My wife and I saw The Aristocrats the other night, the documentary about the dirtiest, most disgusting joke ever. Unfortunately, it’s not the funniest joke ever — The joke Martin Mull tells, unrelated except that it uses the phrase “The Aristocrats,” I thought was funnier — but that’s not really what the movie’s about. Dozens and dozens of comedians — some of whom I was sure were dead — tell snippets of the joke and talk about the art and craft of filling in the disgusting middle section.

The movie’s funny. Not hysterical. But it’s very interesting. I don’t know if it’s worth $9.50 to see it in a theater, but it will be a great DVD rental.

Random notes:

1. I liked Comedian, the documentary about Seinfeld re-building his act, more.

2. You can submit your own performance of The Aristocrats joke and maybe it’ll be put on the DVD. (Why are they only putting one winner on DVD? There’s plenty of room. Or at least post them on The Aristocrats site.)

3. Some of the comedians I thought were particularly funny, interesting or enjoyable in the movie: George Carlin, Martin Mull, Sarah Silverman, Paul Reiser, Paul Krassner, David Steinberg’s teeth. Stand-out dirty: Howie Mandel, Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget. Disappointing: Steven Wright, Smothers Brothers, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Emo Philips. Most annoying: Bob Saget. (Note: There are lots and lots of comedians in this movie, many of whom I never heard of and don’t remember.)

4. Plan on staying through the credits.

5. Slight SPOILER ahead: The movie builds up Gilbert Gottfried’s performance of the joke at a Hugh Hefner roast. It ends with the tape. But they cut into it several times to tell us why this was such a funny performance. They have to because the performance doesn’t come across as particularly funny. At least to me. Gottfried is funnier in the other segments they taped.

[Tags: aristocrats comedy humor]

Categories: Uncategorized dw