Foul, Filthy, Funny: The Aristocrats!

“A family walks into a talent agency. It’s a father, mother, son, daughter, and a dog. The father says to the talent agent, “We have a really amazing act. You should represent us.”

So begins an infamous dirty joke named The Aristocrats, and yes, The Aristocrats is a 92-minute documentary about a joke. Not just any joke, but an over-the-top comedians’ joke for other comedians. Most jokes are pretty formulaic: a surprising punchline following a carefully-worded setup. But the Aristocrats joke contravenes the rules and standards of even that system, because though its beginning and punchline are set, the middle part has endless variations. The beauty (if you can call it that) of the joke is that the more outlandish, offensive, obnoxious, and disgusting the joke gets, the funnier it is.

To not “get” The Aristocrats is to misunderstand the purpose of the joke. The essence of the joke is in the journey, not the destination. The pleasure and humor in the joke is in seeing how far the teller is able to go, either before cracking up laughing or running out of creative steam. The Aristocrats joke essentially becomes an endurance test.

Nearly a hundred comics, from Whoopi Goldberg to Hank Azaria, Robin Williams and Drew Carey, George Carlin, Phyllis Diller, Gilbert Gottfried, and Bob Saget appear. Each tell their own versions of the story, dissect what makes it funny, and regale the audience with their observations. Many of the interviews are tear-jerkingly funny and clever, especially one told in mime and another told in a series of card tricks.

The idea to make a film about a joke is brilliant, and full credit goes to director Provenza and producer Penn Jillette, the speaking half of the comedy / magician / skeptic duo Penn and Teller. Provenza and Jillette spent almost four years making the film and editing it together. The result is a gut-busting orgy of profanity, obscenity, and scatology.

The Aristocrats is not rated. In a show of corporate cowardice, AMC Theaters announced in mid July that the chain would not be screening The Aristocrats because of its rating (or lack thereof). Despite the fact that The Aristocrats does not show a single act of violence, sex, or even nudity, the film would not be shown by AMC. Just two years ago, AMC was happy to book Mel Gibson’s bloody and violent The Passion of the Christ, a film that showed a man being flayed alive, with pieces of bloody flesh and gore flying through the air in slow motion. In an age of graphic violence in cinema, it’s amazing that the MPAA would bring the hammer down on marionette sex (see Team America: World Police) and dirty jokes.

I don’t want to tell too much about the film, because dissecting a film is like dissecting a joke: the more you tell, the less enjoyable it is. Easily offended folks who reach for their smelling salts when they hear a curse word should give The Aristocrats a wide berth—allowing the rest of us to get in line.

By the way, those of you who enjoy linguistic ribaldry, dirty jokes, blasphemy, curse words, offensive slurs, and other "red-headed stepchild" tangents of the wonder that is language might be interested in an organization called the International Maledicta Society, and its journal, Maledicta (Latin for bad words). I myself am a longtime member and supporter, and have had some of my work published in the journal. According to editor Dr. Rey Aman (who, ironically, served prison time for verbally insulting a judge in messy divorce proceedings a few years back), “Maledicta specializes in offensive and negatively-valued words and expressions from all languages and cultures, past and present. Its main areas of interest are the origin, etymology, meaning, use, and influence of verbal aggression and verbal abuse of any kind, as well as language usually considered vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous.”

Membership to the Society is free, and Maledicta journal has been published in thirteen volumes so far, dating back to the 1970s. The articles, both hilarious and scholarly, deal with free speech, censorship, curse words in dozens of languages, and much more. I encourage readers to check out the Web site HERE (or www.sonic.net/maledicta, if the link doesn't fuc&ing work).