English Daily: The Tonight Show

Engramme: Your Daily English Programme #50 (New Series): The Tonight Show Starring... (Listening B1-C1)

Think Before You Listen

Take a look at these pictures from a popular, prime-time American TV show: What do you think this TV program is about? Why do you think it is so popular?

The Tonight Show is a long-running American late-night television talk show that began broadcasting on NBC on September 27, 1954. The show has been running non-stop to this day and has had six principal hosts, with Steve Allen as its first and Jimmy Fallon as its current host. From the monologs, to the guests, comedy sketches, and musical acts, there has never been a dull moment in The Tonight Show's long, rich history. A lot of famous people, from politicians and actors to comedians and musicians, have been guest stars on its many programs.

Watch and Listen

Watch the Video: Do you know the actor in this episode? What does he do on the show?

Let's Practice

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks often give learners the false impression that English conversation is neat: that it lacks repetition, rephrasing and/or self-corrections. Nothing could be further from the truth. Real-time conversation in any language is messy: people sometimes change their words or sentences to match the ideas they want to express; they sometimes correct themselves or others, and may repeat themselves to make sure the other person understood what they said or meant to say; unfinished sentences and interruptions are also a common characteristic of spoken dialog between two or more people. Add to this the environmental noise that often surrounds conversation situations (traffic, people, etc). Therefore, it is important to train your ear in perceiving what is said in conversation in spite of all the factors that make listening, and spoken interaction, difficult for your as a learner. The following activity will help you improve your listening and learn some common expressions in English while recognizing some of the features of real-life conversation:

Watch and Listen Again: Try and find out what the missing words are (you may need to listen more than once)

(mouse over the colored words to see their meaning)

- Benedict, I saw you do a magic trick on...somewhere online, and I didn't even know that you're a magician. - ________ did I, Jimmy. - I was wondering if you maybe could do the trick for us tonight. It involves _______. - Oh, okay! Well, last time I did this I had a magician off-camera teaching me how to do it. So, I’ll give it a ____! - How’s best to do it? - Shall I come around there? Or can I do it from here? - Yeah, sure, yeah. - So, I'll be your assistant? - I can't promise that this will work. Yeah, can I have a bit of _______, please? - Do you want to be on this side or that side, or does it matter? - Okay, okay. -Which side? - I don´t think it matters as long as I´ve got... - All right, good. - I don´t want to be too near electronics in case it goes ______. -Yeah, okay. - Ladies and gentlemen, here we have a bottle of water. - Okay. - Bottle of water for you guys [American pronunciation]. - Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, America, yeah, America. Water in England, but maybe it was... Could have been imported. - Could be. - _______  ___ water [British pronunciation], but now it´s water [American pronunciation]. - So I just broke … I just broke the seal, but that doesn´t matter. Look. There´s the bubble. It´s a bottle of water, bottle of water, water. Uh, I´m opening a bottle of water. Could be imported. Might be. We don´t know. It´s an unbranded bottle. - Unbranded bottle. - It´s not part of the magic. Not part of the magic sort. Okay, so. Uh... - The trick gets better than this, you guys. ______  ___. This is not the trick. - That´s it. It´s a bottle of water. - It´s him holding water. - That´s the whole ______. - Okay, so, if I get this right. If I think really hard, I should be able to -- See, I´m shaking because I´m so _______. I should be able to take my hand away, and no water will come out. Oooh. It might not work. It might not work. It might not work. Ahh. There we go. Okay. Got to keep this cup in case it does come out. If I concentrate – - Want me to hold it? - No. I think I got it. If I _________ really hard, the water should then come out. There you go. - That´s un -- how -- - That´s a normal bottle of water. It´s a normal bottle, and it´s not -- it´s, you know... - That´s what I´m talking about right there. - No water. Yeah, look. No water. - Benedict Cumberbatch, everybody. - Wait a minute. Where -- Where did it go? - "The Current War" opens ________  ____. When we come back, Benedict and I are playing a fun game. Stick around. How did you just – wait! - The water went into that. Now, where did the water go? - I don´t ________.

(Turn on the subtitles on the video to check your answers)

Over to You

Are you keen on watching some more episodes/scenes from the show while improving your listening skills? ...Click here for more

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Huge Congrats! If you have followed our regular, daily posts here, then you have covered 50 weekday lessons, and 25 weekend episodes, so far. Practicing English on a regular basis helps you improve your English skills and gain more confidence in your expression over time ;)

Review the Vocabulary from this post HERE

Teachers Can Download a pdf copy of this post for classroom use HERE

Did You Notice? If you move your mouse over the underlined/colored words in the text, you can see their meaning and much more