Recently I saw ‘The Aristocrats: 100 Comedians, one very dirty joke’ which is a documentary film about the comedy world. Specifically, it’s about an old and famous joke which is really not one joke but a model for a joke – it’s different every time someone tells it. I think I can safely not give away anything about the movie by describing the joke to you:

A guy walks into an agent’s office and says to the agent, ‘I’ve got this great new act you’ve got to hear about. It’s really a killer, it’ll bring down the house.’

The agent says, ‘So what’s the act?’

{insert a description of the most foul scenario you can think of that includes all sorts of sexual acts, horrible scatological stuff, bestiality, incest, basically the most abhorrent stuff you can think of. Each comedian makes this part up on the spot, gives it his/her own flair.}

The agent, flabbergasted, can only say ‘Whaddya call that act?’ and the guy says, ‘The Aristocrats.’

Here’s Cartman telling the joke if you want to get a flavor for it (Warning: this is extremely vulgar and disgusting. Like, really, I think you ought to watch it if you want to get the feel of the joke, but it’s truly gross. You’ve been warned.):

The movie consists entirely of 100 different comedians telling the joke, talking about the joke, or talking about other people telling the joke. Apparently this joke is a big part of the construction of this community of comedians.

Somewhere about 30 minutes into the 90 minute movie, about five minutes after I stopped laughing and started wondering how the movie could possibly sustain itself for another hour, I realized something. The Aristocrats doesn’t work that well as a comedy, but that’s okay, because at heart it’s an ethnographic film. I started to look at it differently, and I LOVED it! This joke has so many flavors and so many characters – it’s something that 100 different famous comedians could all talk about and share stories about with excitement and passion. The film is a window into a history and a sense of community. Knowing the joke, telling the joke, talking about the joke, and loving it all become parts of the cultural construction of comedy. It’s more about comedy and the practice of comedy than it is about the joke – the joke is just the vehicle for the story.

Now I know I said it wasn’t that funny, but I almost lost control of myself when Steven Banks (a.k.a Billy the Mime) gave his wordless interpretation of the joke, standing right in the middle of the boardwalk near LA, people walking by behind him. After almost an hour of context about the joke, what it means, and the way it’s told, Billy the Mime absolutely tore it up. Dear lord. I wish I could find a video clip, but I can’t. I’ll keep a lookout.