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The same joke, just progressively grosser

This week, learn about immigration policies, get a taste for foreign sci-fi or revel in poop jokes

The Aristocrats (R)

So, I'm this movie reviewer, and I tell my readers, "Have I got a movie for you! It's the most relentless 90 minutes of your life. You'll be bombarded from all sides with the filthiest jokes you've ever heard. Explicit imagery of feces, incest, bestiality and combinations of the three will become so common that you will not bat an eye at their every mention. Comedians will show you why they are the most twisted people on this planet as their dirtiest joke (usually told only in their inner circles) is finally revealed to the public. A couple of people might think this dirty joke is the funniest thing to ever grace the comedic landscape, but most people will be simply too horrified to laugh at what really isn't that funny in the first place."

"What's it called?" the readers say.

"The Aristocrats"

Yes, this documentary by Paul Provenza and Penn Gillette (of Penn and Teller fame) is unspeakably dirty. That may be enough to convince some to go see it. Provenza and Gillette interview nearly 100 comedians to get their thoughts and renditions of "The Aristocrats" The formula of the joke itself works much like the above paragraph: a family, consisting of a mother, father, son, daughter and dog walk into a talent agent's office. They proclaim that they have this great family act and then demonstrate it with all sorts of excess (this excess is improvised by whoever is telling the joke). When asked what the act is called, they reply, "The Aristocrats."

The joke itself is not funny. It's the spin that each comedian puts on the joke that is supposed to make it funny. The big problem is that too many of the comedians just interpret the joke as a way for them to be as dirty as possible. A quality dirty joke is an art form, as the documentary explains and then proves true as numerous comedians provide little variation to the joke's formula, swearing excessively and providing vivid descriptions of lewd acts sure to send the weak-stomached out the door. The problem is, their dirty descriptions are also not that funny.

When there is variation, it's funny not because of the joke itself, but rather because of a particular variation or because preconceived notions about a certain comedian being shattered. Kevin Pollak performs the joke as Christopher Walken, which is pretty funny, except I would've laughed just as hard if he read excerpts from War and Peace with the same voice. There's a card trick variation, a performance by a mime and an Amish interpretation, all of which are funny in spite of the joke, not because of it.

Finally, there's Bob Saget, who hopes to destroy any and all preconceived notions about Bob Saget. His version of the joke is painfully unfunny, but the thought of Danny Tanner dropping the f-bomb brings the belly laughs Saget probably desires.

In all, The Aristocrats isn't really shocking as much as it is desensitizing. At the beginning of the movie, I wasn't laughing, probably because I was too horrified at the details of the joke to let out a chuckle. By the end of the movie, I wasn't laughing because I was bored. I was sick of the straightforward joke, unaffected by copious amounts of piss and excrement and desperately hoping that the documentary would actually allow a comedian to tell a joke straight through without cutting to someone else's commentary and ruining the flow that the joke desperately needs. Don't get me wrong, I did think that The Aristocrats has its moments, just not enough of them. Others may think differently, doubling over in laughter at the umpteenth retelling of the joke. I'll be with the rest of the audience, quietly scratching my head.

-reviewed by John Richards

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