Although it's not entirely a male phenomenon, there is a segment of guys who seem to revel in being gross. Whether it's innate or learned is debatable, but age seems to have little bearing and it does start quite young. I can still remember my male friends sitting around belching and farting, with each boy trying to outdo the others in making such activities as exaggerated as possible.
While they found it hilarious, I didn't see the innate humor in that, which might explain my similar reaction to the comedy documentary "The Aristocrats." An examination of the "dirtiest joke you've never heard," the film shows a wide variety of comedians -- young and old, famous and not -- telling the jokes that comics apparently only tell each other.
And that's for good reason as it's incredibly gross, crude and designed to offend -- or amuse depending on your viewpoint -- in what can only be labeled as comedic shock and awe. The bit is incredibly limited: A man enters a talent agency and states he has a family act he'd like to pitch. He then goes on to describe what he and his family do on stage, leaving the agent shocked and then asking what the man could possibly call the act. The pitchman then proudly states, "The Aristocrats."
Yes, that's it, and even the comedians who are so fond of it admit that it's stupid, gross and not particularly funny. Thus, you may wonder why someone would make a documentary about comedians telling the same joke over and over again. The comics themselves deliver the answer. They equate the joke -- where the middle part is completely improvised and can range from a few lines to more than half an hour of material -- as jazz where the "musicians" go on a riff and personalize the joke with their own touch.
And since that personalization is so crude and/or gross -- including but not limited to graphic verbal depictions of incest, pedophilia, bestiality and scatological material -- they also discuss the nature of the joke, how far they can or should take it, and how people react to it. Of course, since they only tell it to other comedians and usually only in private (beyond a Hugh Hefner roast of which we see segments), the latter is somewhat of a moot point.
As it turns out, so is the film that comes from Penn Jillette (the talkative, taller half of the magic duo Penn & Teller) and Paul Provenza (making his debut behind the lens) who deployed a digital camera to interview the talent. While we thankfully don't have to hear the exact same joke scores of times, it turns out there isn't much of a difference among the various "jazzy" takes on it.
Yes, the details are varied, but once you've heard the dog sex, vomit and poo eating, incest and other variations a few times, they all start to blend together. The biggest problem is that the riffs and "comedy" material are simply designed to be as gross, crude and profane as possible, without many clever attempts at actually making them funny, let alone hilarious. In the end, it's nothing more than one case after another of one-upmanship for shock value alone.
True, it all depends on the nature of one's funny bone and sense of comedy, but crudity for crudity's sake quickly loses its luster and/or appeal without anything else to complement it or take its place (although a mime at least puts an unique spin on the material). In fact, the funniest bits are those that either aren't the joke itself, or are moments that make fun of it. Accordingly, the humorous spoof of it using the South Park characters telling and reacting to it (essentially being grossed out and then all agreeing they don't get it) is arguably the best version.
Fans of certain comedians may be eager to see what their favorite does with the joke and what sort of gross spin they might put on it, but some are apt to be disappointed, either in the crudity (such as with Bob Saget) or lack of screen time (including the always funny Robin Williams and comedy legend Don Rickles).
Simply put, if you're one of those people (and this may sound sexist, but it's mostly going to be guys) who enjoy crude humor shoveled out like heaping piles of manure, or you like watching comedians cracking themselves or each other up, you may just find this film to your liking.
It's a bit of a testament that Provenza manages to keep things moderately interesting considering the oft-repeated joke, but that alone doesn't make the lack of clever crude humor any more forgivable. "The Aristocrats" offers a smattering of laughs, but not enough smarts (on the part of the comedians or the documentary film itself) to justify the repetitious crudity. The film rates as a 4 out of 10.
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