here man.
109
Quick pause before we keep going.
110
I just started this channel and I post two new videos every week.
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If you're enjoying this, do me a quick favor and hit subscribe.
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It really means a lot.
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I wish you liked better, these or these?
114
Joe, they're the same.
115
They capture different moves.
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Obama and Joe Biden weren't just working together.
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They were genuinely close friends.
118
But wait until you hear how he thanked Joe in his final speech.
119
I love Joe Biden.
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I really do.
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And I want to thank him for his friendship, for his counsel, for always giving it to me straight, for not shooting anybody in the face.
122
Thank you, Joe.
123
He also showed the actual method they used to keep drones out, And it's not exactly what you'd expect.
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Back here in our nation's capital, we're always dealing with new challenges.
125
I'm happy to report that the Secret Service, thanks to some excellent reporting by White House correspondents, they're really focusing on some of the issues that have come up.
126
Some of you know a few months ago a drone crash landed out back.
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That was pretty serious, but don't worry.
128
We've installed a new state -of -the -art security system.
129
Obama carried a BlackBerry long after the rest of the world moved on to smartphones.
130
So when he finally got upgraded to a proper presidential phone, you'd think that would be an improvement.
131
Turns out, a presidential phone isn't quite the same thing as the phone you or I carry around.
132
And what he could actually do with it will surprise you.
133
I was this cool high -tech guy when I got there, right?
134
Yeah.
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And I was the first president to have a BlackBerry.
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And so years pass, and this year they said, good news, Mr. President, we're going to give you a smartphone instead of a Blackberry.
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I thought, all right, this is cool.
138
I've been seeing Malia and Sasha doing all this.
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Michelle's got three of them.
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She's texting and all this.
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So I'm excited.
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I get the thing, and they're all like, well, Mr. President, for security reasons, there's a great phone, state of the art, but it doesn't take pictures.
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You can't text.
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The phone doesn't work.
145
You know, you can't play your music on it.
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So basically, it's like, does your three -year -old to have one of those play phones?
147
Where they say...
148
You know, it's got like the...
149
That's what they gave the president.
150
It's got like the stickers on it, so you're all like...
151
Public events don't always go smoothly, and sometimes someone in the crowd decides to make themselves heard.
152
How he handled that kind of interruption is something you really want to see.
153
Who love this country just as much we do.
154
I'm sorry.
155
Who's that back there?
156
What the heck are you talking about?
157
Obama and his wife Michelle always had a special connection.
158
The funny way they tease each other in public shows what their marriage is really like.
159
My brilliant and beautiful wife Michelle is here tonight.
160
She looks so happy to be here.
161
That's called practice.
162
So when Ellen DeGeneres asked him straight out what the secret to a long marriage is, Obama gave an answer that was way more honest than anyone expected.
163
What do you and Michelle disagree on?
164
Well...
165
Like, what do you fight about?
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You know, after about 15 years, I finally figured out that she's always right. So...
167
So then, surprisingly, we just stopped fighting after that.
168
There's no more fighting.
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Obamacare is great and it's really working!
170
Sign up now!
171
No?
172
No. On Conan O 'Brien's show, Obama talked about family life at home.
173
You'd think being president would earn you a little respect at the dinner table.
174
Turns out it doesn't work that way at all.
175
And what his daughters actually think of his day job is pretty humbling.
176
I'll tell you a quick story.
177
We have dinner together.
178
My wife asked my two daughters, Malia, how was your day?
179
She'll say, tell us about it.
180
Four -year -old Sasha, how was your day?
181
They ask my wife, how's your day?
182
Then finally my wife says, well, let's ask Daddy how his day was.
183
And my four -year -old will say, boring.
184
And my wife will say, well, that's not nice.
185
You know, actually people come and listen to Daddy speak.
186
And the two of them fall out of their chairs.
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They think that's the funniest thing.
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The notion that somebody would be interested in what their father has to say.
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Kids just don't care.
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But have there ever been time to just jump up behind a podium in front of your kids to tell them, you know, go to your room.
191
Using the great Barack Obama voice.
192
My fellow Obamas.
193
Every Thanksgiving, the president officially saves a turkey on live TV.
194
Obama always brought his daughters along, but what he loved doing to embarrass them on live television is classic dad behavior.
195
It is hard to believe that this is my seventh year of pardoning a turkey.
196
Time flies, even if turkeys don't. That was good.
197
I thought it was pretty good.
198
But one year, the girls suddenly had other plans, right when the ceremony came around.
199
How a good dad handles that situation is exactly what you'd hope for.
200
Embarrassing my daughters with a corny copia of dad jokes about turkeys.
201
Malia and Sasha, by the way, are thankful that this is my final presidential turkey pardon.
202
What I haven't told them yet is that we are going to do this every year from now on.
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No cameras, just us, every year.
204
No way I'm cutting this habit cold turkey.
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When Steve Harvey sat down with him, it was really just two dads talking about raising daughters.
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What he said about how he protects his girls from going on dates is genuinely funny.
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Two things.
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One is Malia and Sasha are very sensible, so I trust them to make good decisions.
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The second thing is I've got men with guns following them around all the time.
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So, that kind of makes me a little less nervous about it.
211
Could I use them?
212
What do I got to do to get some of these signals?
213
This is the main reason I ran for re -election.
214
Because you knew it was coming?
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I knew it was coming, I said.
216
Obama also once did an impression of his teenage daughters glued to their phones, and every parent will know exactly how accurate it is.
217
As the father of two teenage daughters, I know the whole time you're just like, and And then he said,
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Girl, I couldn't believe it.
219
Dick Cheney once publicly criticized Obama, but his reply became an instant classic.
220
A few weeks ago Dick Cheney says he thinks I'm the worst president of his lifetime.
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Which is interesting because I think Dick Cheney is the worst president of my lifetime.
222
Matt Damon campaigned for Obama back then, but later he said he was disappointed with his performance.
223
But Obama had a comeback for that too.
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Just the other day, Matt Damon, I love Matt Damon.
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Love the guy.
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Matt Damon said he was disappointed in my performance.
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Well Matt, I just saw the adjustment bureau, so right back at you buddy.
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Obama had a long history with CNN, and he used every chance he got to make his true feelings about them clear.
229
Saturday Night Live, Cicely impersonates CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin.
230
Which is surprising, because usually the only people impersonating journalists on CNN are journalists on CNN.
231
At another dinner, he joked about reporters who used to cover him and how they'd all left him for new jobs.
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But the last name on that list gave him the chance to roast CNN one more time.
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Key staff are now starting to leave the White House.
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Even reporters have left me.
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Savannah Guthrie, she's left the White House press corps to host the Today Show.
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Nora O'Donnell left the briefing room to host CBS This Morning.
237
Jake Tapper left journalism to join CNN.
238
Comedian Larry David is famous for making any conversation awkward.
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He asked Obama a simple question about something that sounded totally normal.
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But this time Obama turned the tables and Larry didn't see it coming.
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I do wish we had more time in the Alps.
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A lot of stuff we could be doing.
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People go skiing, take some hikes.
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Really?
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You ski?
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Why would you assume I don't ski?
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Do you ski?
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Yeah.
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Alright, so you think you can ski and I might not be able to ski?
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I will, well, no. What would lead you to assume that I don't ski?
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Oh.
252
Larry, is it because?
253
No, no, no. No. Is it because?
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No. No. Sorry.
255
Ba.
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Is it because I'm from Hawaii?
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Obviously.
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Yes.
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Hawaiian ski too.
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Hawaiian ski?
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Yeah. Who knew?
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I knew.
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Oh.
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A voter walked past Obama one day while his girlfriend stood right next to the president.
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What the guy jokingly said put Obama in a pretty awkward spot and you won't believe how he handled it.
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I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
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I'm sorry, please.
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There's an example of it.
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Brother, this is embarrassing for no reason.
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This is embarrassing.
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Just for no reason whatsoever.
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I knew he was going to say something.
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You give a kiss and give him something to talk about.
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Take care of yourself.
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Alright, we're going to judge.
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Obama went on Zach Galifianakis' comedy show, where the whole point is asking mean and absurdly awkward questions.
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But when Zach hit him with the most out of bounds one yet, you have to hear it.
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I have to know, what is it like to be the last black president?
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Seriously?
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What's it like for this to be the last time you ever talk to a president?
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It must kind of stink though that you can't run, you know, three times.
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No, actually I think it's a good idea.
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You know, if I ran a third time, it'd be sort of like doing a third hangover.
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It didn't really work out very well, did it?
285
Now I have to say that I've seen this show before
286
and some of the episodes have probably been a little bit better than this.
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Obama's response said it all, and judging by the look on Zack's face and his reaction, he definitely felt that one.
288
For example, the one with Bradley Cooper, that was a great show.
289
Bradley Cooper, yeah, everybody loves - He kind of carried that movie, didn't he?
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Which film are you seeing in?
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Uh, those hangover movies.
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Basically, he carried them.
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Yeah, everybody loves Bradley.
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Good for him!
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Good -looking guy.
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Being like that in Hollywood, that's easy.
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Tall, handsome, that's easy.
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Be short, fat, and smell like Doritos and try to make it in Hollywood.
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So how does an interview like this actually end?
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The final stunt they pulled right before the camera cut off was something nobody saw coming.
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I'm gonna press this.
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Don't touch that, please.
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Shhh!
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Thanks for the interview and thanks for letting me shoot my show here all these years.
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You've been shooting these shows here in the diplomatic room.
306
Who gave you permission to do that?
307
Bush.
308
And with that, I just have two more words to say.
309
Obama out.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Barack Obama Being Hilarious for 18 Minutes Straight!”. This video has 308 sentences and 2884 words to shadow. The speech runs for 18:26. The speaker talks at a natural 156 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 56 of its 308 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| whoa | /woʊ/ | Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. |
| embarrass verb | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. |
| translator noun | /ˈtɹænzleɪtɚ/ | A person or thing that translates various forms of text. |
| jeans noun | /d͡ʒiːnz/ | A pair of trousers made from denim cotton. |
| impersonate verb | /ɪmˈpɜːsəneɪt/ | To pretend to be (a different person); to assume the identity of, especially when there is an intent to deceive. |
| hangover noun | /ˈhæŋoʊ̯vɚ/ ~ /ˈhæŋɔʊ̯vɚ/ | Negative effects, such as headache or nausea, caused by previous drunkenness due to (excessive) consumption of alcohol. |
| pardon noun | /ˈpɑːdn̩/ | Forgiveness for an offence. |
| drone noun | /dɹoʊn/ | A male hymenopteran (ant, bee, hornet, or wasp), whose sole primary function is to mate with the queen. |
| elect verb | /ɪˈlɛkt/ | To choose or make a decision (to do something). |
| smartphone noun | /ˈsmɑɹtfoʊn/ | A mobile phone with more advanced features and greater computing capacity than a feature phone. |
| disagree verb | /dɪsəˈɡɹi/ | To fail to agree; to have a different opinion or belief. |
| genuinely adverb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/ | In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly. |
| teenage adjective | /ˈtiːneɪd͡ʒ/ | Of or relating to an age between thirteen and nineteen years old. |
| counsel noun | /ˈkaʊn.səl/ | The exchange of opinions and advice especially in legal issues; consultation. |
| absurdly adverb | /æbˈsɝd.li/ | In an absurd fashion. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| turn out verb | To end up; to result. | |
| come around verb | /kʌ.məˈɹaʊnd/ | To change one's mind, especially to begin to agree or appreciate what one was reluctant to accept at first. |
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. | |
| cut off verb | /ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf] | To remove by cutting. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) | |
| jump up verb | To move from one position to a higher position by one jump. | |
| light up verb | To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Can I just say something?
- I wish you liked better, these or these?
- What the heck are you talking about?
- They ask my wife, how's your day?
- Because you knew it was coming?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been seeing · You've been shooting |
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to keep · used to cover |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has spent · haven't noticed · have come |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was even born · wasn't born · was thrown |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 81 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/, thankful /ˈθæŋkfəl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flashlight /ˈflæʃˌlaɪt/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/, shine /ʃaɪn/, notion /ˈnoʊʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: impersonate /ɪmˈpɜːsəneɪt/, hangover /ˈhæŋoʊ̯vɚ/ ~ /ˈhæŋɔʊ̯vɚ/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, incredulous /ɪnˈkɹɛd͡ʒələs/, interruption /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like whoa, embarrass, translator.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.