Interesting how humor works. Surprise is definitely an element. This piece is good enough that it has several layers of humor, so it bears watching maybe twice. But even then, on the third watch, it is no longer funny. I kept track of where I laughed the two times:

First time, mostly it was the concepts that amused me:
* Feeding fish with bird feather
* “The plummage don’t enter into it”
* The name “Polly Parrot”
* Throwing a dead parrot in the air to show it’s dead
* Buying a dead parrot on assurance and not noticing
* “Pining for the fjords”
* Parrot was already dead, only that “it had been nailed there”
* “This parrot wouldn’t VOOM if I put 4000 volts through it”
* “This is a late … parrot”
* Having to complain till “blue in the mouth” when basically the problem and resolution are obvious… (timeless commentary on so-called customer “service” that is generally not about service but skillful rebuffing).
* Suggesting a slug as replacement
* The cage still there in the Bolton shop
* The guy is so over-the-board gullible and likes complaining so much he goes to complain to the rail service
* The “brother” looks the same just with a mustache
* The guy is so gullible he believes the conductor too
* “It was a pun”
* The guy is so serious he analyzes the palindrome of Bolton

The second time, mostly phrases and details
* “What do you mean Miss”, “I have a cold”
* “It’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it”
* “I got a nice cuttlefish when you wake up”
* “Due to it being tired and shagged out after a long squawk”
* “I took the liberty of examining that parrot” to discover an obvious fact
* “Does it talk?”

There is something to be said about the parrot purchaser’s mannerism — completely logical yet totally awkward socially… Perhaps a bit of humorous self identification there.