Stand up and make a whole room laugh
If you go to a club and pay (付钱) to hear someone tell funny stories, it’s called “stand-up”.
Stand-up comedy (单口喜剧) started in Britain and the US more than 150 years ago. Men, women and even children performed (表演) in front of people. The famous actor Charlie Chaplin started to do this at the age of 5.
When radio and cinema became more popular (受欢迎的), stand-up clubs closed. But in Britain, some performers became famous on TV. One Christmas, half the population (人口) of the UK – about 28 million (百万) people – watched a stand-up comedy show.
Today there are stand-up clubs around the world. So why is it still (仍然) so popular? Perhaps it’s because it is simple and fun. All you need is one person to stand up and make the whole room laugh.
Did you know?
In Chinese, many stand-up comedy shows such as 80’s Talk Show (《今晚80后脱口秀》) and Rock & Roast (《脱口秀大会》) are called tuokouxiu, or “talk show”. But Western talk shows are a bit different, in fact. On talk shows, there is a host (主持人). The host will have guests to interview (采访). Stand-up comedy is more like crosstalk (相声) in China.
【小题1】Where did stand-up comedy start?【小题2】When did Chaplin start doing stand-up comedy?
【小题3】Paragraph 3 shows that some people started to do stand-up comedy ________.
| A．on the radio | B．in clubs | C．on TV | D．at Christmas parties |
【小题5】Would you like to do stand-up? Why or why not?
