so let me try to get this straight because its not clear.. the protagonist goes on stage with a prop that if he gets no laughs, he’ll get electrocuted? to death? not funny.

You have it exactly right – this is certainly not a real comedy piece. It’s a tragedy written partially in the vocabulary of comedy. He’s not trying to be funny when he kills himself – except to himself, so shattered by the death of another. His sense of humor has turned destructive – but it’s all inwardly-directed. All his jokes are dark and inflected with despair – this is just his suicidal version of a big finish. His brain is still thinking in a comic idiom, even though it can’t actually laugh any more.

woah..!! wonder what i would have thought if he was actually performing the gag.

How did the crowd react.

Nicceee TM

whoa, your explanation definitely made it clearer, but that’s dark- yet deep.

It’d be frightening – at first, he’d just be jittery, almost Denis Leary-like. Then, it’d slowly go downhill as he either started screaming or convulsing. The crowd might suspect something Andy Kaufman might do – but that wouldn’t last long. After that, it’s a tossup between them running in terror or flipping out the phone cameras. sigh