This first sentence, Magic has no mystery to magicians, reminds me of how I quickly became aware of the most common joke forms when I started writing my own jokes. And suddenly jokes didn’t seem so magical. When you see how they work and that often it’s merely a template sentence with new words.

Being aware of these forms is great and using them actively will help you a lot, especially when you’re starting out. But true elegance comes when you can use the same tools and not make the template obvious.

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As one of my favourite comedians, Daniel Kitson says after a joke in the beginning of one of his free-to-download, though a bit old shows (as I remember it and often quote it); That joke was basically a pull-back-and-reveal, you just didn’t notice, ‘cause it was executed to perfection. I think it was my third listen, but finally I understood and my jaw dropped.

(Quote via Magic has no mystery to magicians – marks.dk)