Gag Reflex
The AristocratsThink Film
So, this guy walks into a theatrical agent’s office and says his family performs a routine in which assorted vulgar sexual acts occur. When the agent asks what the act is called, the guy replies, “The Aristocrats!”
Yes, in the wrong hands — Blender’s, for example — this can be a desperately unfunny joke. But, as filmmakers Penn Jillette (the tall, verbal half of Penn & Teller) and Paul Provenza make clear, what is funny is how comedians vary and improvise in their descriptions of the depraved acts leading up to that clunker of a punchline.
A secret handshake of sorts among comics, the joke was considered unsuitable for public consumption until Gilbert Gottfried launched into a version at a televised roast of Hugh Hefner shortly after 9/11. The Aristocrats hails Gottfried’s routine as both the moment when it became OK to laugh again and the definitive version of the joke. In fact, chuckle-wise, Gottfried’s take is put in the shade by a number of the other performers featured here, including Bob Saget and Sarah Silverman. The latter deadpans that she was actually a member of the Aristocrats troupe and was raped by ancient New York talk show host Joe Franklin, who, despite being another of the film’s 100-odd interview subjects, has in real life threatened to sue. The AMC theater chain also declined to screen a film that includes mentions of vomit consumption, midget Nazis, incestuous fist-fucking and the heretofore verboten phrase “nigger cunts.” But this extras-packed DVD, boasting yet more renditions of the joke from Terry Gilliam and Ron Jeremy, is more than just an offensive comedy. It’s a meditative examination on the nature of comedy and about being offended. Moreover, it’s the first film to prove that mimes can be funny — but only when they’re pretending to sodomize a dog.
