Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Curses ! ! !
The price of admission set me in the proper mood. Nine bucks! Early Saturday afternoon spent at the Ritz East in Philly. 9 dollars. Fortunately, my trip to Croatia had provided a cornucopia of cleverly constructed curses, which I proceeded to roll out in a talking-to-myself rendition. Croatian being what is, a language whose words are all bidding for a vowel, I sounded like a garbage disposal crushing shot glasses. Theater patrons scooted over 3-4 seats. Cell phone users creaked their necks checking for the static. I slumped into a seat, spinning a cocoon of ill will around myself.
The movie began. A documentary. Sort of. Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette’s "The Aristocrats" starts with a simple premise. Get over a 100 of your buddies and have them "reminisce, analyze, deconstruct, and deliver their own versions of the world's dirtiest joke, an old burlesque routine, too extreme to be performed in public, called "The Aritocrats"."
The joke is a skelton; each comedian provides their own take to complete the body of the joke.
" A family goes to a talent agent and says, "You should see our act." The talent agent says "I don't hire family acts. Too cute." The family says "Give us two minutes. You'll want to hire us." The Talent Agent says "Okay. Two minutes." The family then begins the act ...
[At this point, the creative comedian tests his skills by inventing a long list of totally inappropriate behaviors for a family act to perform. Supposedly, comedians often tell this joke to each other, as a way of demonstrating how creative and outrageous they can be.]
The family wraps up with a big "Tada!" The Agent, who is now in a state of shock and bewilderment stammers out: "That's, uh, quite an act. What do you call yourselves?"
"The Aristocrats." "
Simple, right? The cast of comics is impressive. Enough teasers were thrown in as well; not all of the comedians delivered a version of the joke, notably Billy Connolly, Phyllis Diller, Harry Shearer, and Whoopi Goldberg. Most folks stayed through to the end to see if all of the comedians followed through. A few people left, particularly when Bob Saget and Rick Overton went through their deliveries. It was a bit much at times, an overkill of numbing verborrhea. Defecation, incest, bludgeoning, repetitive acts against nature can only go so far in the laugh department before it goes too far and the point of the joke is lost. At times, it was like a late night around the campfire with some extremely bored (and boring) cub scouts, each trying to out-gross the other.
But then there were pleasant surprises. Larry Storch (Yes! He of "F Troop" fame) was particularly funny as were Sarah Silverman, Penn & Teller, Fred Willard, Martin Mull (my personal favorite comic's version of the joke), Carrie Fisher, Mario Cantone, Kevin Pollack (delivering a dead-on Christopher Walken version of the tale), and Eric Mead.
It's worth a viewing. Not at the $9.00 I shelled out, though. Wait for the DVD, unless, of course, you want to enter the theater already in character for the movie.
The movie began. A documentary. Sort of. Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette’s "The Aristocrats" starts with a simple premise. Get over a 100 of your buddies and have them "reminisce, analyze, deconstruct, and deliver their own versions of the world's dirtiest joke, an old burlesque routine, too extreme to be performed in public, called "The Aritocrats"."
The joke is a skelton; each comedian provides their own take to complete the body of the joke.
" A family goes to a talent agent and says, "You should see our act." The talent agent says "I don't hire family acts. Too cute." The family says "Give us two minutes. You'll want to hire us." The Talent Agent says "Okay. Two minutes." The family then begins the act ...
[At this point, the creative comedian tests his skills by inventing a long list of totally inappropriate behaviors for a family act to perform. Supposedly, comedians often tell this joke to each other, as a way of demonstrating how creative and outrageous they can be.]
The family wraps up with a big "Tada!" The Agent, who is now in a state of shock and bewilderment stammers out: "That's, uh, quite an act. What do you call yourselves?"
"The Aristocrats." "
Simple, right? The cast of comics is impressive. Enough teasers were thrown in as well; not all of the comedians delivered a version of the joke, notably Billy Connolly, Phyllis Diller, Harry Shearer, and Whoopi Goldberg. Most folks stayed through to the end to see if all of the comedians followed through. A few people left, particularly when Bob Saget and Rick Overton went through their deliveries. It was a bit much at times, an overkill of numbing verborrhea. Defecation, incest, bludgeoning, repetitive acts against nature can only go so far in the laugh department before it goes too far and the point of the joke is lost. At times, it was like a late night around the campfire with some extremely bored (and boring) cub scouts, each trying to out-gross the other.
But then there were pleasant surprises. Larry Storch (Yes! He of "F Troop" fame) was particularly funny as were Sarah Silverman, Penn & Teller, Fred Willard, Martin Mull (my personal favorite comic's version of the joke), Carrie Fisher, Mario Cantone, Kevin Pollack (delivering a dead-on Christopher Walken version of the tale), and Eric Mead.
It's worth a viewing. Not at the $9.00 I shelled out, though. Wait for the DVD, unless, of course, you want to enter the theater already in character for the movie.
Comments:
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I have read about this joke elsewhere - and yours is by far the best summary of the film so far - but I must admit, I am too dense to understand the original premise. What is funny about "the Arisocrats" punchline?
# opined by 
: 2:35 PM, August 15, 2005
: 2:35 PM, August 15, 2005
That was the joke? I don't get it either.
Unless it is the contrast between scatalogical acts and a name that is supposed to invoke taste and refinement?
More to the point: I've never heard any comedian tell this joke. Still: I quite fancied going to see the movie. As always seems to happen, I expect i'll wait for the DVD. Even though you've totally spoiled it. Razvaljena.
Unless it is the contrast between scatalogical acts and a name that is supposed to invoke taste and refinement?
More to the point: I've never heard any comedian tell this joke. Still: I quite fancied going to see the movie. As always seems to happen, I expect i'll wait for the DVD. Even though you've totally spoiled it. Razvaljena.
Stephenesque and FCB: Even with all I'd noted, I (hope I) didn't spoil the movie for you. IMHO FCB nailed the joke with his comment that "it is the contrast between scatalogical acts and a name that is supposed to invoke taste and refinement". But a whole movie about that one joke? Yep, if you're patient and sit through the fecal matter and excrutiantgly puerile parts, there are some gems here. The tale is in the telling and some of the tellers were (at least for me) a pleasant surprise. What may have been more of a surprise is that some of the tellers of the tale, big names all, were uncomfortably atrocious.
I truly, truly hope I hadn't spoiled the movie for either of you. It is worth seeing, in whatever format you have available.
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I truly, truly hope I hadn't spoiled the movie for either of you. It is worth seeing, in whatever format you have available.
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