Defiant Spirit: Whisky Galore! tells a Scottish Joke

SteynonLine ^ | April 11, 2026 | Rick McGinnis

[Twotone]

Ethnic humour has become one of those things we don't do well anymore, or simply won't do because nobody wants to lose their job. Back when it was still tolerated – about fifteen or twenty years ago – what was left of ethnic humour (as practiced by comics like Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock) was gatekept by a single, unbreakable rule: you can only make an ethnic joke if you're a member of the ethnicity that's the butt of the joke.

Now, of course, this is largely off the table because nobody thinks the risk is worth it anymore. I couldn't help but think of this while watching Whisky Galore!, the 1949 Ealing comedy whose every plot point, gag and character relies on an ecosystem of Scottish stereotypes. If you wanted to be offended by Whisky Galore! (and I don't know why you would, but this has become a popular leisure activity today now that nobody joins clubs or bowling leagues) you would have to run it through the latest oppression meter, which is to say you have to figure out if the film is punching down, up or sideways.

Whisky Galore! doesn't make it easy. It's a film by an American-born Scottish director, based on a book by a Scottish writer, produced by a Russian Jew for a British studio, and cast with Scots and Brits playing Scots. Even more baffling was that, while it did very well in the UK, it was a big hit in America (under the title Tight Little Island). I suppose the ultimate arbiter is whether a Scot would find it offensive. I'm one-third Scottish and none of me was offended by the picture, though I'm sure you could find someone somewhere north of Hadrian's Wall who was...

[telescope115]

Now that you mention Dean Martin’s roasts, one particular celebrity comes to mind- Don Rickles. If ANYONE was politically incorrect, it was him. Lol. He cracked me up every time I saw him.

There was only one Don Rickles…..

[dfwgator]

Don Rickles and Ronald Reagan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7hM8q4_XME

[Albion Wilde]

Oh, thanks! He was just brilliant, RIP! Can you imagine any of today’s snowflakes standing up to a barrage like that?

Supposedly Rickles was a caring and generous friend to many in his private life.

[Dr. Sivana]

Archie Bunker may have revived the Polak jokes back in the seventies.

Nah. I was raised in Connecticut. Mother is half-Polish. After 'talians and Irish, Poles were #3 in population. We went to the Polish Roman Catholic Church, and there is schismatic Polish National Catholic Church in my home town.

Polish jokes were common in the 1960s, before "All in the Family". I am sure Chicagoans experienced the same.