The Aristocrats (2005)

One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.

Director:

Paul Provenza

Stars:

George Carlin, Don Rickles, Chris Rock

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Albrecht	...	Himself - HBO Chairman / CEO
Jason Alexander	...	Himself
Hank Azaria	...	Himself
Shelley Berman	...	Himself
Steven Banks	...	Billy the Mime (as Billy the Mime)
Lewis Black	...	Himself
David Brenner	...	Himself
Mario Cantone	...	Himself
Drew Carey	...	Himself
George Carlin	...	Himself
Mark Cohen	...	Himself
Scott 'Carrot Top' Thompson	...	Himself (as Carrot Top)
Billy Connolly	...	Himself
Pat Cooper	...	Himself
Wayne Cotter	...	Himself

Storyline

Comedy veterans and co-creators Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza capitalize on their insider status and invite over 100 of their closest friends--who happen to be some of the biggest names in entertainment, from George Carlin, Whoopi Goldberg and Drew Carey to Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget, Paul Reiser and Sarah Silverman--to reminisce, analyze, deconstruct and deliver their own versions of the world's dirtiest joke, an old burlesque too extreme to be performed in public, called "The Aristocrats."

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Plot Keywords:

joke | comedian | aristocrat | surprise | burlesque | 

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Taglines:

100 Comedians. One Very Dirty Joke.

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Genres:

Documentary | Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Mighty Cheese Productions [United States] Think Film Company

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 September 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

The @r!$t* (r@t$

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$243,796, 31 July 2005, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$6,377,277, 22 January 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mighty Cheese Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Promos for this film promised a film with no violence or nudity but tons of bad language. However, Penn Jillette had to add blurring to the private parts of a "friend" sharing a jacuzzi with one of the comedians in order to fulfill this promise.

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Quotes

[first lines]
George Carlin: The joke leads me down one path and then it switches the path on me suddenly and hits me with a hammer. It's just, "Here we go folks."

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Crazy Credits

Everyone listed in the credits under "Very Special Thanks" was interviewed for the film but did not make the final cut.

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Connections

Edited into 5 Second Movies: Aristocrats (2008)

User Reviews

Not for the faint of heart

Well, I think that the movie description on IMDb pretty much provides you with any basic information regarding the theme of the movie. It doesn't really have a plot and is mostly told in a documentary style fashion, but without any one narrator.

In essence, a group of comedians are all discussing this famous (apparently only to Hollywood folk) joke that has been told for some time now (I think that they reference the very early days of Hollywood and even vaudeville) primarily by comedians and typically behind the scenes. The main areas being parties, pre show discussions, post show discussions, and get togethers where any group of people include a comedian.

While I did find a few of the retellings to be funny, and a few of the comedians were just funny because of who they were, I found most of the actual dialogue to be in extremely poor taste and felt that this could have been more in the lines of a 20 minute to 30 minute short instead of a full length documentary as there is only so much perversion that can really take place in one period without fully overloading most people.

A general warning should be given up front, this is most certainly not a show for anyone under the age of 16 as it contains graphic descriptions of the most vile deviant behaviors imaginable.

Overall I don't recommend it, but I do give it at least a 4 out of 10 due to the partial comedic factor and the history lesson included.