Shadowing Practice: John Dillermand: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Web Exclusive) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I'm John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight.
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We're off this week, but much like your fun aunt, I just can't seem to stop myself from posting shit on the internet.
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And the reason I wanted to speak to you was to discuss Denmark, the country known for LEGO.
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You know, choking hazards with brand sponsorships.
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Specifically, I'd like to talk about children's television in Denmark, because since the beginning of this year,
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there has been a new show there that's got a lot of fun and fun a lot of attention.
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Denmark's flagship broadcaster has just introduced a new children's show called John Dillermund,
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that's essentially an animation about a man with a huge and uncontrollable penis.
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This man has a penis so massive and flexible it can save children from danger, fetch objects from a river,
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and even operate as a pogo stick.
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Yeah, it's true.
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Denmark has a kid's show called John Dillermund, about a claymation
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Super Mario who's dressed for a ski vacation and a 1920s beach party at the same time, and who, much more importantly,
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has a massive, stripy snake dick.
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So I think now you can see why I wanted to talk to you so badly.
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The Dealer in Dealerman is Danish slang for penis, meaning that his name in English is basically John Penisman,
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which is a perfect name for a man with a magical dong.
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It would actually be a great nickname for my own penis if I hadn't already nicknamed it Hugh Grant,
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because it's British aging, and I've been told it can be unpleasant to work with.
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And you should know, it turns out, John Dielemann can do nearly anything with his appendage.
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In his show, he uses it to walk some dogs, as you can see here.
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He also uses it as a tightrope in a circus act, and to decorate a Christmas tree in spectacular fashion.
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And in one unforgettable episode, he even gets suspended from balloons by his penis, which is both completely terrifying,
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and also how I assume Cirque du Soleil performers commute to work.
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The show started airing in January, and was an instant hit,
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with the first episode being viewed by more than 250 ,000 children in just five days.
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And I've got to say, it's so much more imaginative than what passes for children's entertainment here.
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Because think about it, what do we have?
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A fascist puppy police state, evangelical vegetables, a monkey who plagiarized his only personality trait from cats,
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and an eight -year -old aardvark who dresses like Alan Alda.
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None of these characters can hold a candle to John Dillermann, because I guarantee, of the party,
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none of them have ever saved a group of drowning children by using the centrifugal force of their cartoonishly long schlong.
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You think Barney the Dinosaur could do that?
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Of course not.
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He'd probably just sing a song about friendship as though children sank into the waves.
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Do something, Barney!
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And while you've already seen some of the footage inside it,
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I do want to make sure that you also hear some of the show's theme song.
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I mean, musically, that's excellent.
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But what you might be missing there is just how good the lyrics are.
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It's been translated as, Hello, I am John Johnson.
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He has the world's longest Johnson.
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There's almost nothing he can't do with it.
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He can swing it around.
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He can get a bit embarrassed.
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He could save the whole world in the world if only he had the chance.
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Come on!
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That's profound!
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And the fascinating thing is that John Dielemann is not really an outlier in Danish kids TV.
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Danish culture routinely addresses topics with children that the US might think of as completely off limits.
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On Danish public TV, there are kids programs that include a puppet coming to terms with their gender identity,
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a pirate who tries to join a satanic cult, and instead of the network going black at night,
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it plays a sleep -themed loop of humans and puppets snoring and farting at random intervals, which is not only incredible television,
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it's also a truly fantastic sleep aid.
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Rainforest sounds?
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Uh, no thank you.
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I'll take unpredictable
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Danish puppet farts any day.
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And DR, the public broadcaster behind this show, maintains that John Dieleman is genuinely wholesome, saying it's about the embarrassment and fun of the body,
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and that it was made with the help by the help of a non -profit reproductive health organization and a child psychologist.
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In fact, as the head of DR's children's department made clear, it's as desexualized as it can possibly get.
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The problem is, there are some both in
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but especially outside Denmark who can't seem to get their head around the charms of this show.
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Watch as a Danish expert gets grilled by a British morning host.
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From your opinion, making this enormous penis, in fact, a bit of a hero.
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Good idea?
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Yeah, well, I don't think, as Ula also says, I don't think you should think of this as a penis.
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This is not a penis as we think of it as an adult.
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Why isn't it coming out of his knee?
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Why isn't it coming out of his chest?
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Why is it coming out of there?
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Yeah, well, of course it is a penis as such, but it's not a sexualised penis.
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It's the penis that a young child has.
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20 foot long and striped?
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It's not the penis that everybody has.
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Well, hold on there, because you don't know that that is not the penis that everyone has,
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and that actually brings us to the reason I wanted to talk to you about this show,
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because the reason John Dieleman resonated so much with me isn't just that I found it interesting or charming or funny.
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It's that I too happen to have a 20 foot long animated hose dong.
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As you can see, he has a suit and glasses just like me.
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And for people like myself, Well, for myself, John Dielerman is the representation on television that we've been looking for for a long time.
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Because for us, our penises aren't necessarily sexual, are they?
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No. They're multi -talented.
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Look, he can wiggle, he can show off his muscles, he can even make penis animals.
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Ooh, a giraffe.
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Fancy boy.
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And he can become a limp worm, which, I will admit, is well within the wheelhouse of most penises of course,
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unfortunately, I can't keep him out for long because if he inadvertently gets excited, he siphons off about a gallon of my blood.
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So, back you go before I collapse, okay?
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There we go.
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And that's it.
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That's really all I wanted to tell you.
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That and the fact that we'll be back July 25th.
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Hey, Discovery, you're gonna own this soon.
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Congrats on the merger.
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It's gonna go great.
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Goodbye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “John Dillermand: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”. This video has 97 sentences and 1150 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:39. The speaker talks at a natural 173 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| puppet noun | /ˈpʌpɪt/ | Any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods, or in the form of a glove. |
| charm noun | /t͡ʃɑɹm/ | An object, act or words believed to have magic power (usually carries a positive connotation). |
| nickname noun | /ˈnɪkneɪm/ | A familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic. |
| dong noun | /dɔŋ/ | The currency of Vietnam, 100 xus. Symbol: ₫ |
| broadcaster noun | /ˈbɹɔdˌkæstɚ/ | A machine used to broadcast or spread seeds, fertilizer, etc. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| badly adverb | /ˈbæd.li/ | In a bad manner. |
| guarantee noun | /ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/ | Anything that assures a certain outcome. |
| muscle noun | /ˈmʌs.əl/ | A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. |
| essentially adverb | /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/ | In essence: by nature. |
| congratulations | /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/ | Expressing praise and approval, expressing approbation. |
| vacation noun | /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ | An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure. |
| friendship noun | /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/ | The condition of being friends. |
| introduce verb | /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ | To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| show off verb | To exhibit the best attributes of something. |
| turn out verb | To end up; to result. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Because think about it, what do we have?
- I mean, musically, that's excellent.
- Why isn't it coming out of his knee?
- Why isn't it coming out of his chest?
- That's really all I wanted to tell you.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been · has just introduced · I've been told |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | I've been told · being viewed · been translated |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | penis, which is · intervals, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 26 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, don't, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, vacation /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, animation /ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/
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 puppet, charm, nickname.
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.