Sentence 1: The comedian took the stage and grabbed the microphone. 
 Sentence 3: No one in the audience laughed at this story 
 Sentence 4:  The comedian panicked and tried some of his best material 
 Sentence 5:  The audience refused to even smile and so he left the stage 
 Option 1: He could not tell his funny story because the microphone was dead. 
 Option 2: He began to tell a funny story about his past.