Kicker: A racoon walks into a bar

NICK EICHER, HOST: Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

A raccoon walks into a bar.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Oh, no.

EICHER: What, you heard it?

BROWN: Mmm. Not sure?

EICHER: I guess I really should be precise: A woman brought a raccoon in to show her friends during happy hour at the Maddock Bar in Maddock, North Dakota.

As the president might say “not a joke” even though it sounds like one.

She was asked to leave and eventually she did, just not immediately. So state health authorities issued a rabies alert. Evidently there’ve been six reports of rabid animals in the state. This raccoon, however, not among the suspects.

But you can never be too careful.

The bartender confirmed there was no biting and the woman held on to the animal the whole time, but added, “I had no idea what she was thinking.”

That’s pretty much the story. Nothing unusual, just slow news day at the Bismarck Tribune, which reported the story and it made the national news wire because, let’s face it, everybody wants to write a story that begins, a raccoon walks into a bar. It’s a lead begging for a punchline.

So we put all our best people on it and our colleague Claire Hopple came up with: A raccoon walks into a bar and almost winds up behind bars!

AUDIO: Not a joke.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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