| Step | Assumption | Shatter | Gag |
| 1) The previous act leaves the stage. | 1a) The previous act is really done. | 1a) The previous act is still going when the MC enters. | 1a) MC comes out, asks for a big round of applause, and dismisses the previous act right as they’re about to start the big trick they’ve been building up to the entire act. (I.e. A magician finally exposing the lost card. The juggler starting to juggle after setting up an elaborate balance. The singer going for the climactic high note.) |
| 1b) The previous act isn’t also the next act. | 1b) The previous is also the next act. | 1b) MC comes out, thanks the previous act: “Let’s hear if for Poetic Motion Machine!!!” and then says: “The great thing about a variety show like this is all the different kinds of acts you get to see. And with that in mind, please welcome to the stage our next act: Poetic Motion Machine!” | |
| 1c) MC has waited for them to finish. | 1c) MC interrupts their big trick. | 1c) The entire act is building up to the Francis Brun combo trick. Just as all the pieces are in place, the 2 balances on the head, the rings spinning on the leg, the rings on the arm and right when he’s about to juggle, the MC comes out and calls for a big round of applause. The curtain closes just as we see the first throw. | |
| 2) The band plays them off. | 2a) The playoff isn’t part of the act. | 2a) The playoff is actually the act. | 2a) A juggler comes out and does a ten second trick/routine. MC comes out and thanks her. She juggles as the band plays her off. She continues to juggle and do tricks. The band keeps playing. She does a hot 7 minute act while the MC stands there waiting for her to finish. |
| 2b) The band is not the next act. | 2b) The band is next act. | 2b) MC introduces the Karamazovs. They walk over and take the band’s instruments. The original band members watch, pause, walk over to center stage, pick up the K’s props and start to juggle. | |
| 2c) The band can play their instruments. | 2c) The band gave their instruments to audience members. | 2c) After an act which used a lot of volunteers the band brings up a bunch more volunteers and gives them their instruments to play off the act. | |
| 2d) The band is ready to play them off. | 2d) The band is busy playing poker. | 2d) The act asks for “music please.” Nothing happens. Again: “MUSIC PLEASE.” The act opens the curtain that hides the band only to see them all playing strip poker. MC is losing. | |
| 3) The MC enters. | 3a) The person entering is really the MC. | 3a) The person entering to MC is the next act. | 3a) The MC (Thomas John) begins to introduce the next act, “I’d like to introduce this next act, but I just can’t.” He hands the microphone to an audience member with an intro card to read. Volunteer reads “Our next act is probably the best and funniest juggler we’ve ever had or ever will have on this stage. Please welcome Thomas John!” MC (Thomas) does his routine. After he finishes and gets his applause he exits the stage and immediately comes back on as MC. He tags with the call back: “I’d like to ask for another round of applause for that last act because it was so good, but that seems tacky.” He hands the microphone back to the audience member. |
| 3b) The MC has a microphone. | 3b) The microphone is a just a person repeating/yelling whatever the MC is saying. | 3b) The MC enters to thank the previous act. His mic doesn’t work. The previous act comes out, crouches down in front of the MC facing the audience with his head is at mic height and proceeds to YELL whatever the MC says. | |
| 3c) The MC is a person. | 3c) The MC is a dog. | 3c) After a dog act leaves the stage, another dog, dressed exactly like the MC, comes out to the mic where the MC had been introducing all the previous acts and barks a few times. The dog exits and the band plays on the next act. | |
| 4) MC asks for round of applause. | 4a) The applause is for the previous act. | 4a1) The MC asks for a round of applause for himself. | 4a1) After a great act like Get The Shoe finishes with the audience standing and cheering, the MC comes out and says, “Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. You’re too kind. No please. You’re embarrassing me. I don’t deserve all this.” He waits for the audience to stop cheering and tags it by clapping just a little bit himself and saying, “And a little bit for Get The Shoe. They were good too.” |
| 4a2) The MC focuses all the applause on a volunteer or an audience member who was picked on by the previous act. | 4a2) MC: “And let’s have another round of applause for the star of our show” MC then brings the previous act’s volunteer onstage. MC encourages audience to give the vol a standing O. After they leave MC tags with, “And don’t forget that great assistant.” Previous act comes back out. MC cuts off any applause the audience starts to give with a quick and dismissive: “Yeah, they were great. And now our next act …” | ||
| 4b) The applause is because the previous act was good. | 4b) The MC asks for a round of applause for the audience for sitting through the previous act. | 4b) MC: “And let’s have a big round of applause for everyone who sat through that.” The whole cast and crew of the show, except for the previous act, come out and applaud for the audience. | |
| 4c) The audience will applaud for the previous act. | 4c1) The audience doesn’t want to applaud because the previous act is deaf and can’t hear them. | 4c1) As the audience is clapping for the previous act (who was already introduced as deaf) MC comes out and cuts them off: “Don’t bother. They can’t hear you anyway.” | |
| 4c2) The audience can’t applaud because they’re tied up. | 4c2) In a Leslie Neilson type gag-fest comedy movie: we see a magician escape from ropes and shackles. When he finishes the trick in spectacular fashion, there is no applause. Camera pans to the audience who are now all tied up and shackled. One of our buddy cop heroes, watching the act from backstage turns to the other and says: “Now that’s a good trick.” | ||
| 4c3) The audience won’t applaud because they hated the previous act. | 4c3) As the MC enters, with the audience not applauding because they hated the previous act, MC says: “Let’s have a big … (MC stops in mid sentence.) No. You’re right. (long pause and then just intros the next act.)” | ||
| 4d) The audience saw the previous act. | 4d1) The MC opens the show with a call for applause for a non-existent previous act. | 4d1) MC opens the show (no acts have performed yet): “And let’s have another big round of applause for our first act of the night. Weren’t they great? I just love conceptual acts like that. They really makes you think.” | |
| 4d2) The MC calls for applause for an act that didn’t show up. | 4d2) And let’s have a big round of applause for our first act Neil Stammer! (MC pauses. Looks offstage.) Really? Wow. Never mind.” | ||
| 4e) The MC wants the audience to applaud for the previous act. | 4e) The MC tries to stop the audience from applauding for the previous act. | 4e) MC enters After Frank Olivier has just finished performing: “No. Please don’t applaud any more. You’ll only encourage him.” | |
| 5) The MC introduces the next act. | 5a) The MC intends to introduce the next act. | 5a1) The MC is bringing the next act onstage because they owe the MC money. | 5a1) MC: “Right now I’d like to bring up to the someone I’ve known for many years: Marcus Raymond.” Marcus comes up onto the stage from the audience, surprised because he wasn’t scheduled to be in the show. Marcus: “I didn’t bring any of my props. I didn’t know I was supposed to be in the show.” MC: “You’re not. I just brought you up here so you could pay me the $20 you owe me.” |
| 5a2) The MC wants to make the next act wait as long as possible because it’s a dove act and he wants the doves to suffocate. | 5a2) MC: “Our next act is a fabulous magician. He does one of the world’s best dove acts. Now if you’re not a magician you may not realize how important timing is for a dove act. Because once you’re loaded up you only have one or maybe two minutes at the most before you have to start your act or the doves will begin to suffocate. (Long pause.) So you’ve got to make sure the act that goes on before you doesn’t run long. (Long pause.) You’ve got to make sure the MC doesn’t drone on and on or by the end of the act you might end up producing several dead doves. (Long pause.) So this should be a very interesting night. Please welcome (very long pause) Goldfinger and Dove.” Magician enters the stage disgustedly. Band plays him on with Prince’s “When Doves Cry.” | ||
| 5a3) The MC shows the next act’s act instead of introducing them. | 5a3) MC: “Our next act is world famous for his signature bounce piano routine. This unique routine went viral on YouTube. If you’ve never seen it here’s just a taste.” Video shows Wally Eastwood doing the bounce piano. Video cuts to Charles Peachock doing bounce piano. MC: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dan Menendez!” | ||
| 5b) The MC will give a complimentary introduction for the next act. | 5b) The MC gives an insulting intro for the next act. | 5b) Dan Holzman (MC): “Up till now all our acts have been solo, juggling to music, but our next act is a comedy juggling duo. Personally I don’t care for that sort of thing, but you might like it. Please welcome Comedy Industries!” | |
| 5c) The MC’s introduction is for the next act. | 5c) The MC gives a great intro but for a different act. | 5c1) Dan Holzman (MC) comes out reading an intro card: “Our next act has appeared on the Tonight Show 3 times and done 2 command performances for the President of the United States. Please welcome Dan Holzma … Oh wait that’s my intro. Sorry. (Turns over the card) Our next act has peformed at Pier 39 for over 30 years. Please welcome Scotty Meltzer!” | |
| 5c2) MC: “Michael Davis is best comedy juggler I’ve ever seen. He’s act is smart, funny, inventive, and he’s been flawlessly executing it every night for 30 years. Unfortunately he’s not here tonight. So please welcome: Thomas John!” | |||
| 5d) The MC’s reason for talking about the next act is to introduce them. | 5d) The MC give is giving a description of the next act to the police. | 5d) In a movie or TV show or YouTube video we see what appears to be an MC on a stage saying: “Up next is Jason Garfield. He’s 5’10”, light skinned and weighs approximately 200 lbs.” The camera pans back and we see that it is not a MC on a stage talking to an audience but actually a witness at a line up talking to a policeman. (There might be a good way to do a version of this gag live on a stage, but I haven’t figured it out yet. It also needs a better wording. Any suggestions?) |
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| I will leave the rest of these, except the one I really like, as an exercise for the reader. | |||
| 5e) The MC knows who the next act is. | 5e1) The MC makes up a name and an intro b/c he’s lost his intro cards. | ||
| 5e2) The MC gives a generic intro that would work for any act. | |||
| 5e3) The MC admits he doesn’t know who the next act is but gives an over the top, super-specific intro anyway. | |||
| 5f) The MC cares who the next act is. | 5f1) The MC randomly chooses who the next act will be. | ||
| 5f2) The MC gives the exact same intro for the next act as he gave for the previous act. | |||
| 6) The act comes onstage. | 6a) We’re the next act. | 6a1) We’re the stage hands for the next act. | |
| 6a2) We’re the ushers. | |||
| 6a3) We’re the MCs and we’re introducing ourselves. | |||
| 6b) We’re ready. | 6b) We’re not ready. | ||
| 6c) We’re in costume. | 6c1) We’re naked. | ||
| 6c2) We’re almost naked (as naked as the specific venue will allow.) | |||
| 6d) We’re in our costumes. | 6d) We’re in the goofy full body cartoon character suits of a previous act. | ||
| 6e) We’re coming onstage to do our act. | 6e1) We’re coming onstage just to clean up from the previous act. | ||
| 6e2) We’re coming onstage to close the curtain for intermission | |||
| 6e3) We’re coming onstage to arrest the MC. | |||
| 6e4) We’re coming onstage to apologize for not being prepared to do our act. | |||
| 6e5) We’re coming onstage to apply for a job. | |||
| 6e6) We’re coming onstage to sell our props. | |||
| 6e7) We’re coming onstage to find a place to crash that night. | |||
| 6f) We’re entering from where the MC is pointing. | 6f1) We enter from the opposite side of the stage. | ||
| 6f2) We enter sliding down on ropes from high above the stage. | |||
| 6f3) We’ve been playing in the band since the beginning of the show. | |||
| 6f3) We enter from the magician’s prop that was used and left onstage by from the previous act. | |||
| 7) The act starts. | 7a) The first things we do are the start of our act. | 7a1) The first thing we do is bow and leave the stage. | |
| 7a2) The first thing we do is try to borrow props from the audience to do our act. | |||
| 7b) The music that starts is the music for our act. | 7b) The music that starts is the music for the last act and they come on and do their act again. | ||
| 7c) The props/set/case onstage is for our act. | 7c1) We are the prop stands. | 7c1) MC: “Ladies and gentlemen, our next act, without a doubt, are the two greatest club passers in the history of juggling and we are honored to have them here tonight.” The curtain opens and Katrine & I are standing center stage holding 10 clubs. We stand there not moving until the audeince begins to get uncomfortable. Olga & Vova then walk out and take the clubs from our hands and begin their act. We continue to stand there as their propstands, not moving throughout their entire act. | |
| 7c2) Penn & Teller are our prop stands. | |||
| 7c3) Olga & Vova are our prop stands. | |||
And on and on and on …