This is a figure of speech similar to
garden-path sentences in that both feature a sort of linguistic
“twist” partway through. Paraprosdokians differ, though, in that the
grammar is not usually confusing; rather, the end of the sentence
ends up being surprising or disorienting. Henny Youngman’s famous
line “Take my wife - please!” is a prime example of a sentence whose
final word ramps up the tension of the previous phrase, and provides
unexpected humor to the listener.
Comedians use Paraprosdokians all
the time as a means of keeping an audience off-guard. A few more
examples:
“I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.”
(Groucho Marx)
Your argument is sound, lots of sound.
“I haven’t slept for ten days, because that would be too long.”
(Mitch Hedberg)
"I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat."
(Will Rogers)
“If I’m reading this graph correctly, I’d be surprised.” (Stephen
Colbert)
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing . . . after
they have tried everything else.” (Winston Churchill)