A man walks into a talent agency and tells the agent he has this great family act. The agent asks him to describe it; the man says \(the following passage has been excised from the review due to extreme vulgarity, repeated incest references, affronts to God and various other extremely dirty reasons)."" The agent responds ""And just what do you call this act?!?"" The man responds, ""The Aristocrats.""
That is the Aristocrats joke, and in a nutshell describes the movie, ""The Aristocrats."" For the movie, director/comedian Paul Provenza assembled a wide variety of the world's top comedians to display their take on this classic vaudeville joke. All sorts of comedians, from The Smothers Brothers to Carrot Top to Bob Saget, put their own spin on the joke, trying desperately to be the most vile, vulgar joke teller possible.
The main problem with ""The Aristocrats"" occurs because the Aristocrats joke in and of itself is not very funny. The first time it gets recited in the film it might prompt a small chuckle in the vein of a ""A man walks into a bar... ouch!"" type joke. It does not matter how twisted the joke becomes-it does not matter if it brings in incest, bestiality, rape or any combination of acts, the joke remains rather lame.
At one point a string of comedians go into a rant about how the joke does not even really make sense. Paul Reiser points out it runs counter to standard comedy conventions, because the punchline pales in comparison to the middle of the joke.
Eric Idle says it does not work because nobody really knows what an aristocrat is. It is concluded to be a comedian's joke for comedians, which would never work in a stand-up performance, it could only work as a way to see who amongst friends can be the dirtiest.
Despite the lameness of the joke, Provenza does find ways to spice up the documentary by including variations on the joke telling process. Steven Banks (billed as ""Billy the Mime"") does a hilarious mime act, while Eric Mead uses a deck of cards to add a magic element to the joke. In one of the film's funniest moments, Sarah Silverman makes an appearance where she proclaims she actually appeared in the vile Aristocrats act. Also when Provenza brings in Bob Saget for his take on the joke, humor just flows, because that is Danny Tanner cussing up a storm.
Provenza definitely knows comedy. He assembled some of the top comedic minds of the industry for the film, which works out great. What does not work out so well are Provenza's directing and editing skills. He uses a rapid-fire editing style, which feels counter-intuitive to a comedian's pacing. One of the aspects driving comedy is the dramatic pauses a comedian uses before hitting the comedy home.
The way Provenza edits ""The Aristocrats"" takes away these pauses and intercuts them with other comedians talking, before going back to the joke. At one point Gilbert Gottfried tells his take on the joke, and about every five seconds it cuts away from Gottfried to another comedian saying ""Gilbert's version is amazing!"" The audience should not be told this; they should be able to gather it from the joke itself, not from someone telling them when to laugh.
The concept for ""Aristocrats"" is a strong one-taking a single joke, breaking it down and analyzing what makes it funny. Had the focus been placed on a funnier joke, maybe the film would be more intriguing. As it stands, it is an occasionally amusing, over-the-top vulgar 90 minutes of analysis for a somewhat boring topic.
