A guy in Organic Chem lab took me in completely with a shaggy dog joke. He had mentioned that he had spent the summer in Europe. He said he had been in Budapest, where some friends talked him into going to see a spiritualist who was famous about being able to tell people things about their deceased loved one, even to get messages from them.
Having nothing better to do at the moment, he went by himself. The door of the spiritualist's appartment was very elaborately decorated with mysterious symbols. He could smell incense burning, and weird music in the background. He rang the doorbell, and waited a long time. When the doorbell was not answered, he noticed a very large gong, with a hammer hanging beside it. He picked up the hammer, and because he was annoyed, struck it violently. Almost immediated the door was opened by a very small wizend wizard, who just stood there grinning at him without saying a word.
"So, I smashed him in the mouth as hard as I could!"
I bit. "What in hell did you hit him for?"
"My mother told me always strike a happy medium."
