Saw an Iranian joke and I want to share my favorite.

An ensemble of musicians is auditioning for a caliph's court. After the ensemble is ushered in, they perform a beautiful set lasting approximately an hour, complete with long improvisations. The caliph is very pleased and says, "Servants! I order you to fill these men's music instruments with priceless jewels so that they will know their worth and return here tomorrow night to entertain me again!"

The servants obey and bring out a wheel barrow of large, rare gems. They fill the percussionist's drum to the brim, rendering it so heavy that he can barely lift it. They fill the lute-player's lute until he has to drag it out of the court with both hands. But, the ney (reed flute) player's instrument would not hold such riches, and so the servants could only manage to stick one jewel into each end of the ney.

Leaving the court, the ney-player is furious. His solo lasted 35 minutes, longer than any other, and he improvised more beautifully than anybody else in the ensemble. As he watched his fellow musicians hoard and celebrate their new wealth he became bitter and thought to teach them a lesson.

At the next night's performance the ney-player began sabotaging the other musicians. He began throwing off the rhythm and melody of each piece by banging on the percussionist's drum and tearing the lute-player's strings one by one when the caliph wasn't looking. Finally the caliph orders that they stop playing. "I am outraged! This is not what I wanted," he shouts, "Oh guards, teach these fools a lesson. Hold them down and shove their instruments into their rear-ends!"

The guards seize the musicians. They attempt to force the drum into the percussionists anus, but stop as it would be impossible. They attempt the same with the lute-player, but his instrument also would not fit. The ney-player was not so lucky.