The Aristocrats (unrated)
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I remember hearing about this when it came out in 2005, and being vaguely interested, but I didn't see it til 2012. It's a documentary about a joke that's been around since Vaudeville, apparently, but which comedians never tell in their acts... they just tell it to each other. The set-up is someone trying to sell a family act to a talent agent. Then, anyone who tells the joke makes up their own middle part, which can go on as long as they want. This part is the whole point of the joke, actually. They just try to make up the most horrible, vile, inappropriate act they can imagine. And the punchline is, when the agent asks what the act is called, they say, "The Aristocrats!"

The punchline isn't really funny. It was probably funnier in an earlier era, and even now, one can see the irony, but... it really isn't funny. As I mentioned, the point of the joke is to make the middle part as dirty as possible. That's where the humor is, supposedly. And honestly, it's the kind of thing that normally I would not enjoy at all. And I'm sure I'll never enjoy it as much as the many comedians in this film seem to. But as the movie wore on, I did begin to develop more of an appreciation for it than I expected to. I'm sure there are a lot of people who absolutely should not watch this movie, because they'll just find it horribly offensive. And it is offensive, but there's something kind of... liberating... about the joke, if you can just remember that it is just a joke. None of the stuff that happens in the joke is happening in reality, and no one telling or listening to the joke would condone any of it in real life. That's kind of the point, I guess. Just being as over-the-top as you can be.

But anyway. I did think a lot of the things the comedians said while talking about the joke were a lot more amusing than the joke itself. And I definitely enjoyed one bit where Cartman was telling a version of the joke to his South Park friends. And I liked that a few people mentioned how similar the name of the joke is to the Disney movie "The Aristocats," which is of course completely different. And I liked that the DVD's bonus features include a bunch of comedians telling their versions of the joke. I didn't get through all of them, because... there were a lot (though not nearly as many as all the comedians in the film itself). Also I should say, those tellings in the bonus features are made up of clips we'd already seen scattered throughout the movie, but also included bits that aren't in the actual film, so... the joke is more cohesive and complete, this way. I should try to watch the rest of them, someday. There's another feature with comedians telling completely different jokes, which were pretty funny (though also offensive). Anyway, not sure what else to say, except that I'd kind of like to possibly make up and incorporate my own, clean versions of the joke into my writing someday. Which of course would completely miss the point, but I'd find it amusing.