Sunday, February 12, 2006
The funniest documentary ever made
I am stranded in south Florida, unable to leave for home as scheduled on account of the huge honkin' blizzard that has shut down air traffic in the Northeast. Our time being worth nothing, several of us quaffed a few beers and huddled around my laptop this afternoon and watched The Aristocrats
, the funniest documentary I have ever seen, or expect ever to see. It is a feature length study of a single joke passed around among comedians for more than two generations. Just about every famous name in comedy takes a shot at telling this joke, which is so harsh -- irredeemably disgusting, actually -- that it rarely sees the light of day in front of actual audiences. The documentary, therefore, is really an exploration of the interior of the comedy subculture. Each of perhaps thirty comedians, including any number thought to be "clean" in front of their traditional audiences (Bob Saget, for instance), pushes the joke far beyond the boundary of good taste, or even bad taste. The various tellings of this single joke, woven into the documentary, are in fact so harsh that they would evince howls of disgust at most fraternity parties. But, and this is a huge "but," if you can handle boundaryless scatalogical comedy you will laugh until you have cramps in your abs.
Convenient Amazon link here.
, the funniest documentary I have ever seen, or expect ever to see. It is a feature length study of a single joke passed around among comedians for more than two generations. Just about every famous name in comedy takes a shot at telling this joke, which is so harsh -- irredeemably disgusting, actually -- that it rarely sees the light of day in front of actual audiences. The documentary, therefore, is really an exploration of the interior of the comedy subculture. Each of perhaps thirty comedians, including any number thought to be "clean" in front of their traditional audiences (Bob Saget, for instance), pushes the joke far beyond the boundary of good taste, or even bad taste. The various tellings of this single joke, woven into the documentary, are in fact so harsh that they would evince howls of disgust at most fraternity parties. But, and this is a huge "but," if you can handle boundaryless scatalogical comedy you will laugh until you have cramps in your abs. Convenient Amazon link here
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