The Artistocrats (2005)
THiNKFilm, Mighty Cheese Productions

Description

Comedy veterans and co-creators Penn Jillette (one half of the hit duo Penn & Teller) 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, Drew Carey to Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget, Paul Reiser and Sarah Silverman) to reminisce, analyze and deliver their own versions of the world’s dirtiest joke, an old burlesque routine too extreme to be performed in public, called The Aristocrats. One of the smash hits of the 2005 Sundance film festival, this critically acclaimed, star-studded comedy extravaganza, which celebrates the art of improvisation and the finest (and most foul mouthed) traditions of stand up, is sure to stretch the limits of its audience, particularly for how loud and how long they can laugh.

Tags

Comedy

Collected reviews and ratings

10 digitallyobsessed.com | Jon Danziger

It's a pistol of a movie, and it's intentionally incredibly offensive. So its appeal may be limited, and its audience self-selecting.
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10 Salon.com | Stephanie Zacharek

This delightful, innocently perverted look at what stand-up comics do to amuse one another may require a high tolerance for toilet humor.
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10 efilmcritic.com | David Cornelius

What this film ultimately does, other than provide an hour and a half of endless fall-on-the-floor laughter, is pay tribute to the underappreciated art of comedy. Not everybody can make this joke work (as is proven here, the first time we hear it), and so by providing comparisons, we get to peek behind the stand-up curtain, learning what it takes to make it on stage.
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9.8 DVD Verdict | Bill Gribon

Many will wonder why this one joke had to be the subject of a 90-minute movie, while others will want it to go on forever. If all you get out of The Aristocrats is an overlong look at an unfunny vaudeville routine, you just weren't paying attention.
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8.0 Variety | Todd McCarthy

The so-called "dirtiest joke in the world" gets told to a fare-thee-well in "The Aristocrats," a raucous insider docu that invites the viewer to share a secret held exclusively by comics for untold generations
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8.0 San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

... like the joke, the filmmakers keep their movie alive, not by changing any of the fundamentals but by finding new ways to embroider the basic material.
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8.0 filmcritic.com | Eric Meyerson

The Aristocrats is naturally not for everyone. But if you're the type of comedy club patron who guffaws at the type of dark and edgy material that makes the suburban bachelorette partiers at the next table stare into their margaritas, you'll cherish this voyeuristic peek into the sick minds that make America laugh.
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7.5 Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

These stand-ups on the spot tell the joke, take it apart and reveal why they use it as the gold standard to test what a comic is made of. Judge for yourself.
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7.5 The Onion A.V. Club | Nathan Rabin

.. a surprisingly fresh and funny feature-length look at an unrelentingly filthy vaudeville gag that's been passed down from comic to comic like an urban legend, often changing with every telling.
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7.0 PopMatters.com | Kevin Wong

Though the documentary has a lofty aim -- to dissect the nature of humor -- it also embraces the blasphemy of its subject matter, keeping its sensibilities firmly in the gutter.
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7.0 DVD Times | Mike Sutton

It’s unlikely that you will ever see another film which more determinedly pushes back barriers of what can be said on screen than does The Aristocrats. By the end of it, it’s unlikely that you’d want to.
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7.0 Eye For Film | David Stanners

There's some truly unprecedented, gut-wrenching stuff churned out and never could the warning, "Stay away if you're easily offended," be more appropriate. In the end, it's the old contradictory chestnut of being both repulsed and attracted simultaneously that keeps you hooked.
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7.0 FutureMovies

... what it illustrates, more than just a hundred ways to tell a fairly lame old joke, is something deeper about the nature of art and comedy that cannot be communicated directly in worlds.
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6.3 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

“The Aristocrats” might have made a nice short subject. At 87 minutes, it's like the boozy salesman who corners you with the Pinocchio torture.
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6.3 ReelViews | James Berardinelli

The most interesting aspect of watching The Aristocrats results from dissecting the different performances and determining why some work and others don't.
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6.0 Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

... this "comedian secret handshake" and the most sustained in-joke ever reveals more about the social dynamic of professional comics than it provides insight into the joke, which is pretty basic. There's something about professional comedians breaking down what's funny for civilians that gets annoying after a while.
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5.0 Reel | Pam Grady

In short, what one can conclude from watching the movie's over 100 participants either tell or talk about the joke, all comedians are apparently 12-year-old boys. Even the women.
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