“A man walks into a bar and goes and sits down at the bar. The bartender comes over and asks the man if he would like something to drink. The man says, “Give a beer. I have had one hell of a week. I got fired from my job, kicked out of my apartment, and to top it all off my girlfriend broke up with me. I wish that I could just get away from it all.” The bartender hands him his drink and says, “Well I have this magic cliff out back, and if you run and jump of it and say what you want to be you will turn into it.” The man thought to himself as he finished his drink, thinking that it was kind of weird. But he went outback and sure enough there was a cliff. So the man ran and jumped and screamed, “eagle,” and sure enough the man turned into and eagle and flew off into the sunset. A couple days later, a woman walks into the bar and sits down at the bar. The bartender comes over and asks if she would like something to drink. The woman says, “Give me a shot of your strongest tequila and keep them coming. I have had a terrible past couple days. I found out that my husband of 10 years had been cheating on me the entire time that we were married and when we got divorced I lost everything. I have no place to go.” The bartender hands her the drink and says, “Well I have this magic cliff out back, and if you run and jump of it and say what you want to be you will turn into it.” The woman thought that this sounded extremely strange but decided that she did not have anything to lose. She went outback and sure enough there was a cliff. So the woman ran and jumped and screamed, Dove,” and sure enough she turned into and dove and flew off into the sunset. A couple days later, a man walks into the bar and sits down. The bartender comes over and asks the man if he would like something to drink. The man says, “Give a shot of your best whiskey. I have just had the worst week of my life. My girlfriend left me, the company I work for went bankrupt and now I can’t afford the mortgage on the house that I just bought. I wish that I could just get away from it all.” The bartender hands him his drink and says, “Well I have this magic cliff out back, and if you run and jump of it and say what you want to be you will turn into it.” The man thought to himself as he finished his drink, thinking that it was kind of weird. But he went outback and sure enough there was a cliff. So he started running and running and just as he was about to jump he tripped on a rock and shouted “ Oh shit!”

For most of my childhood, I spent my winters in Sun Valley, Idaho, where I learned how to ski. The first time that I heard this joke I was skiing with an instructor and now close family friend, Brian, and we were stuck on the chairlift at point with a very large drop underneath us. I had to have been about 13 years old at the time, and I believe that he could tell that I was uncomfortable with our situation. So to pass the time and to take my mind of the possible 30 foot fall onto an icy sheet, he told me this joke. By the time that he had finished, I was laughing and the chair lift was once again ascending the mountain.

In trying to recall the exact details of the story, I found myself unable to. There are many variations to the joke. When telling it, I had to recreate the drink orders from the customers, their problems, and what they turned into upon jumping off the cliff. The joke has a lot of room for variation with the only thing really staying constant being the punch line. The reason that this joke stuck out to me was because it was unlike any “A guy walks into a bar” joke that I had ever heard. Every time that I tell it to someone it brings me right back to where I was when I first heard it.