Shadowing Practice: Try Not To Laugh With The Graham Norton Show | Part One - Learn English Speaking with Video

Don't answer this question if you don't want to matter, but I have Don't know why you brought this up,

but I did hear you discuss you had an extraordinary disagreement with your wife About yourself.

Do you know what I'm talking about by myself?

You mean yes?

Yeah You know this story do not listen with interest One night as you do we were talking about stuff And,

uh, and, uh, I just happened to have no interest in, and, of course, being circumcised, I said...

They were chatting.

They're married.

They were allowed. And she said...

She said, you're not circumcised.

I said, what do you mean?

You've only known me a few.. all my life.

I remember my mother telling me why, because it was fashionable at the time.

She said, you're not circumcised.

I said, that's ridiculous.

I should know if I'm circumcised.

Of course I am.

End of conversation.

But the next day, I happened to be seeing my doctor for... Are you okay?

I was seeing my doctor for my annual physical. Of course.

So, while he was down there...

I said...

Excuse me, Tom.

Oh, by the way, Irv...

My wife and I have a little disagreement.

I am circumcised, aren't I?

Because she says I'm not.

And he goes...

Not.

And she goes, no, no, no, it's not possible.

So he looked down again and he said, hey, I'm Jewish.

I know the difference. That is a bizarre

You're gonna have to change your Facebook status

There's more beef stew I Were you born in Hawaii?

I wasn't born in Hawaii.

I live there in San Francisco, but I did a lot of my growing up there So yeah, so it was it was a I don't know.

I don't think no You gave me a big speech like this is my land I started.

I did a story.

Now all of a sudden, Sam Fran.

It was Sam Fran that I transferred.

When we were there, he gave me a very, like, spiritual speech about how it all started.

How your mother held you over this cliff.

This is the cliff where I was born and my mother gave me this.

This is the problem.

That is the problem, yes.

Try to be respectful.

Hawaii was beautiful.

Beautiful, you know, mountainside and lushness, and we shot in this beautiful place called Kualoa Ranch where Jurassic Park, the original Jurassic Park was shot,

and the ones after that as well, and it was just amazing.

But you didn't like it, Kevin.

He hated it.

No, this is the problem.

I didn't like it at all.

I mean, outside of the spiritual grounds that you took me to, and I swore, you even sung a song.

You were like...

I have to share that with them.

I remember, we'll talk about it later.

Really?

How did the song go?

The song, you were like...

What's right?

You were like...

Kula Matana!

Yeah, that sounded like an original.

So did you bring your medals with you?

No. We did?

Oh, I thought you might be wearing them.

Oh, no, they're just casually in the back pocket.

Look, these are proper Olympic medals.

Wow.

Oh, Marion, have you seen an Olympic medal?

I actually did.

Because the French have beat us.

Oh, was it French people beat you?

Oh, the French got gold.

Is there anyone in Ireland who hasn't seen those medals?

They look like being round the block, those medals.

They're fairly tattered, yeah.

And, of course, now, Michael, down in Killarney, word must have reached you of the O'Donovan Brothers.

Oh, for sure.

I mean, I wasn't in Killarney at the time, but.. but everybody knew about it, that's for sure, yeah.

And Marianne, watching that clip, could you understand the accents?

Nothing, not a word.

I understood since.

Just that word.

You know what the movie set with Michael would is take Kerry accents.

LAUGHTER So, listen, it...

Because people loved the interviews you did during the Olympics, but, like, you guys knew you were being funny while you were doing the interviews.

I don't know.

LAUGHTER I think it was funny because they were being themselves.

Yeah.

Well, to be fair, we weren't trying to be serious, like...

Yeah, yeah.

It just...

Yeah.

It just kind of happened that way, like, eh...

You did seem very happy to be in Rio.

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I was quite serious about the whole situation, though.

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Everything we told us the truth, like.

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Yeah.

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I don't understand, like, people ask us these questions all the time after races, it just so happened they put a camera in front of us in Rio.

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And also, you won a silver medal, so suddenly everyone was interested.

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But the great thing is, like, Ireland has never won any medal in rowing before, haven't they?

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Well, not at the Olympics, no, they have a few World Championship titles, all right, but it's the first Olympic medal, yeah.

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Woo-hoo!

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Very good.

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And the interview where you talked about your approach to the race, the phrases you used in that, so explain to the people what you said in that.

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Do you know which one?

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What did we say?

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About going A to B, fast as you can.

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Oh, yeah.

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Yeah, it's a fairly simple sport, like.

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There's a start line and a finish line.

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It's not quite complicated, like.

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People do complicated life, and your men says, go at the start and there's a hooter at the finish, and if you can get them...

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..go to the hooter, then...

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Go on bullshit, like.

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No, I'm trying to think, this is based on your life.

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I mean, this is things...

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Yeah, but...

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I mean...

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Loosely, Graham.

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No, but things like, isn't the washing machine, that happened to you.

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What?

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The washing, you were very hungover.

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Oh.

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Yeah.

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Tell Tony Foster that story.

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All their stories are really cool though, Grail.

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When I was teaching, which is what this show is based on, I went home one weekend and I was in my 30s.

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I was probably 33 years of age.

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I went home to see my mother and then I went back

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and while I was at home my mother did my washing for me because I was only 33.

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Then I went back and on the Sunday night

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I got really drunk and then I went for a curry and then the next day I went into school

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I'm gonna I went into school and it was a school in slow

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and it was a quite a rough school

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but they had a really brilliant hearing impaired department

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so they were hearing impaired kids who you know struggled they

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were they were really looked after in school anyway I was really hungover I went there And about break time, I felt really uncomfortable.

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I thought, something's not right, you know?

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So I went to the toilet, and I pulled my trousers down, and some of my mother's knickers had got...

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..had got mixed up in the wash she'd done.

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And I was wearing my mother's underwear.

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And I went, oh, God, oh, no!

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Oh, I remember going, oh, you loser, this is...

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It's such a low point, you fucking loser. And then...

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And then.. the curry and the booze.. the curry and the booze kicked in from the night before. So I...

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I did like a fecal Jackson Pollock. And I started...

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I started going, Oh, God, not this!

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Not this as well!

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Oh, Jesus!

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So I cleaned myself up and I pulled my mother's pants back out.

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And I went back into the classroom, and I saw one of the hearing-impaired kids just looking at me like this.

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And that's when I remembered that I had a microphone directly...

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Here we go.

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A lot of young actors, they revere you, so they look to you.

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But the other thing you inspire is impressions, Impressions people doing impressions that

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when people do impressions of you is it like sort of nails on a chalkboard or do you kind of enjoy it?

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No, I kind of enjoy it especially if they do it well So no, I it's great.

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I Love it.

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I only ask

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No, because because any Hiddlestoners watching will know

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Tom Hiddleston does impressive you do work pressure lots of you so who's in your canon?

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It's a it's a expression of admiration to be clear.

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So I do I do Impressions of people that I admire and I sort of listen to them.

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I get the first time I did an impression

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And anyone was aware of I was just telling a story

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about midnight in Paris the Woody Allen film I was in and how I never had the whole script tonight, and I thought it was set in the 20s

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and I turned up

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and I bumped into Owen Wilson who didn't look like he was in the 20s at all

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And and I said to him I said so wait how

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and who are you playing cuz I'm playing F Scott Fitzgerald And I know Corey Stoll's playing on his Hemingway, and we're all playing figures of history and he went oh No, no, no, no, no, I'm from now.

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I go back in town There's a time machine, you know.

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It's kind of cool, and it's kind of woody, and you just kind of.. it's kind of awesome.

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Very good!

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Yeah.

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But, uh, I've done...

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I mean...

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I've been made to do impressions of my fellow Avengers.

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Um, uh, I think everyone does an impression of Christopher Walken, because he's just.. he's such an easy kind of...

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You know, I feel like what this show needs...

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It's more cowbell.

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It depends on what you like me to say.

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Basically, there's no punctuation.

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Anything that comes out of my mouth.

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I know whole pages of heat.

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You surprise me.

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It surprised me.

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So there's a scene in the middle of the film, which you'll be familiar with.

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You were there.

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The one person you don't need to explain it to.

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So look, there's a...

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He remembers.

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You're very good in this thing.

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There's a scene in the middle of the film, which is...

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Because Al Pacino and Robert De Niro...

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He's back.

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They're separated like a great thriller.

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They're separated from for the entire film

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and they meet twice once at the end of once in the middle and it takes place at a restaurant in LA.

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It's a great scene.

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It's one of the great pieces of screen acting you can hope to watch.

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There it is.

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There's a picture of it.

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It's like it's a mutual recognition of each other.

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Anyway, so there's a bit where they have like this sit and have coffee and have tea and talk about stuff.

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I'm going on.

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I apologize.

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Anyway, so Al Pacino at one point, Al Pacino says this, he goes,

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So, we're sitting here like a couple of regular fellas.

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I mean, you do what you do, I do what I gotta do.

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If I'm there, and I gotta put you away, I won't like it.

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But if it's between you and some poor bastard whose wife you're gonna turn into a widow,

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brother, you are going down." And then, and then, and so then,

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and then it cut, and then Michael Mann cuts back to the esteemed gentleman at the end of the sofa.

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What if you do got me boxed in?

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I'm not gonna put you down.

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Living face to face.

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Yeah, but I will not hesitate.

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Not for a second.

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That's my...

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This is so meta.

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I feel like I've gone into a parallel universe where I Can Brown that was my favorite scene was a good everything.

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Yeah, it's a still yeah

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My favorite scene that was written before not because of doing it But I just my favorite scene written in the film, you know that that's a great piece of rice Yeah,

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it feels like it plays in two in two singles in a way like yeah Yeah, yeah, and it's it's like the most beautiful game of tennis Did you each do lots of takes?

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Did you do lots of takes?

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I forget do lots of types of?

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I don't think we did more than

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Five to eight or nine at the moment maybe maybe less

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You talk about your dreams and you talk about your life It's so great.

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There's that bit another bit where you go

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He says he says Pacino says So you never wanted a regular type life and Bob,

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may I call you Bob?

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Bob says, what's that, barbecues and ballgames?

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Yeah.

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LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE And Julia, obviously your mother loves you because you're her daughter,

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but she is actually sort of a fan as well.

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No, it's not quite that.

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It's...

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No, she is.

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Oh, goodness, right. So, my...

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One day, my mum came to set on the Star Wars set, and I was getting this thing called Cyber Scanned, which is where you stand in this kind of...

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Loads of cameras, and they kind of take your form and put you into a computer and make a toy, or some sort of merchandise,

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or your face on a cushion. And so...

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I go off and do this, and I come back, and mum's like, I've made a great friend.

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I'm like, brilliant, it's lovely, excellent.

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And she's like, it's the merchandised director of all of Star Wars or something.

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And I'm like, wow, this is very impressive.

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And then before I know it, what comes in the post is loads of cushions with my face on it.

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So my own mum, she gets to see it a fair amount, you know.

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But apparently it's not enough.

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So I was kind of blown away at how much merchandise there is.

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Yes, but also...

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And it's just the beginning, it was like the pre-merchandise, not even the real stuff is out yet, and my mum has all of it.

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But doesn't know about the doll yet, so we shall sell it.

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This is so weird, I don't know, is this in your flat or her house?

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Oh, God, right, OK, so basically, she thought it would be really funny if I came home and it was everywhere in my...

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OK, so this is...

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This is Amelia's actual bedroom.

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Well...

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LAUGHTER This is like a joke, and then... And then...

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Oh, and then...

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Oh, my goodness.

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We found the photo.

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But it's not like that now.

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There is another reason why I'm single.

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You took a first date back to that.

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Yeah.

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Come on in.

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I just did this little thing once.

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I don't have a CV, I just have a bedroom.

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LAUGHTER But this is cool, though.

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So your mother a big fan, but Brad Pitt also a very big fan.

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That was the best night of my life.

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Yes.

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LAUGHTER Tell the story quickly.

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Tell the story quickly.

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We found a feeling, doing very interesting.

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Yeah, there's a duvet.

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We're all ears.

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Sheets.

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Slippers.

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No, yeah, there was this auction thing that happened and they called me and said, you know, do you want to do you want to um auction something

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off like maybe sort of an experience watching the show with you or something

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and i was like okay it's lovely it's great for charity

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yeah it'll be for some you know some something yeah

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and it'll be fine anyway so i get there

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and it's basically a good thing um i get there

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and it's basically like this is basically it's the oscars like there's

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so many celebrities in this room and i suddenly remember

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that i said that i would auction something and the other person is coming off, and so the fear grows.

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So I was petrified, absolutely petrified, and then the person whose table I was on is a friend

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and he was being very kind and kind of put the paddle up and I was like, thanks very much, that's very sweet, that will be that.

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And then someone else's paddle up went up across the other side of the room

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and I didn't really know

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and then suddenly it was sort of becoming a bit of money and I was kind of thinking, oh, this is absolutely mental, and someone went, it's Brad Pitt, and I was like, lol.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And I look over to the room and he's got his paddle up.

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Brad's paddle.

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Brad's paddle!

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Was that kind of harmed in the experience?

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No, not quite.

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Well, it didn't work out, because the person who was my friend, I think it was probably all set up, the person who was my friend ended up, you know, doing the highest bid.

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Boo!

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Bad friend!

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But, yeah, I just kind of looked over with just the most with just the most insane emoji heart eyes being like, this is just the greatest moment of my life.

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.

Shadowing Practice: Try Not To Laugh With The Graham Norton Show | Part One - Learn English Speaking with Video

Context & Background

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

What is the Shadowing Technique?