I enjoyed that joke when I first read it in the New Yorker and I enjoyed re-reading it today.
Where's the punchline?
What happened to the geese?!?!?!?!?
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Over your head
No... I get it, but it's a story, not a joke.
Too long, what's the funny part? They should have done this in comic form, its the medium I expect my humor to be from the New Yorker.
It's a joke turned into a dramatic story. the joke part punch line "ya think I wanted a 12in pianist" is funny, the story that follows is funny for it's increasing drama and overwrought seriousness. Like a back-story to the simple jokes we always hear.
Two dyslexics walk into a bra...