The Aristocrats

Paul Provenza

Overview

"A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up, made unique by each comedian who tells it in an attempt to fashion the world's dirtiest joke. The cat was finally let out of the bag by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the seasoned funnymen who gathered together a hundred people to tell a hundred different renditions of the bit. Among those presenting their personal take on The Aristocrats in this film of the same name are Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Stewart, Emo Philips, and Chris Rock. The Aristocrats premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/19/2019
UPC:	0826663203813
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	NR
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:30:00
Sales rank:	44,963

Special Features

English SDH Subtitles Filmmaker commentary featuring Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette "Aristocrates do The Aristocrats" - highlight reel "Behind the Green Room door" - comedians tell some of their other favorite jokes "For Johnny Carson" clip "Be an Aristrocrat" contest winners Extended versions of the joke and additional footage of Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Stewart, Jason Alexander, Bob Saget, Sarah Silverman, Gilbert Gottfried, Lewis Black, Hank Azaria, Billy the Mime and many more....

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Teller	Actor
Hugh Hefner	Actor
Steven Banks	Actor
Gary Stockdale	Composer

Technical Credits

Paul Provenza	Director,Executive Producer
Peter Adam Golden	Producer
Penn Jillette	Executive Producer,Sound/Sound Designer,Director
Erica Wilson	Sound Editor

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- The Aristocrats
1. Chapter 1 [7:24]
2. Chapter 2 [6:55]
3. Chapter 3 [6:12]
4. Chapter 4 [7:37]
5. Chapter 5 [6:07]
6. Chapter 6 [8:21]
7. Chapter 7 [6:12]
8. Chapter 8 [7:06]
9. Chapter 9 [7:07]
10. Chapter 10 [7:12]
11. Chapter 11 [9:05]
12. Chapter 12 [8:50]

Menu

Disc #1 -- The Aristocrats
   Play
   Extras
      Commentary By Paul Provenza & Penn Jillette: On
      More From The Comedians
         Play All
         Gilbert Gottfried
         Bob Saget - I Have No Filter
         Hank Azaria - The Ultimate Punch Line
         Kevin Pollak - It's A Possession
         Sarah Silverman - People Think It's A Weird Way To Grow Up
         Lewis Black - That's Really All I Have To Say
         Taylor Negron - I Am An Aristocrat
         Pat Cooper - I'm The Genius Of Myself
         Jason Alexander & Peter Tilden - Never Open With That
         Jon Stewart - I'm Not Telling The Joke
         Doug Stanhope - Remember When I Took You To Sea World?
         Whoopi Goldberg - I'm A Story Teller
         Phyllis Diller - I'm A One-Liner Queen
         Richard Jeni - I Can Do This
         Jake Johannsen - I'm Not Sure I'm The Best Guy To Tell It
         Merrill Markoe - I Went To Art School
         Otto & George - The Teabags Are Resting Nicely On The Bench
         Ron Jeremy - Twas On A Lovely Day In May
         Billy The Mime - The Abortion
         Terry Gilliam - We Talked About Film Making
         The Royal Debonaires - Love Theme From The Aristrocrats
      The Aristocrats Do The Aristocrats
      For Johnny Carson
      Behind The Green Room Door: Comics Tell Us Some Of Their Other Favorite Jokes
      "Be An Aristrocrat Contest" Winners
   Scenes
   Audio
      5.1 Dolby Surround
      2.0 Dolby Stereo
      Commentary By Paul Provenza & Penn Jillette: On
   Subtitles
      English SDH Subtitles: On
      English SDH Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

A comedian and a magician walk into a film distributor's office. They say, "We've got a great documentary we want you to release." The distributor says, "We don't do documentaries. They're too boring." The comedian and magician say, "Please watch our documentary. You'll really like it." The distributor says, "What's it about?" The comedian and magician say, "It's about the most foul and disgusting joke ever told, and we got 100 comedians, comedy writers, journalists, and actors to talk about it or tell it, with each version more offensive than the last." "Wow," the distributor says, "so what do you call this documentary?" And the comedian and magician say, The Aristocrats! Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette's treatise on comic sense and sensibility takes as its starting point a joke that is legendary among comedians. "The Aristocrats" is the punch line, but getting there is all the twisted fun. The setup -- a family asks a talent agent to audition their act -- and the punch line are fixed, leaving the comedian to riff and improvise, jazz-style, on the nature of this family's absolutely horrific and unprintable act. As one observer notes, "I think you could put people to death for what goes on in some of the best versions of this joke." The most memorable renditions are those that go beyond the gross to put a subversive spin on the material. Sarah Silverman outs herself as a former Aristocrat and unearths some repressed memories of her audition for venerable New York showbiz talk show host Joe Franklin (her punch line ups the ante on what Whoopi Goldberg terms "shockability"). Eric Mead performs the joke as a profane card trick. Mario Cantone channels Liza Minnelli for his version. Wendy Liebman saves her obscenities for the punch line, while Martin Mull's hilarious version could almost be told in mixed company. Don't even ask about Billy the Mime. There is certain shock value in seeing the joke performed by Bob Saget, who forever sullies his family-friendly persona, but it is Gilbert Gottfried who boldly goes where few comics dare to go with his epic performance at a Hugh Hefner roast in the near-immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. He is even funnier offstage, parsing the joke and its awful components and implications. The sheer variety of the artists (among them George Carlin, Judy Gold, Paul Reiser, Steven Wright, and an animated South Park rendition) and their insights into the nature of comedy keep The Aristocrats from being a one-joke movie.

Barnes & Noble - Donald Liebenson

The Aristocrats is an odd little documentary. The film has the ultimate one-joke premise, and the joke isn't even very funny (as many of the comics in the film note), but it offers an opportunity for several talented, inspired comics to riff on it and make it their own, while commenting on the nature of standup comedy and the intricacies of what makes something funny. The joke itself offers the basest, most falsely transgressive type of humor. While startling, the jokes about incest and spousal abuse don't seem very far-removed from the misogynistic nursery rhymes of Andrew Dice Clay. While it's certain to anger some of the right people, it's hardly a mighty salvo for freedom in the culture wars. Many of the comics seem content to merely shock. The ones who come off the best are those who break down the joke effectively (Jake Johannsen discussing the eponymous act's legal ramifications, and the illogic of the talent agent's interest in what they call themselves) or have a certain credibility derived from the genuinely transgressive nature of their previous work (Gilbert Gottfried, George Carlin). Billy the Mime works thanks to the incongruity of seeing a street performer in whiteface enact such atrocities. And the brilliant Sarah Silverman transcends the mean-spirited nature of the joke by improvising a personal history with the act, and caps it with a scandalous (and, okay, mean-spirited) revelation that is also the funniest movie line in recent memory. Director (and comic) Paul Provenza, who conceived the project with Penn Jillette and co-edited the film with Emery Emery, keeps things moving at a good clip, and structures the film in a slick, consistently engaging way. It offers a much richer, more enjoyable experience than listening to the same joke over and over for 90 minutes.

All Movie Guide - Josh Ralske

It works on the mind as well as the funny bone and the gag reflex.

New York Times - A.O. Scott

Under normal circumstances, nothing kills a joke faster than trying to explain it. Yet here, such examination is the film's strong suit and provides much-needed respite, quite frankly, from the exhaustion of constant laughter.

Washington Post - Michael O'Sullivan