full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jamil Abu-Wardeh: The Axis of Evil Middle East Comedy Tour

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Working in London as TV maker and wrteir, I quickly realized that cedomy connects aieeucnds. Now, the best breeding ground for good comic writing is the stand-up comedy ciiucrt, where they just happen to say that you kill when you do well and you bomb when you do badly. An uunfarnotte connection for us maybe, but it reminds me that we'd like to thank one man for, over the past decade, working tirelessly to support comedians all around the world, specifically comedians with a Middle Eastern bugncrakod. (Applause) Like my good friends, Dean and Maysoon, at the bottom of the screen, who, two years after 9/11, setrtad a festival to cgnahe the way Middle eetrnaress are perceived in the world. It's still going strong, with positive press to die for. Also, three guys working for years in Los Angeles, an Iranian, a Palestinian and an egapyitn, created the aptly named Axis of Evil comedy act. And wherever they went, they kliled.

Open Cloze


Working in London as TV maker and ______, I quickly realized that ______ connects _________. Now, the best breeding ground for good comic writing is the stand-up comedy _______, where they just happen to say that you kill when you do well and you bomb when you do badly. An ___________ connection for us maybe, but it reminds me that we'd like to thank one man for, over the past decade, working tirelessly to support comedians all around the world, specifically comedians with a Middle Eastern __________. (Applause) Like my good friends, Dean and Maysoon, at the bottom of the screen, who, two years after 9/11, _______ a festival to ______ the way Middle __________ are perceived in the world. It's still going strong, with positive press to die for. Also, three guys working for years in Los Angeles, an Iranian, a Palestinian and an ________, created the aptly named Axis of Evil comedy act. And wherever they went, they ______.

Solution


  1. killed
  2. change
  3. unfortunate
  4. writer
  5. egyptian
  6. started
  7. comedy
  8. circuit
  9. background
  10. easterners
  11. audiences

Original Text


Working in London as TV maker and writer, I quickly realized that comedy connects audiences. Now, the best breeding ground for good comic writing is the stand-up comedy circuit, where they just happen to say that you kill when you do well and you bomb when you do badly. An unfortunate connection for us maybe, but it reminds me that we'd like to thank one man for, over the past decade, working tirelessly to support comedians all around the world, specifically comedians with a Middle Eastern background. (Applause) Like my good friends, Dean and Maysoon, at the bottom of the screen, who, two years after 9/11, started a festival to change the way Middle Easterners are perceived in the world. It's still going strong, with positive press to die for. Also, three guys working for years in Los Angeles, an Iranian, a Palestinian and an Egyptian, created the aptly named Axis of Evil comedy act. And wherever they went, they killed.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
middle east 7
middle eastern 5
righting writing 3
writing wrongs 3
local amateurs 2
positive pr 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
righting writing wrongs 3

Important Words


  1. act
  2. angeles
  3. applause
  4. aptly
  5. audiences
  6. axis
  7. background
  8. badly
  9. bomb
  10. bottom
  11. breeding
  12. change
  13. circuit
  14. comedians
  15. comedy
  16. comic
  17. connection
  18. connects
  19. created
  20. dean
  21. decade
  22. die
  23. eastern
  24. easterners
  25. egyptian
  26. evil
  27. festival
  28. friends
  29. good
  30. ground
  31. guys
  32. happen
  33. iranian
  34. kill
  35. killed
  36. london
  37. los
  38. maker
  39. man
  40. maysoon
  41. middle
  42. named
  43. palestinian
  44. perceived
  45. positive
  46. press
  47. quickly
  48. realized
  49. reminds
  50. screen
  51. specifically
  52. started
  53. strong
  54. support
  55. tirelessly
  56. tv
  57. unfortunate
  58. working
  59. world
  60. writer
  61. writing
  62. years