A guy walks into the Pet Store, and he goes to the manager and says, "I want to buy an exotic pet." The manager says, "I have just the item for you, come with me."

They go to the very back of the store, and the manager brings the customer to a big birdcage that has a zippered cover over it. The customer says, "A bird? That's not very exotic." The manager replies, "Just hold on", and he slowly unzips the birdcage cover.

Inside, we see this parrot sitting in a miniature easy chair. He's wearing spectacles, pinching his beak. He's holding a dry martini in one hand, and he's reading the New York Times in the other hand. He looks up over his glasses at the two men, as if a bit annoyed that he's been disturbed; and he says in a low, drawn-out voice, "Yeeeeeesssssssss???"

The customer says, "So what? A parrot who dresses nice and reads the newspaper. I've seen parrots like that on the Ed Sullivan Show. Not very exotic."

The parrot looks hurt. He begins to recite The Gettysburg Address, word for word, then sings a few tunes from a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta.

The customer is unimpressed. "Big deal," says the customer. "I've seen lots of birds that can sing songs, and talking parrots are hardly rare. Now, if he was bilingual, maybe we'd have a deal."

The parrot nods, bows, and says "Meow."