Serious ban on a filthy old joke

By Bob Tourtellotte
July 28, 2005

The low-budget film The Aristocrats is fast becoming this season's controversial movie for one reason only: a joke.

In The Aristocrats, out in the US this weekend, comedians Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette, who is part of the team Penn & Teller, chose 100 comics from Robin Williams to Eddie Izzard to tell the same dirty joke.

There is only one punchline but as many ways to tell the joke as there are comics. The filmmakers' goal is two-fold: making audiences laugh and showing how comic minds work.

But the way the joke is told is so filthy - filled with scatological and sexual references - that AMC theatres, the No.2 chain in the US, won't show the film. Some movie marketers might avoid controversial topics when promoting films. Not Provenza and Jillette. "We have no desire to sucker-punch people ... We're letting people know what they are going to see," says Jillette. "We have a movie that has no nudity, no violence and unspeakable obscenity."

They did not seek a rating from the Motion Picture Association of America because they believed the film would be slapped with an NC-17 rating, which would have restricted it to adults only and caused some theatres to refuse to show it. "There is a joy and love in this movie that belies the notion that it's filthy and vulgar," Provenza says.

The joke begins when a performer walks into a talent office seeking work. An agent asks him about his act, so the performer explains it in the most vulgar terms including descriptions of body functions and sex acts. The punchline comes when the agent asks what the act is called. The performer answers: "The Aristocrats."

As punchlines go, it's not that funny. But the way some comics describe the act makes audiences howl. Others won't repeat the joke, and still more startle audiences with a retelling that seems to be pulled from real life. What emerges is a sort of portrait of comedians at work and at play.

Provenza says they used "The Aristocrats" joke not because it is dirty, but because its structure allows each comedian to take the story in a new direction. Jillette likens the improvising done by the comedians to improvising jazz music.

To catch the comedians at their most relaxed, Provenza and Jillette shot the documentary using small digital cameras and a limited crew. They arranged for interviews in performers' homes or offices or backstage. Some comedians, such as Wendy Liebman and Paul Reiser, surprised the filmmakers with their renditions, which Jillette liked. "The idea was to be surprised," he says.

