*****
SETUP: “Juggling knives is very dangerous.”
ASSUMPTION: {I’m going to juggle the knives.}
CONNECTOR: {What I will juggle.}
SHATTER: {I’m going to juggle something else.}
PUNCH: “And so, I’m going to juggle these instead.” (Bring out fluffy stuffed animals to juggle.)
NEW ASSUMPTION FROM PUNCH: {The stuffed animals are safe.}
CONNECTOR: {How safe/dangerous they are.}
SHATTER: {They’re even more dangerous than the knives.}
TAG: “Vicious killer gerbils.” (Open their mouths to expose sharp teeth.)
I think this next tag is better explained as a “Tag-With-Another-Example” rather than by some hidden Assumption-Connector-Shatter structure. However, for completeness, I will propose:
ASSUMPTION FROM EARLIER PUNCH: {The stuffed animals are safe.}
CONNECTOR: {How safe/dangerous they are.}
SHATTER: {They’re even more dangerous than the knives.}
TAG: (Pull back the fur on their paws to reveal long claws.)
SETUP FOR TAG: “And to make it even more dangerous I will dip them in poison.” (Look in and around prop case for poison.)
ASSUMPTION FROM SECOND SETUP: {I’m looking for the poison I brought.}
CONNECTOR: {What poison is.}
SHATTER: {Soda is poison.}
TAG: (Discover an audience member drinking a soda.) “This’ll do.” (Dip gerbil’s claws in audience member’s soda.)
I think this next tag is better explained as “Tag-With-A-Specific-Consequence” rather than saying it’s powered by this hidden Assumption-Connector-Shatter structure:
ASSUMPTION FROM PREVIOUS two TAGS: {The soda will kill you.}
CONNECTOR: {The effect of the soda.}
SHATTER: {The poison will give you diabetes.}
TAG: “One wrong move and it’s adult onset diabetes for all of us.”
I think this next tag is better explained as a Mix Joke (Gerbil + Coke) that’s powered by the audience’s disgust of me drinking from a stranger’s soda that’s had a dirty stuffed animal dipped in it as opposed to analyzing it like this:
ASSUMPTION: {Coke tastes good.}
CONNECTOR: {The taste of the soda.}
SHATTER: {Coke with a Gerbil dipped into it doesn’t.}
TAG: (Drink from audience member’s Coke.) “Mmmm. New Coke Gerbil. Now with twice the rodent feces of regular Coke … but still with that same great Coke taste.”
*****
SETUP: “I hold in my hands an ordinary deck of cards.”
ASSUMPTION: {I’m a magician about to do a card trick.}
CONNECTOR: {The purpose of the deck of cards.}
SHATTER: {I’m a juggler.}
PUNCH: (Juggle two clubs and the deck of cards.) “Which makes Mills’ Mess really hard.” (Do Mills’ Mess.)
NEW ASSUMPTION FROM PUNCH: {Now it’s going to be a juggling trick.}
CONNECTOR: {The role of the clubs in the trick.}
SHATTER: {Now it goes back to being a magic trick.}
TAG: (Approach audience member while juggling.) “Pick a club, any club.”
*****
SETUP: “I need everyone here to move in closer.”
ASSUMPTION: {I’m trying to bring the crowd in close to turn them into an audience.}
CONNECTOR: {My reason for asking people to move in.}
SHATTER: {I’m trying to protect myself from a sniper.}
PUNCH: “‘Cause after my one last show, a one man, all juggling version of the Koran, I’m still a bit scared to be out in the open like this.”
I think this next tag is better explained as a POV shift from my role as the performer to my role as the safety officer, but for completeness, I will include this alternate analysis:
ASSUMPTION FROM ORIGINAL SETUP: {I was trying to bring the crowd in close to turn them into an audience.}
CONNECTOR: {The purpose of moving the audience in.}
SHATTER: {I need an audience member to block a possible shot.}
TAG: (Look up at the roof of a nearby building. Figure out the trajectory of a bullet. Move audience member into position to block the bullet.) “That’s better.”
SETUP FOR TAG: “I’m kidding” (Move audience member back.)
ASSUMPTION: {The whole death threat thing was a just a joke.}
CONNECTOR: {Why I’m moving the audience member back.}
SHATTER: {I’ve discovered a more likely spot for the shooter.}
TAG: “The shot’s much more likely to come from there.” (Point to grassy knoll that the audience member’s original position protected me from.)
*****
Once again please note: When actually writing jokes, no one thinks this explictly about their structure. I’m only presenting this level of analysis to win a bet.