Friday, July 28, 2006

The Aristocrats

The Aristocrats, if you haven't seen it yet, is a documentary of what is, arguably, the dirtiest joke in the world. Every comic knows it. The thing is, it's different every time it's told.
The joke starts in a talent agent's office. There's a guy and his family, they do their act, and the agent say, "That's incredible. What do you call that?" and they answer "the Aristocrats!"
The thing is, between the beginning and ending of the joke is a journey down a dark, disgusting road.
Comics would tell this joke after hours to each other. And the goal was to push the limits of taste.
If you watch this movie, you really understand this. The documentary visits various comics, and they tell the joke, and discuss the concept of the edge, women comics compared to male comics, older comics saying the white comics couldn't even tell the joke offstage while black comics could because they wouldn't get on TV anyway. It's funny and fascinating.
Some highlights so far: Bob Saget, the TV Dad most people know and love talking about a PSA for 'Don't fuck your family', the mime that does a disturbingly silent rendition of the joke, and Carrie Fisher talking about how the original 'Singing in the Rain' was a golden-shower epic that, unfortunately, couldn;t get past the censors.
If you love comedy, you have to see this movie.

4 comments:

Nat-Wu said...

I've been wanting to. It sounds very interesting.

adam said...

It's funny, but maybe a little long for what it is.

Alexander Wolfe said...

I'd like to hear somebody tell the joke entirely in Arabic. That would be funniest.

Nat-Wu said...

And that is why nobody thinks you're cool.