Irish jokes... Am I right in understanding that in America nobody understands the ones they make in England because there's no stereotype about the Irish being thick? So they tell the same jokes about Poles. And over in England they don't understand them, because nobody's ever thought about the Poles as being thick. (And in Ireland they tell them about the man from Kerryman.)

Though, of course, a kamikaze pilot who made 40 trips wouldn't be thick at all would he? Though he'd probably need to be pretty ingenious.

And the real Irish jokes that are funny aren't about being thick, they are more about a certain misplaced ingenuity.

Like the one about the fella in the queue for the guillotine, back in days of the French Revolution. And the first one in the queue goes up, and lays his head on the spot, and they pull the handle, and the blade comes rushing down - and stops. So they let him off.

And the same thing happens to the next one, and the next one - and then it comes to the turn of the Irish fella - and he lays himself down and looks up - "Ah" he says, "I think I see your problem!" And he reaches up and fiddles around with the runners for the blade. And they pull the handle...