Music and comedy have a lot in common. Both are heavily dependent on rhythm, possess an intuitive quality that everyone is on some level skilled in, and revel in the element of performance and surprise. The Aristocrats is essentially based on one joke, much like a popular song, of which virtually every professional comedian can perform a cover version. There are plenty of references by the comedians interviewed in this documentary to jazz musicians, and the comparisons are apt.
The individuality of the comedian is never more apparent than in the repeated telling of this one joke, titled “The Aristocrats,” which has a singular theme, namely the first line of the setup and then the final punchline, but then is told in infinite variations. This documentary is really the joke’s big coming out party in the public sphere, having existed previously almost exclusively in the realm of comedian inner circles, described as a kind of “secret handshake” and dating back to the days of Vaudeville. An interesting question would be what the differences in shocking subject material might be between now and the late 19th century, but the film, understandably, is more concerned with the variation between comedians’ styles and content that gives every performer a unique take on the famous joke.
Any movie that is designed to shock and offend most people tends to come with a caveat of don’t watch this if you are ever offended by anything. Don’t watch if you have ever described something as “filthy” in a pejorative way. Because chances are, if there’s something that offends you, someone featured in The Aristocrats will rub your nose in it. That, in a nutshell, is why I adore it so much: it’s the highest quality filth you’ll ever see.
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