A newly married man was invited out for a night with the boys for beer and told his wife that he would be home by midnight... promise!

Well, the hours passed and the beer was going down way too easy, so at two thirty A.M., drunk as a skunk, he headed for home. Just as he got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hall started up and cuckooed 3 times.

Quickly realizing she'd probably wake up, he cuckooed another 9 times. He was really proud of himself, for having a quick and witty solution to escape a possible conflict, even when smashed.

The next morning his wife asked him what time he got in and he told her 12 o'clock. She didn't seem disturbed at all. Whew! Got away with that one!

She then told him that they needed a new cuckoo clock. He asked her why.

She said, "Well, at some point last night, it cuckooed 3 times, said 'oh no,' cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another 3 times, giggled, cuckooed twice more and then farted."