The Aristocrats (2005) on Netflix

NR20051h 29mComedy Documentary

Comedians sit for interviews about a joke they have traded privately since Vaudeville. A man pitches a family act to a talent agent, and each teller improvises the obscene middle.

Netflix3.0/5
IMDb6.4/1017,379 votes
Rotten Tomatoes79%

Trailer

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Plot summary

Comedians have kept one joke among themselves since the days of Vaudeville, never performing it as part of a stand-up routine. In it, a man arrives at a talent agent's office pitching a family act, describing a routine of escalating obscenity; when the stunned agent asks what the act is called, the answer gives the joke its name. Everything between that opening and that answer belongs to whoever is telling it, improvised on the spot. The documentary gathers more than a hundred comedians and actors in candid interviews, and they deliver their own versions while discussing where the joke sits in comedy history and the logic behind its appeal. A few versions vary: two reverse it, describing an elegant performance under a lewd name, and one is delivered silently on the street as a mime.

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Aristocrats (2005)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Sarah Silverman's version of the joke, told as if it were her own life story, ended with the claim that veteran talk-show host Joe Franklin had raped her during a phony rehearsal for his show; Franklin, who also appears in the film, considered suing her for defamation.
The theater chain AMC refused to show the film on any of its 3,500-plus screens, saying it had limited appeal; co-producer Penn Jillette told MSNBC, "It's the kind of thing that makes you go 'Come on, play fair.'"
Footage of Gilbert Gottfried telling the joke at a Comedy Central/New York Friars' Club roast of Hugh Hefner was almost entirely censored when it aired on television; taped soon after the September 11 attacks, it shows him following Rob Schneider and opening with a joke about his flight having a connection at the Empire State Building.
Buddy Hackett and Rodney Dangerfield were meant to appear in the film but died before they could be filmed, and Johnny Carson, whose favorite joke it was, was invited but declined, according to a letter Penn Jillette sent critic Roger Ebert.