Jokes about the Irish

By: Brendan Patrick Keane | Published Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 1:16 PM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:30 PM

Brian Kelly, a union rep in Kent, has become a 15 minute celebrity in England for lodging a complaint against a local politician, Councilor Ken Bamber. Bamber told Kelly a "Paddy" joke, to which the Irishman objected and lodged a complaint, spurring a whole new genre of jokes on Irish political correctness.

A few jokes to put the situation in context:

Q: What's black and blue and floats in the Irish Sea?
A: An Englishman who tells Irish jokes.

Q: What do all racist jokes begin with?
A: A look over the shoulder…

Patrick went for an interview for a job on a building site. The foreman asked, 'What's the difference between a joist and a girder?'
After some thought, Patrick replied, 'I think Joyce wrote Ulysses and Goethe wrote Faust'.

Q: Why are Irish jokes so simple?
A. So the English can understand them.

A 19th century response to English bigotry:
The boys of Liverpool, when we safely landed,
They called meself a fool, I could no longer stand it.
Blood began to boil, temper I was losing;
Poor old Erin's Isle they began abusing.
"Hurrah me soul!" says I, shillelagh I let fly.
Some Galway boys were nigh and saw I was a hobblin',
With a loud "hurray!" joined in the affray.
We quickly cleared the way for the rocky road to Dublin,