This paper deals with the thorny but fascinating process of (re)constructing jokes, the dynamic process of retelling, which produces a joke structure that is often different from “canonical”. In order to study this, I have exposed a small group of native speakers of Polish and a few native speakers English of both genders to a doctor joke in the written form. Then they were asked to retell a joke they have been exposed to. The retellings were recorded, transcribed and analysed as to the joke structure (e.g. the ways of introducing the playframe, the presence of jab lines and the punch line), hearer-speaker relations, and other aspects of joke-telling. The aim of the study is to supplement Victor Raskin’s original account of joke structure with that of joke construction as outlined by him too (1985: 139-147), although regarded as marginal to his central systemic account. Moreover, joke imagery, understood in terms of image schemata, was taken into account in the analysis of the speakers’ joke performance, playing the role of humour enhancers.