Pitch: Comedians talk about and perform a joke known as The Aristocrats.
I decided to stick The Aristocrats on the Netflix queue because of Jeffrey Ross’s appearance on Bill Simmons’s podcast. He discussed the Hugh Hefner roast and Gilbert Gottfried in particular. I was about to write a summary of what Jeffrey Ross said, but I searched real quick and found a concise description:
Comedian Gilbert Gottfried was known mostly for his ranting and squinting until September 29, 2001, when, in the wake of the WTC attacks, he mounted the dais for the Friar’s Club roast of Hugh Hefner. “I started out by saying, ‘I have to fly to L.A. tonight, but I can’t get a direct flight: They have to make a stop at the Empire State Building,'” he recalls. “Then I felt the audience jump back.” At that point, Gottfried decided to launch into a ten-minute version of the world’s dirtiest joke, known in comedy circles as the Aristocrats.
Here’s how the joke goes (taken from the Wikipedia article):
The setup: The joke always begins with a family act going in to see a talent agent.
The act: It is described in as much detail as the teller prefers.
The punchline: The shocked (or intrigued) agent asks what the act is called, and the proud answer (sometimes delivered with a flourish) is “The Aristocrats!”
Apparently comedians used to get together, taking turns telling their version while trying to outdo the previous comedian. I was hoping this documentary would include full footage of Gottfried’s telling at the Hugh Hefner roast, but only part is shown. My favorite segment was Kevin Pollak doing an impersonation of Christopher Walken telling the joke. In the end, hearing the same joke over and over is about as fun as it sounds. And listening to the deconstruction of a single joke over and over is also about as fun as it sounds. It’s sort of like magic—what’s going on behind the scenes is a lot less fun than the actual performance. As interesting as the history is, ninety minutes is just too long for any single joke.