AEE 2640: Let’s Roast the All Ears English Team!

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2640. Let's roast the All Ears English team. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English?

We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA.

And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe. Have you ever roasted someone? Did you know that AI can roast you? Today, you'll learn what roasts are all about in American culture and hear a roast of each of the All Ears English hosts.

Hello, Michelle. How are you today? I'm doing well, Aubrey. How are you? Excellent. I am very excited for today's episode. We have never done anything like this before.

It's new and it's going to be very fun. I think listeners are really going to get a kick out of this. Okay, I'm so excited. So, Aubrey, have you ever roasted anyone?

No. Yes, I did. We had a neighbor that we knew really well. We were very good friends. And then they moved to Atlanta. And we planned a roast. We didn't tell them we were surprising them.

We all planned a little roast of them. And they were easy to roast. They were fun to roast because they're just really funny, interesting people who there was so many fun things to poke fun at. And so I roasted the funniest thing I remember roasting him about is he's Italian.

And he does this thing where he will take fresh shaved Parmesan. And he puts it under his lip, like it's dip, like tobacco. And he just like holds it there. And he just loves the flavor of Parmesan.

And he has it. He has like a cheese dip in his lip at all times. And I remember making fun of that in his roast. It's so funny. I don't know anyone else that does that.

No, that's an interesting one. Yeah, I love it. Oh, so that's cool. So yeah, we're talking about this word roast. So Aubrey, but what is a roast? Yeah.

This is a type of humor where someone is playfully mocked or insulted, but in a very witty, exaggerated way. It's usually in front of an audience, which that was. It was like all of our neighbors and we were just all laughing and they were laughing. It was all like playful.

Nothing was super mean spirited. And yeah, usually one person is the target of the jokes, but they're also in on the jokes. They are usually also laughing. A good roast, they will also be laughing.

yes right exactly so um yeah it's a series of jokes at one person's expense um and yeah like you said delivered by friends colleagues or comedians and like and another thing an important point again is it's meant to be funny not genuinely hurtful um and i always just think of you know a classic example is the celebrity roast um Did you ever see on Comedy Central? Absolutely. Did you see the Tom Brady roast?

I laughed so hard. That's my favorite one. No, I didn't. I didn't see it. If you guys out there haven't seen it, look it up after this episode. So Nikki Glaser is one of many comedians who roast Tom Brady.

And there's a really not famous, but I've heard a lot of people talking about there's a joke. I guess Tom Brady lost some money with Bitcoin, I guess, based on something she says. And she's kind of teasing him. And she's also making fun of somebody else that was there, a friend and football player that he plays with named Rob Gronkowski.

They call him Gronk. And she's making fun of him for losing money. She's like, even Gronk's like, me know that not real money. And she talks like he's a Neanderthal, sort of.

And everyone was dying. It's very funny. Nikki Glaser's pretty funny. But she's also very irreverent. She's like pushing the boundaries. And it's like borderline offensive when some of these comedians are roasting someone.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But why are roasts done? Yeah. Well, they're very entertaining. People enjoy that sharp, clever humor. And it sort of honors someone in sort of a strange way.

Being roasted means you are important or well-liked enough and you have a good enough sense of humor that you can take the jokes. You can't roast just anybody. If someone can't take a joke, you can't roast them. Yes, exactly.

It's not going to work. It is kind of interesting how we honor someone by making fun of them. Yeah. We're saying we know you well enough and like you well enough to joke about you and with you.

And it's a huge compliment. When someone tells, even if it's a small joke where they're kind of roasting me, I love it. I'm like, they know I can take it. And I'm laughing as hard as they are every time.

Yes, yes, exactly. But then it's not a roast. Like usually a roast is not meant to be mean spirited. right and yeah it definitely like you said it can be a form of bonding because friends can roast each other to show closeness like a just like a form of teasing um you know you can roast you know someone about something they did if you have a friend from your childhood you know you might say something about something that you know about them and uh you know it kind of shows how close you are yeah yes

It becomes a roast like the best man speech or the any speech someone would give becomes more of a roast of the person getting married if they do it right. And then it's funny for everyone. And that's the best kind of like speech at a wedding, in my opinion.

Yeah. Oh, that's so much. I always love like the best man speech, the maid of honor speech. Because, you know, usually with the parent speeches at a wedding, it's a little bit more emotional, a little bit more.

But then when you get to the friends. Yeah, it's funny that it's a roast. Yes, exactly. So we discovered that you can ask AI to roast you if you've given it enough information about yourself.

So if you have a version where you're talking to AI a lot and they're learning a lot about you, you can ask them to roast you or if there's information about you online. So we discovered that us, the All Your English team, AI can pull information from all of our episodes and roast us. Michelle first sent me the roast of her and I died, Michelle. I laughed so hard at it.

And we are going to share it today with you guys as well as the roast that AI did of me and of Lindsay. This is so fun. Okay, okay. Yeah, it was funny.

I did this because my family was playing around with it. And then I realized I have certainly enough content out in the wild for AI to know me. And so I was like, let's just see what they would say. And it was pretty funny.

All right, you want to read mine? Yes, I'll read Michelle's. I love it. All right. Michelle from the Allers English podcast is basically the human embodiment of, wait, let's break that down one more time.

You'll learn one phrase and then learn it again. And then again, just in case you blinked the first two times. She has the energy of someone who drank three coffees, but is still politely asking, does that make sense after each sentence? Like, yes, Michelle, we got it.

But also please continue because now we're emotionally dependent on the reassurance. And the enthusiasm unmatched. She'll turn something like ring a bell into a full TED talk. You came for one idiom and left with a life philosophy, a cultural breakdown, and a reminder to connect, not perfect, like it's your new personal mantra.

Also, let's be honest. She's the only person who can make small talk sound like high stakes social strategy. This phrase will help you connect. Ma'am, I was just trying to order coffee, not build a meaningful cross-cultural relationship with my barista.

I love it. But credit where it's due. If explaining were an Olympic sport, Michelle would not just win gold. She'd explain why she won it, give three examples, and then quiz you on it at the end.

Okay. All love, though, she's the reason half the world can confidently say, kind of, you know, and write in every sentence now. Oh, it's so good, Michelle. It is good.

I was obsessed. When you sent this to me, I was laughing so hard. I immediately did a roast of myself. I could not wait to see what AI said about me. And then we roasted Lindsay.

And we're going to share both of those with you after the break. All right. Okay. Aubrey, so now I'm going to roast you from AI. So this is what AI said.

So here we go. Aubrey has that dangerous level of enthusiasm where you're not sure if she's about to teach you English or recruit you into a very upbeat productivity cult.

every answer starts sounding like a motivational speech by minute two yeah aubrey i'm just gonna make a stop i feel like this is all of us you know like all like a lot of themes yes there were themes um in the productivity cult though i don't something about it they know they know yeah yeah but yes it's true there are definitely themes that's more like every all ears english host this is true about them yes yeah And then it says, and the way she explains phrases, she'll take something simple like it's a lot and turn it into a full philosophical framework about human connection, emotional nuance, and probably your life purpose.

You came for vocabulary. You left questioning your identity. That's so funny. I love it. That's really funny. Also, Aubrey loves examples. One phrase?

Cool. Five variations? Expected. A full roleplay, emotional arc, and character development? Of course. At this point, the examples have examples. I love that.

Character development in our roleplays? Absolutely. Yes. And let's not ignore the connection skills angle. You're just trying to learn English and suddenly Aubrey's like, yeah, but how does this help you build deep human relationships?

Ma'am, I just want to pass IELTS. I love that. Ma'am, I just want to pass IELTS. Yep. Yep. But honestly, that's the thing. She makes everything feel meaningful.

Even the smallest phrase becomes this big, important life skill. It's like you didn't just learn English. You grew as a person. So, yeah. Yeah. Roast aside, Aubrey's the kind of teacher who accidentally improves your communication and your emotional intelligence at the same time, which is honestly a bit unfair to the rest of us.

I guess we better subscribe to the All Ears English podcast, guys. And that is your reminder to hit follow wherever you're listening to All Ears English. Yes. hit follow.

These are so entertaining to me and fascinating that you're right. They're like pulling everything we've said from all these podcasts. A lot of it's true for all of us, but some of it feels so true for me or for you. I love it.

I think it's just so fun. And sorry, bit unfair to the rest of you. Not sorry. Sorry, not sorry. So, yeah, it's just funny because, yeah, definitely because, yeah, when you think of All Ears English, we give so many examples and we also are always thinking, oh, yeah, how does this help you connect?

And, you know, the deeper meaning of all of it. And so it's just funny to see. I think a good roast calls out things that you don't think about as being true. You don't even realize yourself.

until you hear it. Yeah, you don't realize and then you hear it. Exactly, exactly. Do you want to read Lindsay? Yes. Okay, guys. So this is the Roast of Lindsay.

For those of you who are super listeners and have been here since what, 2013? You know Lindsay well, this is going to resonate with you. And it's also just super fun. So I'll go ahead and read it.

Lindsay McMahon seems like the kind of person who could turn ordering a coffee into a full-on cultural exchange lesson. You're like, can I just get a latte? And Lindsay's like, great question. But first, what does coffee culture mean to you?

She has so much enthusiasm. It's like she wakes up every morning at 110% energy and the rest of us are still buffering at 7%. Honestly, if positivity were a sport, Lindsay would have a gold medal, a podcast about winning the medal, and a three-part episode series on how the medal feels emotionally. I love it so much.

And let's be real. She says connection, not perfection so often that even her grocery list probably says it. Eggs, milk, connection, not perfection. Yeah.

That's a really good joke. Also, the way she breaks down English phrases, you start the episode thinking you'll learn one idiom, and suddenly you've got five examples, a role play, a cultural tip, a motivational speech, and you're like, wait, am I learning English or becoming a better person?

The answer is bull. But hey, if being extra, endlessly upbeat, and deeply committed to human connection is wrong, Lindsay clearly does not want to be right.

I am obsessed. I love these so much. I'm excited for all of you to see if AI can roast you. Or if not, you can give AI some details, you know, give them details about your life and then see what they come up with.

I think it's so fun. Yeah, it is definitely fun. And it's funny because this is funny, but then it does kind of reach kind of the crux, I'll say, of what we do, which is that connection, not perfection. And it does identify that

we are not just like your typical podcast where we're just saying the phrases, right? That's not what we're about. And we hope that, you know, what you come to us for is because we're talking about it on deeper levels and different ways rather than any, any just lists of words, right? Yeah.

I love that AI gets it on all three of these. That was definitely a running theme that we're not just teaching English. We're talking about how you can use it to connect and And we're talking about culture, right?

It's all there. AI sees it. I'm sure you guys do as well. That's why you're here. There's a lot of other English language podcasts you could be listening to.

You also believe in connection, not perfection. And I love that AI highlighted that so much for us. I thought it was so fun. Same here. Well, I can't get over it, how good that was.

So guys, speaking of can't get over it, on episode 2637, we do can't get over it. So that's called can't get over it, how to talk about sunsets, concerts, and more. So check that one out. And yeah, takeaway for today, you can only roast someone who is open to being teased and poked fun of.

And they can easily get mean. We actually, AI can have like sort of a meaner setting or you can make sure that it's not mean spirited. And at first one of them was mean. We're like, whoa, harsh.

And then you just change the setting. It's like, okay, let's keep it fun. Let's keep it not mean spirited. It's so funny. So you can also play with that, right?

And you want to be careful when you roast someone, it can easily be like too mean, too harsh, too cutting. Yeah. And you want to keep it fun. You want to make sure everyone's laughing, including the person being roasted.

Yeah. I think another time we could go through these and really just go through some of the vocab they used and actually kind of really dissect the whole thing. So guys, definitely hit follow. Maybe we can come back to these soon in the future.

And yeah, this was a lot of fun, Aubrey. Thanks for doing this episode. Absolutely. Thank you, Michelle. And thanks, listeners. for being here with us on the journey.

I have a feeling you guys thought these were all pretty accurate. Come back to YouTube and leave a comment and let us know what you think about AI's roasts of us. Yes. I love it.

All right. This was so much fun, Aubrey. Thanks for listening, guys. And we'll talk to you soon. See you next time. Bye. Bye. See you next time.