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Shadowing practice: American Dad: Damn Herv (Clip) | TBS

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. how how how how how how how how how how how how how how how how What the hell?0:05
  2. She trapped me in this giant aspic!0:31
  3. Madame, she's gone crazy again!0:37
  4. Again?0:40
  5. Many years ago, Madame and Monsieur Seine were making that movie, how you say, Marble...Mobile?0:41
  6. That's correct.0:48
  7. And he came to Madame, and he said, he fell in love with Mamoise Del Marre.0:49
  8. Leonard fell in love with Gloria?0:54
  9. The marble delivery girl?0:56
  10. Yes, they were going to run away together on that boat, but Madame Joon...0:58
  11. She killed them both!1:03
  12. Drowned them.1:07
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  1. The police could never prove it, but everyone in town knew the truth.1:08
  2. If everyone knew, why didn't anyone do anything about it?1:12
  3. It was old Hollywood.1:15
  4. Everybody was killing everybody.1:17
  5. Karen Grant used to butcher three people a week.1:20
  6. And now...1:24
  7. Oh, and I suppose you're here to silence me, part of some shadowy showbiz cover -up?1:25
  8. What?1:29
  9. No!1:30
  10. I'm here for Maxine.1:30
  11. We're lovers.1:32
  12. Here, take my car.1:34
  13. I think you'll find your wife at the marina.1:36
  14. Well, I better get...get...get...get...damn, herve!1:44
  15. Go free the whales.2:00
  16. We talked about this, Roger.2:06
  17. You're the one who frees the whales every time.2:08
  18. This was going to be the time you did the dance -off, but here we are in the whale room once again.2:10

Fast American Sitcom Dialogue for B1 English Speaking Practice

This scene from American Dad opens on a housekeeper stammering through "how how how" before blurting out "What the hell?", and that single line sets the register for the whole clip: quick, overlapping, theatrical. The recording is rated B1 and runs at 138 words per minute, faster than 11% of the clips in this catalogue, so lines land close together and reward more than one pass through.

Across 30 lines the scene moves between a panicked housekeeper, a stunned visitor and a running gag about whales, so you get several distinct voices in one short recording rather than a single narrator. Characters interrupt each other, react in one word like "What?" and "No!", and land jokes on delivery more than on vocabulary. It plays like everyday english conversation practice compressed into a minute, all in an american accent, which makes it a solid pick if your usual material is learn english with movies clips of quieter, single speaker footage.

The Language in This American Dad Scene: American Accent and Comic Timing

Three lines carry most of the value if you want to improve your english accent rather than just follow the plot.

  • "The police could never prove it, but everyone in town knew the truth." The modal stack "could never prove" is where American speakers stress the verb, not the modal, and "in town" links into one breath group. Say it slowly first, then at the clip's pace.
  • "Well, I better get...get...get...get...damn, herve!" This is the title line, and the repeated "get" is a stall, not a mistake in the transcript. Copying the hesitation, not smoothing it out, is what makes this a useful line for how to pronounce english words under pressure.
  • "Shadowy showbiz" from the cover up line is a run of sh sounds back to back. American Dad leans on this kind of alliteration for jokes, so getting the /ʃ/ crisp on both words is good, focused pronunciation drilling.

How to Shadow This B1 Clip for Daily English Conversation Practice

Work through the scene in the order it plays rather than jumping to the punchline, since the comic timing depends on the buildup.

  • Start with line 1, "how how how how" into "What the hell?". Shadow the stammer at half speed first so you can feel where the stress moves before the outburst.
  • Take the housekeeper's explanation next, the run from "Many years ago, Madame and Monsieur Seine were making that movie" through "they were going to run away together on that boat". This is the clip's most connected storytelling, so practise it as one continuous line, not word by word.
  • Isolate "Well, I better get...get...get...get...damn, herve!" on its own and repeat it five times. It is short, it is the clip's title, and the stall on "get" is exactly the kind of hesitation that trips learners up in real daily english conversation practice.
  • Close with the whale exchange, lines 27 to 30. Read Roger's and the other character's lines back to back to practise the quick turn taking that everyday english conversation actually has, where nobody waits for a full pause before answering.
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