The Aristocrats (film)
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| The Aristocrats | |
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| Directed by | Paul Provenza |
| Produced by | Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette |
| Starring | Various |
| Music by | Gary Stockdale |
| Editing by | Emery Emery and Paul Provenza |
| Distributed by | THINKFilm |
| Release date(s) | August 12, 2005 |
| Running time | 89 Minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Aristocrats is a 2005 documentary film about the formerly obscure dirty joke of the same name. It was conceived and produced by comedians Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, edited by Emery Emery, and released to theaters by THINKFilm. The film is dedicated to Johnny Carson, as "The Aristocrats" was said to be his favorite joke.
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[edit] The joke
"The Aristocrats" is a longstanding transgressive joke amongst comedians, in which the setup and punchline are almost always the same (or similar). It is the joke's midsection — which may be as long as the teller prefers and is often completely improvised — that makes or breaks a particular rendition.
The joke involves a person pitching an act to a talent agent. Typically the first line is, "A man walks into a talent agent's office." The man then describes the act. From this point, up to (but not including) the punchline, the teller of the joke is expected to ad-lib the most shocking act they can possibly imagine. This often involves elements of incest, group sex, graphic violence, defecation, coprophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, child sexual abuse and various other taboo behaviors.
The joke ends with the agent, shocked and often impressed, asking "And what do you call the act?" The punchline of the joke is then given: "The Aristocrats".
(The joke, as first delivered in the film, contains the set-up line "What the heck do you call an act like that?" followed by the punchline "I call it 'The Aristocrats'." The added set-up value of this version of the joke, wherein the pitchman misunderstands the meaning of the phrase "What the heck do you call [that]?" as a request for information, when it is in fact meant to be an expression of incredulity or bewilderment, is lost in subsequent tellings of the joke, with the simpler and less sensible question asked by the agent, "What do you call your act?")
A parody trailer for a documentary called "The Adelaide Aristocrats," appeared on an episode of "The Chaser's War on Everything." The trailer featured various comedians, including Wil Anderson, Corrine Grant and Mikey Robbins talking about a joke, which turns out to be an insensitive and controversial joke by Alexander Downer in reference to the Government's domestic violence policy, "The Things that Batter."
[edit] Joe Franklin controversy
The New Yorker reported that Sarah Silverman's telling of the joke led veteran talk show host Joe Franklin, who is also featured in the film, to consider filing a defamation lawsuit against the comedian[1]. Her version is told as if it were autobiographical and she had been one of the "Aristocrats" performers as a child. Silverman builds the story to include her family being booked on the The Joe Franklin Show, and ends with her punch line: a deadpan allegation that Franklin had raped her during a phony rehearsal for the show.
On the DVD commentary track, Paul Provenza indicated that he had explained to Franklin that it was only meant to be a joke, and defended Silverman by calling her straight-faced performance Academy Award caliber. Additionally, Silverman told Jillette that it would have been a great publicity stunt if she had pressed charges.
[edit] Friars Club roast footage
The film includes footage of Gilbert Gottfried's telling of the joke at a Comedy Central/Friars Club roast of Hugh Hefner which had been almost entirely censored when aired on television. Taped not long after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the incident occurred at a time when, according to one of the commentators in the Aristocrats film, entertainers were uncertain how much comedy was allowed in the aftermath of the attacks. Gottfried followed Rob Schneider who had received mixed results with his stand-up comedy performance in Hefner's honor. Gottfried was booed, some yelling too soon, when he began his performance with a 9/11-related joke and, in response, he told an obscenity-filled rendition of the Aristocrats joke. According to the film, the telling was as much a cathartic experience for the audience as it was a shocking one, regardless of whether viewers were familiar with the joke or not. During his performance, Gottfried told the audience "They might have to clean this up for TV."
