Have you never tried or something?
A man walks into a pub. He sits down at the bar. He takes out a small piano and a frog, and puts both of them on the bar. To the bartender's surprise, the frog starts playing the piano. The man then pulls out a rat and puts it on the bar. To the bartender's further surprise, the rat starts singing. Another man at the bar turns to him. "Say," he goes, "that's a great act! Would you mind selling them to me for $25,000?"
"No way," says the first man.
"In that case," the second man continues, "would you sell me just the rat for $20,000?"
"Well," the first man says, hemming and hawing for a moment, "alright." He hands the man the rat, then receives his $20,000. The lucky owner of the rat walks out of the bar, satisfied with himself.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" asks the barkeep afterward. "Why did you break up a million-dollar act like that?"
The man at the bar just smirks. "The frog's a ventriloquist."
That's pretty good, never heard it before but I know a very similar one...
Man walks into a pub with a duck tucked under one arm and a biscuit tin under the other. He strolls up to the bar and promises the landlord that his duck will dance for the entertainment of the customers, they'll stay and drink, the landlord will be rolling in it. All the man wants is some credit for the bar. The landlord challenges the man to prove his tale of a dancing duck. Fair enough, the man places the biscuit tin on the bar, sets the duck upon it and the duck begins doing a little two step shuffle.
The other patrons are gobsmacked, they've never seen anything like it. Soon enough a huge crowd has gathered round. The landlord is impressed, he tells the man that in return for the dancing duck the man will never need to pay for a drink in this pub again. The man says deal, they shake on it, the man finishes his drink and leaves.
A week later, the man returns. The landlord looks angry, he calls the man over to the bar and demands to know why the duck has stopped dancing.
"When did it stop?" the man asks.
"About an hour or so after you left. What's your game?"
The man tries to calm the landlord, goes over to the duck. He picks the duck up, checks inside it's beak. Looks underneath it's wings, examines it's feet. Then he picks up the tin, lifts the lid and peers inside.
"No wonder the duck stopped dancing, chum. You let the bloody candles go out."
A true dad joke. Never sure if that one is worth the time it takes to tell it (the live version features much gesturing and dramatic pauses) but sometimes it gets good payoff.
One of my favourite "brief" jokes...
I took a dyslexic girl home the other night. It didn't work out so well for me, she ended up cooking my sock.