Anyone see the film 'The Aristocrats'?

[BERIGAN]

Haven't heard much about it yet, but sounds interesting.....I know Penn Jillette is a fairly recent convert to jazz....

'The Aristocrats': Comedy in the raw

By HAP ERSTEIN

Palm Beach Post

If the comedians sitting around at the Carnegie Deli in Broadway Danny Rose were able to talk as they really do while we are not listening, the result might be a movie like The Aristocrats.

Definitely not for the easily offended, yet laugh-out-loud, did-he-really-say-that funny, here is a documentary look at the art of comedy with a few salient points to make about the power of the spoken word — profanity division.

THINKFilm

'The Aristocrats'

B+

The verdict: An insider's look at the mechanics of comedy, as seen from repeated versions of a single classic dirty joke.

Director: Paul Provenza

Starring: Whoopie Goldberg, Robin Williams, Phyllis Diller, Don Rickles, George Carlin, Steven Wright, Jon Stewart, Drew Carey and many, many more.

Run time: 106 minutes

Release date: July 29, 2005

Rating: Not rated, but contains massive amounts of nasty profanity and detailed descriptions of sexual perversity.

See showtimes

For those who are jaded and disappointed by what they usually encounter in their local multiplex, it is fair to say that comics-turned-filmmakers Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette (of the subversive magic act Penn and Teller) have created a movie unlike any you have ever seen or heard.

Their initial purpose, they claim, was to illustrate how stand-up comedy is similar to jazz, likening verbal riffs to musical improvisation. That is an interesting enough notion, but it has been eclipsed by the decision to have the more than 100 comics interviewed talking about and telling the same joke, a consciously gross, tasteless anecdote which dates back to the days of vaudeville and yet is little known by the general public.

With the selection of the joke, The Aristocrats — it would be ruining nothing to tell you that the title of the movie is the joke's punch line — also becomes about the outer limits of what is deemed lewd today, what it takes to shock an audience in 2005. So comics from George Carlin to Drew Carey to Robin Williams to the animated kids of South Park all deliver their versions of the joke, ad-libbing their way through its expandable middle section like jazz vocalists. They put the scat in scatological.

So OK, the joke: Into a talent agent's office walks a guy, eager to land a booking. He proceeds to describe his act, an unspeakable series of disgusting bodily functions and sexual interactions with family members. The incredulous agent asks what in the world he calls such an act and the guy responds, with a flourish, "The Aristocrats."

You're not convulsed with laughter, are you? But when you see Mario Cantone tell it in the persona of Liza Minnelli, you will be. Or Sarah Silverman's autobiographical, intimate version. Or as told by Billy the Mime or adapted into a card trick by Eric Mead, and on and on. Comics we never considered very funny, like former Saturday Night Live regular Gilbert Gottfried, rise to the top of the pack. Gottfried's whiny rant version of the joke is told at a Friars' Club roast for Hugh Hefner as the bewildered guest of honor looks on.

The collective roster of comics, not knowing when to leave well enough alone, dissects and analyzes the joke endlessly. Does the punch line gain by being delivered with a jaunty finger snap? Isn't calling the act "The Sophisticates" funnier than "The Aristocrats"? And what if the act were clean, but the name of the group were a string of obscenities?

There is nothing special about the way Provenza films these interviews, though Emery Emery's editing gains a few extra laughs with some clever juxtapositions. Still, a few segments in the movie feel repetitive and the overall effect could have been improved with some tightening.

But just when you are sure the joke has run its course, someone like Steven Wright — shot from afar down a long hallway — deconstructs it anew and catches us offguard with his sly, deadpan delivery.

Too bad Lenny Bruce is not around to give the joke its definitive spin.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/movies/conten...ocrats/pbp.html

Edited August 13, 2005 by BERIGAN

[Bright Moments]

couldn't resist!

[MartyJazz]

Can't wait to see this. My brother and I - absent the wives (and children, of course) - will check it out this coming week at one of only three theaters featuring this film in southeast FL. Will try to post a review.

Edited August 13, 2005 by MartyJazz

[Jazzmoose]

Yeah, this sounds like an interesting idea. I'll never manage to get the wife to see this one, so it'll be a 'wait for DVD' item for me, but I'm looking forward to it!

[Big Wheel]

Saw it today. It is fucking filthy. Prepare thyself for the worst.

Oh, it's also hilarious, although some of my personal favorites left me a bit disappointed.

[Jim Dye]

South Park Version

http://www.spschat.com/RareMedia/videos/so...aristocrats.wmv

DON"T VIEW AT WORK!!!!

[chuckyd4]

It's quite good: I definitely snorted my Coke a couple of times. Mostly because the folks you least expect (or I did) - like Bob Saget and Whoopi Goldberg - absolutely steal the show. While others - like George Carlin - really let me down. Also some really interesting tellings of the joke, like one by a guy who does card tricks, or a mime.

Definitely recommended, even if it could have used some editing here and there. I did like the - dare I say - improvisatory way it unfolded though, where one person would say something and they'd cut to a clip of somebody else that proved the point and on and on.

[7/4]

couldn't resist!

←

And I thought this was another remake of an old movie.

[Stereojack]

Mostly because the folks you least expect (or I did) - like Bob Saget and Whoopi Goldberg - absolutely steal the show.  While others - like George Carlin - really let me down.  Also some really interesting tellings of the joke, like one by a guy who does card tricks, or a mime.

←

Loved the film, but I have different views. I thought Carlin's methodical, matter-of-fact improvisation was brilliant. Thought Saget and his constantly cracking himself up was somewhat obnoxious. Gilbert Gottfried and the guy who did it as Liza Minnelli were also tops.

This movie really gets into the nature of standup comedy and how the comedians approach their material.

[DTMX]

Right after I saw the movie, I sent this message to a friend of mine:

You could scale Mount Everest...

You could be pulled out of the crowd during the 9th inning of Game 7 of the World Series to pinch-hit a grand slam...

You could singlehandedly doodle a cure for cancer while writing the rough draft of your speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize for curing baldness and obesity...

But you can't say you've really lived until you've heard the Smothers Brothers tell "The Aristocrats".

Sarah Silverman's take on it was one of the funniest deadpan things I've ever heard. Good God, she has such a foul mouth.

And seeing Andy Ritcher telling the most offensive joke in the world to his daughter was really touching.

[DTMX]

Too bad they couldn't get some commentary from Denis Leary and Bob Newhart - they might have had some interesting takes on it.

[Jazzmoose]

Too bad they couldn't get some commentary from Denis Leary and Bob Newhart - they might have had some interesting takes on it.

←

I can see Newhart now, with phone to ear: "Uh huh. And..and then they did what? Ah...they..."

[Kalo]

Steven Wright's version was my favorite.

Whoopi Goldberg's version was actually funny! (A first for her from my point of view.)

Sarah Silverman first person version was amazing and disturbing.

After hearing the hype about it, I thought Bob Saget's version was disappointing, but filthy.

As for the Gottfried version, my take on it is that you had to be there.

A worthwhile movie if you have a liking/tolerance for baroque scatology and elaborate obscenity.

[Big Wheel]

Steven Wright's version was my favorite.

Whoopi Goldberg's version was actually funny! (A first for her from my point of view.)

Sarah Silverman first person version was amazing and disturbing.

After hearing the hype about it, I thought Bob Saget's version was disappointing, but filthy.

As for the Gottfried version, my take on it is that you had to be there.

A worthwhile movie if you have a liking/tolerance for baroque scatology and elaborate obscenity.

←

I agree with just about all of this. (Although I zoned out a bit during Wright's bit and didn't follow it as closely as I should have). The Gottfried, though not living up to the high expectations that the film gives it, provides a good window into Gottfried's genius at using rhythm in his delivery. The Saget I think is funnier if you previously only knew Saget from Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos--thus the shock value is greatly amplified. Saget did a show at my college in 2001 in which he cracked jokes about banging the Olsen twins, so I pretty much knew what to expect.

[Alexander]

I haven't seen it yet, although I plan to. However, the South Park version was hilarious!