The Aristocrats

2005-08-09

How long can you stretch out one joke? Apparently, 90 minutes. At least that’s what a brand new documentary called The Aristocrats attempts to do. The film opened in Los Angeles and New York last weekend and is the brainchild of comedian Paul Provenza and magician/comic Penn Jillette.

This is not a film for those faint of heart or easily offended. In fact, I don’t think this movie will ever play in a red state. It may not even play in blue states that border red states. I can’t remember ever seeing a picture with more tasteless, crude, or gratuitous dialog. This film is a right-wing conservative’s stump speech dream. You know those speeches where they cite examples of Hollywood fare that are decaying the moral fabric of our wholesome America.

This original, novel film takes one of the oldest vaudeville era jokes, something that has been told by every comedian under the sun for the past 80 years, and tells it from 50 different angles. Each comedian, and there are a ton of famous ones in this documentary, puts their own signature on something you’re sure after 15 or 20 minutes will get old. The fact is it doesn’t. For the most part, the joke stays fresh in the hands of a pro.

As the film states right up front, you only need to remember two things: the opening line and the two word punch line. The opening line is “A guy walks into a talent agent’s office….” The punch line is “The Aristocrats.” What you the joke teller place in the middle is entirely up to you.

This joke is about as close to bebop as comedy will ever get. It’s total joke jazz. The job of the comedian is to riff as cleverly, creatively, and passionately as possible because the comedy is in the telling of the joke, not really in the punch line. This joke is so old and has been told so many times that the punch line is meaningless. It’s about telling it.

Without ruining the film by revealing any of the legendary comic’s approaches to the joke, for those less familiar with “The Aristocrats,” the gist is that the guy who walks into the agent’s office proceeds to tell the agent about the most bizarre/disgusting/reprehensible act imaginable. The teller of the joke weaves a web (quite often unconsciously revealing deep, dark corners of their twisted psyche) that in most cases contains words and concepts that would never be acceptable in most social settings. At the end of the guy’s story, the agent proclaims “that’s the most bizarre/disgusting/reprehensible thing I’ve ever heard. What do you call this act?” Insert punch line “The Aristocrats.” Trust me it’s funnier than reading about it here.

My one complaint about the film is that I think it ran a little long. As brilliant as some of the versions of the joke are, I think the filmmakers could have accomplished their task in 60 minutes (or possibly less) instead of the 90 minutes the film runs. That said, there are some great surprises in this documentary, and several comedians who deliver outstanding, unexpectedly good performances.

For more info about The Aristocrats visit this link:

http://www.thearistocrats.com