Shadowing Practice: Why I Think You Should Leave Cures My Depression - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
B2
As of season three, there are 88 sketches in I Think You Should Leave.
391 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
As of season three, there are 88 sketches in I Think You Should Leave.
2
All of them are patently absurd.
3
But there's one theme in this show that they've been doing more
4
and more with each season that makes it hit like no other.
5
For context, in most of these sketches,
6
there's one person who is clearly in the wrong.
7
Oh!
8
Looks like you pushed.
9
It does both.
10
I was here yesterday.
11
It actually goes both ways.
12
but puts forth a Herculean effort in refusing to admit it,
13
making everyone else uncomfortable and probably wanting to tell them the name of the show.
14
So that's the foundation of the show,
15
but these premises often come with twists, too.
16
If you love it as much as you say you do,
17
then it shouldn't be a problem if I take the receipt back.
18
Sometimes, one person appears to be the asshole,
19
but instead of calling them out for it,
20
Everyone else suddenly and unanimously takes their side and turns the tables on someone else.
21
And I genuinely like the gifts.
22
Swear to fucking God?
23
Yes!
24
Then let my wife eat the fucking receipt.
25
Sometimes the in-universe characters recognize the absurdity of the events taking place as completely dysfunctional and they abandon it.
26
Somebody get her!
27
She's trying to get Jarvis!
28
Alright, you know what?
29
This was dumb.
30
Dump it.
31
Haven't been to the board in a long time.
32
Yeah, I know, Colleen.
33
This show's gonna suck.
34
That's, yeah, that's a good idea.
35
Dump it.
36
And sometimes, despite how much of a nuisance a character seems to be,
37
we get a genuine moment of emotion that reminds us that they're human too,
38
and that maybe all they need is just a little validation.
39
These sketches, the ones that,
40
amidst all the silly bullshit,
41
manage to fuck around and make a point,
42
is hidden in a way that no other sketches do.
43
They satisfy the absurdity that I crave in this type of comedy,
44
yet rather than landing at an equally chaotic or disoriented place,
45
were instead landing at a heartfelt sentiment like, you're valid.
46
Everything's gonna be okay.
47
This change is something that I find absolutely fascinating,
48
and we're gonna call this sentimental absurdism.
49
You can all thank this commenter from one of my previous videos for making this observation
50
and inspiring the idea for this video.
51
I mentioned that they've been doing this more with each season.
52
Well, of the 88 sketches,
53
I count two of this theme in season one,
54
five in season two, and eight in season three.
55
So it's grown from what was once just a small sliver
56
of the show to now almost becoming a main theme of it,
57
and I'm kind of obsessed.
58
So let's break this down by starting with its most simple
59
and subtle examples and gradually work towards the most extravagant and outstanding ones.
60
Level 1.
61
An Honest Sentiment.
62
To start, there's the sketches that are mostly absurd that sneak in just a little honest sentiment.
63
The copier jokes with Patty Harrison is a good example of this.
64
Upon hearing a co-worker make a Christmas joke,
65
a woman chimes in with a view of her own.
66
Yep, I guess Christmas came early this year.
67
Yeah, Santa should have wrapped it.
68
What?
69
The printer.
70
Santa should have wrapped it when he gave it early.
71
Oh.
72
Each with the painfully confused delivery that causes it to fall flat.
73
Yeah, I know, and Santa and all his elves must have worked so hard on it,
74
and then they gave it to us early.
75
It's a very nice printer, Tracy.
76
She's taking on the role in this sketch that Tim Robinson usually does,
77
an awkward attention seeker who's trying too hard and making everyone uncomfortable.
78
And it's enjoyable because of Patty's expert performance.
79
It was just an expression.
80
I know that!
81
I'm not stupid!
82
I'm smarter than you!
83
I'm not popular at all!
84
The cherry on top, though,
85
is when her ego is in shambles,
86
but she musters the spirit to yell one final quip at Tim's character...
87
Oh!
88
Looks like Christmas came early!
89
Then I brought it early!
90
...who casually chuckles and goes along with it.
91
I guess he did.
92
Good one.
93
And that was all she needed.
94
Like damn, for a second there,
95
that stupid bullshit just made me feel something.
96
Patty plays a similar role in another office in season 3,
97
where one might be quick to thank her the weird one for keeping a baby rat in her drawer.
98
It's so easy for me just to open the desk drawer,
99
they're in there, I take the food,
100
I put it on the desk,
101
and then I knock it in.
102
No one knows what I'm doing,
103
no one knows I have rats in there.
104
In an unexpected twist, the boss actually hears her out,
105
apologizes to her, and reminds her of how valued she is at the company.
106
Maybe I'm a little bit hard on you because I see you rising at this place,
107
and I could see you helping to manage it one day.
108
How wholesome is that?
109
Once again, being heard and accepted was all it took to bring out this incredible moment of relief.
110
Tonight we go wild on...
111
These aren't the only two like this,
112
but you get the basic idea.
113
Level 2, quitting for the right reasons.
114
The sentiments get a little more prominent from here.
115
Take Carl Havoc, a guy who was way too excited to do a prank show at the mall.
116
Carl kind of messes with their day,
117
takes their lunch tray, steals a fry off their plate.
118
An excitement that is completely obliterated not two minutes into actually doing it.
119
You see that guy over there?
120
Why don't you go over and take his tray?
121
Carmine.
122
There's too much fucking shit on me.
123
What?
124
There's too much fucking shit on me, I can't breathe.
125
Take a deep breath.
126
I can't!
127
While he's imploding in front of everyone,
128
going back and forth with its crew about how unbearable it is.
129
I'm gonna rip the fucking head off!
130
Do not rip the head off, Carmine.
131
I'm telling you that I am!
132
He takes a pause and things get real.
133
I don't even want to be around anymore.
134
What?
135
You're saying you don't want to live because you're wearing that suit?
136
Yeah.
137
A realization so sobering that the director is taken aback and decides...
138
Okay, yeah, let's scrap it.
139
Yeah, let's scrap it.
140
Yeah, dude, if that's really how you're feeling, then let's scrap it.
141
Like, damn, no one wants you to die over this.
142
Then what's the show?
143
God damn it!
144
A similar sentiment is conveyed in the final sketch of season 3 featuring Connor O'Malley,
145
a frequent collaborator of the show with some sentimental absurdism in his own content as well.
146
The positivity force, a billion person army deciding to jerk off like they just got divorced.
147
In this sketch, Connor's character commits to making a new video every week,
148
something more people than ever will literally do nowadays.
149
As a video creator myself,
150
it hit close to home watching him get way too worked up over what is ultimately just a silly little video.
151
I am so worried about this video.
152
But even upon completing a video,
153
he's flooded with comments from people saying he pays people in fast food.
154
I just think I paid her in his Santa Fe chicken sandwich.
155
Why are they saying you paid her in fast food?
156
Why would they say that?
157
Cuz I did!
158
And that everyone hates him so much for it,
159
they want to kill his parents.
160
You see everybody online saying they want to kill my parents?
161
Yeah, I saw that, I saw that.
162
Apparently they're saying they're gonna cut my dad's head off.
163
Jesus.
164
Just as he's spiraling out of control,
165
we get a refreshing ending where he actually gives up his weekly video commitment for all the right reasons.
166
I gave away Tasty Time vids.
167
Did it for my dad.
168
No one's ever getting this head.
169
No one's ever cutting off my daddy's head.
170
I love my daddy.
171
I love his head.
172
Me and Papa.
173
How old is your dad like this?
174
Level 3, Realizing Horror.
175
Moving on, the sentiments get deeper and darker.
176
The Claire's ear-piercing sketch, for example, is a wild ride.
177
What starts as a joke on the nervous adult in contrast to the fearless kid,
178
both waiting to get their ears pierced,
179
I know all this already.
180
I'm not nervous at all.
181
You have to finish the video if you want to get your ear pierced.
182
Fine, alright, then go.
183
Get out of here already.
184
Turns into a real trip when this motherfucker gets on screen
185
and progressively spills more and more about his life beyond just ear piercings in his interview.
186
I really wanted an earring for Florida,
187
But I was nervous to the point of diarrhea.
188
I think I was just a little scared I was gonna die on the slab.
189
Like my dad.
190
He starts out pretty normal until they just keep letting him yap,
191
slipping in some real paradigm-shifting thoughts.
192
It's just hard to see the people who cared for you as a baby become a baby themselves.
193
Why did the Clare's team leave this in?
194
It starts to take an uplifting turn for a moment,
195
reflected in the sudden calming of the adult man in the waiting room,
196
now transfixed on this man's speech.
197
If it's true that when you die,
198
you get to go back through your life and relive all the moments,
199
then I want some moments in there where I'm just dying laughing!
200
Until somehow we end up over here...
201
I'm sitting in an empty room,
202
laughing my ass off to trick my dead self.
203
I had a great life!
204
WHAT?!
205
And of course, while we're realizing horror and dread,
206
there's one of the best sketches of season three in the whole show,
207
the Darmine Doggy Door.
208
We've seen lots of sketches in the show prior to this
209
that are some sort of infomercial for a shitty product or service that never should have been greenlit in the first place.
210
But none of them are packed with so many unironically profound sentiments as this one.
211
What starts as an ad for a doggy door becomes a
212
story of how the salesman thought he was gonna get eaten when something broke in through his old doggy door,
213
and then continues spiraling as his thought of getting eaten actually gives him a sense of relief.
214
When you think you're gonna get eaten and your first thought is, Great!
215
I don't have to go to work tomorrow.
216
You're relieved you don't have to go to work because you thought you were gonna get eaten?
217
A commentary that's just as real as it is absurd.
218
Realizing that fantasizing about being dead is relieving the obligation of modern life makes you question,
219
What the fuck is this world?
220
What have they done to us?
221
What did they do to us?
222
I agree!
223
I freak out about this stuff all the time.
224
Now we're watching this salesman have an existential crisis about how much he hates his job while he's on the job.
225
My life is nothing I thought it should be
226
and everything I was worried it would become because for 50 seconds I thought there was monsters on the world.
227
You can't tell me that as in high art.
228
Level 4, Deepest Inner Desires.
229
Moving on to another one of the best sketches in the
230
show for our second to last subcategory is The Stranger at the Diner or The Ice Cream Store Lie.
231
This is one of those rare sketches where Tim plays the straight man.
232
What starts is a guy looping a stranger into his ploy to convince his daughter
233
that they have to go home instead of getting ice cream,
234
with a smile and a wink.
235
The stranger goes along with it.
236
When the temperature drops, the ice cream machines freeze up.
237
But then he keeps participating in the fantasy.
238
And I own every kind of classic car.
239
What's that?
240
Ah, classic cars.
241
I own every kind of a classic car, because I'm rich, right?
242
Realizing that he has the power to rewrite the story of his life in this moment,
243
His imagination cannot help but realize everything he's ever wanted.
244
Actually, I have triples of the barracuda.
245
I have triples, right?
246
If I don't have triples,
247
then the other stuff's not true.
248
He has triples of the barracuda.
249
He just keeps going and going and going off the rails and inadvertently revealing his insecurities and yearning for a partner.
250
It's just me and the open road.
251
I go for days and days all alone.
252
Just, but I do, I have a wife.
253
Which forces Tim to just keep lying like he's in too deep now.
254
He has to go with it.
255
You know I have a wife.
256
Tell her about my wife.
257
Yeah.
258
She's good, right?
259
The sketch hits so hard,
260
not just because it's funny,
261
but because it's so real.
262
And I'm rich.
263
He's rich.
264
I don't live in a hotel.
265
My friend doesn't live in a hotel.
266
We've got a good wife.
267
We've got a wife.
268
And I really think that Bob Odenkirk's performance is quite literally perfect.
269
He couldn't have delivered any line better than he does.
270
She's sick, but she's hanging in there.
271
Tell her.
272
You know.
273
Tell the kid.
274
If that sketch ultimately revealed that guy's deepest inner desires of love,
275
then the driving crooner ultimately reveals one's deepest desires about career.
276
A co-worker is so kind as to offer a ride home to a friend who's unfit to drive,
277
but without mentioning anything to them about the fact that they're riding with the driving crooner.
278
The hat and the cigar!
279
You're driving with the driving crooner, baby!
280
That'll travel.
281
Fuck!
282
Fuck!
283
Fuck!
284
They're trying to make him look fake!
285
A concept which is humorous when it works,
286
but admittedly hard to pull off.
287
You gotta be right next to me for it to look real.
288
You gotta be right next to me!
289
Adding to the stress is the fact that people hate him for doing this.
290
He has sworn enemies and frat boys who find him in traffic and threaten to murder him.
291
Go, no!
292
What?
293
Frat boys, they're gonna try and run us off the road.
294
What?
295
I'm gonna fucking kill you, driving crooner!
296
Why would someone do such a thing?
297
Why go through all the trouble of putting on the charade
298
if it's close to impossible to achieve and people want you dead for it?
299
Especially because this is a side hustle he wants to turn into his main hustle.
300
I gotta figure out how to make money out of this thing,
301
it's simply too good.
302
What the fuck is this business model?
303
Why would you do this?
304
Cause this is the American dream.
305
This is his passion, his purpose,
306
his big idea that's gonna change everything.
307
And I know you have a driving crooner and you too.
308
No matter how stupid your backstory sounds to other people.
309
When I was a kid,
310
I fell into a river and a fish bumped me out of the water.
311
I was supposed to die,
312
but a fish bumped me out with its nose.
313
No matter how silly your idea looks to them,
314
no matter how hard it is to make that unique thing
315
that you love doing and figure out how to make money on it,
316
That was the earth telling me I was supposed to do something great.
317
And I know that's the driving crooner, it has to be!
318
You can do it and you should do it.
319
Be like the driving crooner and never give up.
320
Level 5.
321
You would think they're insane.
322
And finally, we have the sketches I think have the most prominent amounts of sentimental scenes in them.
323
In these sketches, the characters in question are behaving so weird,
324
you guessed it, you would think they're insane.
325
An insecure man at a party.
326
Insecure man!
327
Who gets offended when a baby starts crying when it's his turn to hold it.
328
Of course he cries when I hold it.
329
Something one could easily laugh off,
330
but he gets stuck on it.
331
A co-worker who thought a loud noise of the office was a volcano erupting.
332
Whoa, what was that?
333
Oh, it makes a really loud sound when the air goes on.
334
I thought it was thunder.
335
I thought it was like a truck backing into the building.
336
I thought it was like a volcano erupting.
337
What the hell?
338
Everyone makes fun of him for it.
339
Someone jokes, I wish I could live in that guy's brain.
340
That seems to really affect him.
341
A member of a live studio performance responsible for a laugh track recording is fixated on not laughing
342
but sharing stories of bad experiences he's had with a couple of businesses.
343
You know she still writes me from jail?
344
TK Jewelers is a scam.
345
Watch exploded on date.
346
Taken it too personally, the baby holder projects his insecurity
347
that the baby was crying specifically because it knows he used to be a huge piece of shit.
348
Probably just doesn't like me because I used to be a piece of shit.
349
Baby cried because it knows I used to be a piece of shit?
350
Did you used to be a piece of shit?
351
Oh, yeah.
352
Two determined he's not weird for thinking it was a volcano,
353
and likely disturbed by the way it was made out to be the oddball of the group,
354
the employee keeps sharing the things he's seeing with his coworker until she gets in trouble for it.
355
I thought this was a little pimp.
356
The highlighter?
357
I thought it was a little pimp walking all around.
358
Shhh.
359
Two focused on himself and oblivious to the world around him,
360
The Laugh Track participant relentlessly continues on with complaints about his bad experiences with a watch company and a limo company.
361
L&L limos is a scam.
362
He hugged my date.
363
As if dropping bad yelf reviews on the Laugh Track will get the message out and serve them justice.
364
He keeps doing this, which forces the crew to put a halt to the production.
365
And in each of these cases,
366
you would think he's insane.
367
But that's precisely where the show takes an unexpectedly satisfying turn.
368
It's revealed that in fact the baby can tell he used to be a huge piece of shit.
369
It peers into his soul and sees him for who he really was before and accepts him for who he is now.
370
And in a beautiful moment of connection,
371
the employee offers his hand to his coworker and shares with her what he can see.
372
And he wasn't lying, he did see a volcano and a little pimp.
373
And the asshole disrupting the live performance,
374
wasting dozens of people's time and probably thousands of dollars just
375
so he could rant about how these two companies ruined his date.
376
A lot of these places,
377
they try and rip off people like me.
378
People who are looking for love.
379
Well in a bizarre twist of fate,
380
the director hears his stories,
381
reflects on how it makes him feel,
382
and ultimately decides, Well I guess we could leave some of it in if it will help some people.
383
Yeah, right, little goes a long way.
384
And that's all that he needed.
385
He finally gets his catharsis about his date,
386
because his watch did explode there was a hand with the Super Bowl ring infiltrating his limo,
387
and the limo driver did hug his date.
388
These are somehow simultaneously some of the most absurd and emotionally moving sketches that I've ever seen,
389
and that's something you can't get anywhere else,
390
and that's how I think you should leave is changing comedy.
391
Thank you.
Download App
AI scoring for every sentence you speak
TRENDING
Popular
Context & Background
The video titled "Why I Think You Should Leave Cures My Depression" explores the unique comedic approach of the show "I Think You Should Leave." Throughout its sketch-based format, the series often revolves around situations where one character is undeniably in the wrong, yet they refuse to acknowledge their mistakes. This theme creates an atmosphere of discomfort and absurdity, often leading to humorous confrontations. What makes the show particularly engaging is the underlying sentimentality that can emerge amid the chaos, suggesting that sometimes, even the most irritating character deserves a moment of compassion and validation. This fascinating blend of absurdism and heart has become a hallmark of the series.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “Oh! Looks like you pushed.” – A light-hearted acknowledgment of someone's mistake.
- “It actually goes both ways.” – Suggesting mutual responsibility in a disagreement.
- “If you love it as much as you say you do...” – A way to challenge someone's sincerity.
- “Haven't been to the board in a long time.” – Reflecting on personal history or experiences.
- “Everything's gonna be okay.” – A comforting reassurance that can apply to various situations.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively utilize this video for your English speaking practice, especially for IELTS speaking practice, follow this step-by-step shadowing method:
- Listen Actively: Start by watching the video without subtitles to grasp the overall tone and context. Pay attention to how emotions and absurdity intermingle in the dialogue.
- Identify Key Phrases: Focus on the top phrases listed above. These capture essential interactions that you might encounter in daily conversations.
- Shadow Speaking: Play a segment of the video and repeat what you hear in real-time. This method, known as shadow speech, helps improve pronunciation and rhythm. Use the hashtag shadowspeaks to connect with others in this practice.
- Record Yourself: After shadowing, try recording your speech. Compare your version to the original to identify areas for improvement. This reflection can enhance your speaking skills dramatically.
- Practice Regularly: Incorporate this shadowing exercise in your daily routine to build fluency. As you become comfortable with these phrases, gradually introduce more complex dialogues from different sketches for a wider english speaking practice repertoire.
By engaging with the content effectively, you'll not only enhance your understanding of different comedic contexts but also develop your conversational skills in English. Remember, the journey to fluency is often filled with quirky moments – embrace them, and you'll find yourself connecting with the language in new and meaningful ways!
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.
☕ Buy us a coffee
ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏