“There were these two Irishmen, Shamus and Paddy. Paddy sez to Shamus, ‘Whaddya got in the bag?’ ‘Ducks.’ sez Shamus. ‘If you guess how many ducks I have in my bag, I’ll give you both of them.’ Paddy thinks for a minute and then answers ‘Seven.’

The five of us collapsed with weak laughter, having emptied and refilled our glasses at least six times in the past hour. The bartender was automatically pouring doubles and the jokes were getting bawdier,' By eight o’clock we were no longer a hapless half dozen tying on a drunk, but comical competitors trying to out-drink and over-joke the next guy.