Shadowing Practice: Life Changing Advice From Steve Harvey: Trust God's Perfect Timing - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I used to spend the night in hotel parking lots.
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What was I gonna do?
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I ain't had no way to stay, so I lived in the car.
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I had $35.
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And I said, "Come on, God, man, I've been trying to make this dream come true.
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You left me out here like this." And I was crying so hard that he just said.
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I didn't like hear a voice or nothing.
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But he spoke to me and however he said, If you get up I'ma take you places you ain't never been.
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Now I was fitting to quit.
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So I said, skip it.
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I'm gonna quit anyway.
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So I got in my car, I went to a pay phone and I was gonna call my dad.
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You remember back in the day where you could, punch in a code and call your answering machine and get your messages.
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So I call and I punched in the code And then, we said, "Doop !" He said, "Hey Steve, this is Chuck Sutton.
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with Showtime at the Apollo, We saw a tape of you You're very funny.
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If you could get here Sunday night, we'd love to put you on television.
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Call me back.
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Let me know if you can make it.
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So I hung the phone up.
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I'm crushed.
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'Cause my whole dream of being on TV And I couldn't get to New York.
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I got $35.
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How am I going to get to New York?
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I can't make it.
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So I'm standing there at the phone booth and tears just coming down my face.
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I said, "God, so that must be a sign for me to go home.
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'Cause this it, I ain't even got the money to go to the Apollo.
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My whole thing, I wanted to be on TV, I couldn't even make a dream come true.
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I'm just, I'm, I'm...
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This is the most messed up moment.
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And so I said, "Man, let me call this dude back, "and see if he said this Sunday." 'Cause maybe he said next Sunday, and I could hustle up a little bit of money or something.
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I don't know what I'm gonna do, But let me just call him back.
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So I call him back.
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Steve, this is Chuck Sutton, Showtime at the Parlor.
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We saw a tape of yours.
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You're very, very funny.
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Look, we have an opening Sunday night at Showtime at the Parlor.
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If you can make it, we'd love to put you on TV.
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- - I said, "It's this Sunday." Before I hit the button, I heard "doop !" you have another message that wasn't there before.
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So I punched my coat in I listened to the second message.
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It said, "Steve Harvey, this is Tom Sober from the Comedy Caravan." I had, this was a Thursday.
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He said, "I have a gig in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday night that pays $150.
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If you can get there Friday night, you'll make $150." So I called him back.
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And I said, "Hey Tom, Did you get a gig away?
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He said, "No, it's still available." He said, "Can you get there?" I said, "I'm in Pensacola, Florida.
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I'm three and a half hours away." So I drive to Jacksonville, Florida.
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And that night I killed I made the 150.
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Club owner said, Man, you're funnier than the guy we hired.
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If you stay tomorrow night I'm gonna give you another $150 So now I got $300 now.
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So I get on the phone I called Chuck Sutton I say, "Hey man, is the gig still available?" at Showtime at Apollo.
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He said, "Well, we got one opening left.
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I said I'll be there.
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So I called Eastern Airlines, who used to be open back then.
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They had a special for $99.
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Going from Jacksonville, Florida to New York, round trip.
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So I parked my car at the airport I got it.
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Yeah.
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Got on play and flew.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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Everything I had was in two bags.
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Dr. DeApollo I said, "Hey man, I'm here.
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I got there at 11 o 'clock in the morning, he said, You can't stay here.
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'cause you don't come on to the Late Show tonight.
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I said, "I ain't got nowhere to go." I said, "If you just let me stay, In this building, man, I ain't gonna move around nothing.
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I ain't got nowhere to go.
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I'm in Harlem.
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I can't go back out here.
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I got these two bags.
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Yes.
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I got victim wrote all over me, man, so...
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He said, "All right, if you go upstairs, Don't come down.
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So he put me in the dressing room on the sixth floor.
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So that's where all the comedians was.
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So I stayed up there.
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I got hungry around three o 'clock, and I couldn't take it no more.
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So I went back downstairs, a dude named Alton Liston, I said, "Hey, man." He said, "Man, I thought I told you Don't come down them damn steps.
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I say, "Hey man, I'm just hungry." Let me go to that KFC I saw on the corner.
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Just let me get some chicken.
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I'll come right back.
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He said, "Man, if you ain't back in 20 minutes, You ain't getting in this building.
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So I went.
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Bought me some chicken, came back.
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So the comedian started coming in the building.
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They start coming up on the sixth floor.
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So I meet this guy.
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named D .L.
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Hughley.
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I introduce myself, he introduced his self.
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I'm sitting there, another guy come in named Dwayne Johnson.
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Yeah!
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Then this other dude walked in named Jamie Foxx.
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And I introduced myself.
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We don't know each other.
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Ain't none of us famous.
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It's 1991, man.
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They gave everybody the lineup.
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I was on the last show tonight.
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I don't go on to 11 at night.
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I done had this four pieces of chicken.
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I'm starving, man.
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That chicken done wore off.
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I'm nervous, man.
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I'm about to throw up.
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Dio Hughley went downstairs.
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Dio Hughley got booed off.
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Dwayne Johnson got booed off.
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Jamie Foxx went down there and got booed.
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They booed Jamie, then Jamie started singing.
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And then they started clapping.
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And Jamie had their ass.
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Then he went back to them jokes and they got his ass.
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So I'm walking down the steps and I see Jamie sitting on the steps.
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I said, "Hey man, hang in there." He said, "Man, that ain't never happened to me before, man.
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This is crazy." This Jamie Foxx, man, wanna.. the most talented people. in all of comedy.
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You don't even know how nervous I am, man.
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I can't even...
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My breathing is shot 'cause these dudes been booed.
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Thank you.
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So I walk out.
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I had wrote this joke.
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Oh.
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Mike Tyson had got in a fight in Harlem with this heavyweight named Mitch Green.
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Mike Tyson had hit the dude in the eye in the store.
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Now he was on the news, his eye was swollen.
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So the joke I wrote was, They was interviewing Mitch Green.
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And he was telling everybody what happened, but his eye took over the interview.
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And I wrote this joke that his eye started talking and was just, I'll tell you what happened.
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The heavyweight champ's fist is coming towards my face.
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I just said, Lord, Lord, Lord.
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And I wrote this whole joke about this dude's eyeball talking.
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And when the punch came, and all this here, the Apollo man, they went crazy.
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They lost their mind.
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Yeah.
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I got a standing ovation, man.
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I walked off stage.
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I walked off stage, man, just started crying.
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I couldn't believe it.
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They paid me.
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I made $750 for being on TV for one night.
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I'd never made $750 telling jokes in one night.
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And so that was my first television appearance.
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A couple weeks later, Sinbad was the host of the show.
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He got this job on a different world, and so he quit.
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- Oh.
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And so Mark Curry became the host.
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And then Mark Curry got hanging with Mr. Cooper, and he quit.
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And they came to me and said, "Would you come back to New York and host Amateur Night for us to just try you out?
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Oh, ain't no problem." So I went to New York.
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I hosted Amateur Night.
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And I was killing.
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But every time we went to commercial break, I was supposed to let the warm up act take over like Ruben does.
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But I knew not to let the warm up act do
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that because he would change the attitude of the crowd because Apollo was a wild player.
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So I stayed out there.
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I did the warm up and the hosting.
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And I created a bond with that audience.
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And that's how I got on TV.
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It was my very first TV show.
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I hosted Showtime at the Parlor, ended up being the longest running host in the history on Showtime Pro.
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I did that show for eight years.
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Nobody ever did it for eight years.
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And that was my turn back moment.
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See, in your life, Everybody has a turn back moment.
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You have a moment where you can go forward, or you can give up.
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But the thing you have to keep in mind before you give up is that if you give up, The guarantee is It will never happen.
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That's the guarantee of quitting that it will never happen no way under the sun.
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The only way the possibility remains that it can happen is if you never give up no matter what.
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Because God is always coming.
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He's never too late.
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At your worst mo - look man.
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When they told me I had to be in New York.
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I saw no way I could get there.
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But that God though, He make the phone ring.
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I end up in Florida.
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I make $300.
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Then I go to New York.
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I make $750.
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I almost got $1 ,000.
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out of nowhere.
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That's what happened to me.
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That was my my moment of never giving up, that's when I first learned that faith was everything,
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that you have to remain faithful. and
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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
This video is a goldmine for shadowspeak and IELTS speaking practice! Steve Harvey’s storytelling is raw, conversational, and packed with emotion—perfect for mimicking natural speech. The dialogue flows like real-life conversation, with pauses, exclamations, and casual phrases that mirror how native speakers talk. Practicing with it helps you master tone, pacing, and the art of conveying feeling, which are key for acing speaking tests or connecting with others. Plus, the narrative structure (challenges, setbacks, breakthroughs) gives you a clear context to follow, making shadowing technique easier to apply. Whether you’re using a shadowing site or practicing alone, this video will make your speaking sound more authentic and confident.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Let’s break down 3 key structures from the video to boost your speaking:
- "I ain't had no way to stay": This double negative is common in informal speech (though not standard). It emphasizes lack—great for sounding natural in casual conversations. Practice saying it with the same emphasis Steve uses!
- "If you get up I'ma take you places you ain't never been": "I'ma" is a contraction of "I'm going to," a super casual form. Notice how the conditional ("If you get up") is paired with a promise—useful for storytelling.
- "I killed it": This idiom means "I did something extremely well." Steve uses it to describe his comedy gig. Learning such phrases makes your speech lively and relatable, a must for IELTS speaking practice.
Common Pronunciation Traps
Watch out for these tricky sounds and accents:
- "Ain't": Pronounced "aynt" (not "ahnt"). It’s a Southern U.S. variant of "am not/have not"—listen closely to Steve’s drawl to mimic it correctly.
- "Gig": Short for "engagement," pronounced with a hard "g" (like "gum") and a quick "ig" (not "jee"). This word is super common in casual speech, so nail its pronunciation!
- "Hustle up": Steve says "hussle up" (with a soft "s" sound). This phrasal verb means "to quickly get something"—practice saying it with a relaxed tone to avoid sounding stiff.
Use the shadowing technique here: play a short clip, pause, and repeat exactly what Steve says, focusing on his rhythm and accent. You’ll be amazed how fast your pronunciation improves!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If you can make it, we'd love |
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to spend · used to be |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is shot · was swollen |
| Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form | started coming · start coming · started singing |
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.