I finally got to see this movie for the first time on HBO last night, as the limited theatrical release did not include my area. I am glad to add my two cents to this discussion.
"At what point did we explitives become funnier than humor?" -- The_Adam
Although I think what he intended to ask was, "At what point did expletives
become humor?" I think that this is the unspoken question that forms the whole premise of this film and, indeed, the joke itself.
As George Carlin stated, humor is all about context. An appropriate secondary title for this movie could be "The Evolution of a Dirty Joke." Phyllis Diller's reaction after Penn Jillette's telling of "TA" was especially relevant. The version she heard back in her day is quite different from the version(s) circulating now. Yet, after she recovered, she was cackling right along with everyone else.
Beneath the surface, this documentary is really an observation of where society draws the line between funny and taboo. Dana Gould's suggestion of an "Amish" version, with the husband turning on a light switch and the wife using a TV remote, is a perfect example: It was funny (at least, to me) precisely because it's so incredibly tame when compared with, say, Bob Saget's or Gilbert Gottfried's versions. It exemplified that what is sinful to some is unremarkable to others.
I also thought Wendy Liebman's "inverse" telling, by making the build-up squeaky clean and the punchline vulgar, was amusing because it also illustrated George Carlin's assertion, which is that shock-humor is just another uptown word for surprise. Scientific studies have shown that most babies laugh when they are thrown up in the air and then caught for the same reason we laugh at "The Aristocrats" (or rather,
some of us do): the element of surprise. We wonder where the comic is leading us, how far is he/she going to take the joke, and if the punchline will be the same. On the other hand, some babies start crying when they are thrown in the air because surprise is not enjoyable to them, and some people are offended by dirty jokes and don't find them the least bit titillating. As another comic stated, humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. This movie is a testament to that fact.
In a nutshell, "The Aristocrats" (a.k.a. "The Sophisticates") is a dirty joke with an ironically anti-climactic punchline. It's a comedic sandwich, with the beginning and end representing the required slices of bread. What you put in the middle to
make it dirty is up to you; you can make it a grilled cheese or go all-out and build a Dagwood.
If you don't like dirty jokes, you will not like this movie. If you
really don't like dirty jokes, you will
really not like this movie. But if you like to laugh along with comedians who laugh at themselves and the utter silliness of what they do for a living, and if you appreciate that humor is largely comprised of what we consider inappropriate in polite company, then you will most likely enjoy this movie.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I know you don't use bad language in front of these people. I understand that, okay? 'Cause these are the movers and the shakers. These are the people who are our first line of defense when it comes to the terrorist threat. But the word 'sh*t' makes them cry."
-- Lewis Black, Red, White & Screwed (on performing at the 2005 Congressional Correspondents' Dinner)
~ Lady P
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."
Batman Begins
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