The Aristocrats

I kept putting off seeing The Aristocrats until I had almost forgotten about it. It's a freewheeling documentary put together by Penn & Teller and friends about an old joke. Basically, you tell this joke and improvise with the filthiest stuff you can imagine, and close with a cute punchline. It featured interviews and performances from a lot of random famous people in the comedy biz.

It was pretty funny, but it was also a fascinating look at creativity to me. As an aspiring comedy writer, I'm always interested in what creates humor and how delivery counts for so much. Some people really elaborated on how to tell it and why it works, which was great to hear. I'm not going to try stand up again anytime soon (yes, I did once, and I couldn't even get a laugh at an open mic in a crappy Delaware bar), but the science of it made sense to me. It might be interesting if you want to write or try anything in entertainment.

As for famous comedians, there were some annoying ones, some funny ones, and some insightful ones. Older guys like Billy Conolly, Eric Idle, Gilbert Gottfried, Pat Cooper, Richard Lewis, and Richard Jeni were on. George Carlin was probably the best at introducing and explaining it. He's a great guy to listen to. Fresh younger faces like Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman, Doug Stanhope, and the whole Onion editorial staff were on as well. Then you had people like Robin Williams, Paul Reiser, Whoopi Goldberg, Carrot Top, Drew Carey, Lisa Lampinelli, Chris Rock, and a few others, who were up and down. But they weren't all as bad as I expected.

The best parts for me? Hearing Gilbert go crazy on the joke a few weeks after 9/11, which is the inspirational point in the film. I liked seeing a guy do a very clever rendition of it with playing cards. I liked seeing a mime do it. Mostly, I liked hearing Kevin Pollak do it with one of the best Christopher Walken impersonations ever, which is saying a lot.

It's a good, light viewing for anyone who loves comedy and the art of it. Plus, I haven't even gone into the special features yet. They are worth checking out.