Comedy and Humour - Unit 11
C1 Advanced · Listening Multiple Choice Interview · Ready for C1 Advanced 4th Edition, Macmillan Education
You will hear part of an interview in which two college lecturers called David Marshall and Josie Shi Xu are talking about comedy and humour. For questions 1–6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.
What point does David make about the best jokes at the Edinburgh Festival?
They show the importance of timing in comedy radio.
They rely on an understanding of current affairs.
They would be amusing to people of any nationality.
They tend to make people smile rather than laugh a lot.
David mentions showing an online lecture to his students to illustrate how
people can misunderstand the purpose behind humour.
irrelevant points might undermine a person's message.
some controversial topics are best treated with respect.
a sense of distance can lessen the impact of a joke.
When Josie compares humour in the US to Chinese humour, she says that
Americans rely on exaggeration to amuse others.
both cultures use jokes in order to relieve social tension.
the use of word play is seldom used in American comedy.
Chinese people prefer not to make someone feel silly.
In Josie's opinion, a TV series like Fawlty Towers shows how
programmes have to be adapted to suit local tastes.
visual humour no longer appeals so much to the British.
people laugh at things which are relevant to their society.
joke-telling in Britain can be used to establish seniority.
Josie believes that 'international humour' courses
are unlikely to be necessary in modern times.
would require participants to be multi-lingual.
may well be a trend that continues to grow.
might be of some use in business circles.
When asked about the effect of upbringing, David and Josie both say that
young children and parents rarely share a sense of humour.
young children tend to take their social cues from their parents.
parents usually end up being the target of their older children's jokes.
parents often embarrass their older children when attempting to be funny.
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