One quiet Tuesday evening, Joe, the local oddball known for wearing Hawaiian shirts in winter, walked into McFlannigan’s Pub carrying a small box. Under his arm was a frog. And clinging lazily to his shoulder like a sleepy bodyguard? An iguana.
The regulars looked up from their drinks. Bob the plumber muttered, “Here comes Joe with another animal. Last week it was a parrot that recited the alphabet backwards.”
Joe walked up to the bar, placed the frog gently on the counter, and sat the iguana beside it. He looked at the bartender, Sean, and grinned.
“Sean, I bet you $1000 that my frog here can sing any song you can name.”
Sean raised an eyebrow. “Any song?”
“Any song,” Joe said, puffing out his chest like someone who had just invented karaoke.
Sean, a man who had once tried to out-sing his own jukebox, leaned forward. “Fine. Let’s hear him sing Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Without missing a beat, Joe turned to the frog. “Hit it.”
The frog took a deep breath (yes, a deep breath), opened his tiny green mouth, and belted out, “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”
The whole bar fell silent. Even the jukebox blushed. The frog sang the entire song—high notes, low notes, guitar solo and all. By the end, half the pub was in tears and the other half had their phones out recording.
Sean handed Joe $1000 in stunned silence.
Joe pocketed the money, nodded to the iguana, and started to leave.
But Sean shouted, “Wait! I’ll give you $10,000 for that frog!”
Joe stopped. “No can do. But I’ll sell you the iguana for $500.”
“The iguana?” Sean asked, squinting at the motionless lizard who hadn’t done a thing all evening.
Joe nodded. “Yup. Take it or leave it.”
Sean shrugged. “Eh, why not?” He handed over the $500, shook the iguana’s claw politely, and watched Joe leave with the frog.
A week later, Sean stormed out of the bar and found Joe sitting on a park bench feeding breadcrumbs to squirrels.
“You conned me!” Sean shouted. “The frog hasn’t sung a single note since you left!”
Joe smiled calmly. “That’s because the iguana was a ventriloquist.”
