# The Aristocrats joke
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 23, 2006, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230 "2006-01-23T07:21:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@booklyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklyn)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/1 "2006-01-23T07:21:14Z")
So it is refered to all over but what is it?
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/2 "2006-01-23T07:23:35Z")
[Enjoy!](http://www.dead-frog.com/aristocrats/)
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/3 "2006-01-23T07:26:43Z")
See also:
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aristocrats) on The Aristocrats.
- Peter Wiggen
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/4 "2006-01-23T07:30:02Z")
> [@PeterWiggen](#):
>
> [Enjoy!](http://www.dead-frog.com/aristocrats/)
I don’t get it. How is that funny?
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### Author:  [@booklyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklyn)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/5 "2006-01-23T07:52:36Z")
'tank pete, thought it might be something like this…
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/6 "2006-01-23T09:56:44Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> I don’t get it. How is that funny?
It’s all in the delivery.
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### Author:  [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/7 "2006-01-23T10:51:45Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> I don’t get it. How is that funny?
The joke isn’t funny.
But what the individual comedian puts in the middle can be hilarious.
See the movie.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/8 "2006-01-23T17:48:45Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> I don’t get it. How is that funny?
It’s hilarious if you’re watching the audience of the joke. Not all humor is for the benefit of those listening to it.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/9 "2006-01-23T18:02:34Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> I don’t get it. How is that funny?
The essence of the joke is that it’s humorously ironic that an act as raunchy and disgusting as that one calls itself by a refined name like “The Aristocrats”.
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/10 "2006-01-23T19:36:22Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> I don’t get it. How is that funny?
It’s primarily a joke for other comedians, instead of audiences. Much like you will hear people refer to some musicians as “musicians’ musicians,” (Elvis Costello and Warren Zevon come immediately to mind).
“The Aristocrats” is generally not told on stage. Gilbert Gottfried recently broke tradition and said it on stage, but it’s generally more like a “jam session” between comedians.
Comedians know that it’s not funny. That’s part of the humor.
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/11 "2006-01-23T19:40:53Z")
I have to run to a meeting right now, or I’d do the search, but there’s a South Park version that has Cartman telling the joke to the boys. 'Tis priceless.
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/12 "2006-01-23T19:42:44Z")
[I found it faster than I thought I would.](http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/south-park-aristocrats.html)
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### Author:  [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/13 "2006-01-24T14:14:23Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> It’s hilarious if you’re watching the audience of the joke. Not all humor is for the benefit of those listening to it.
“… so he finishes building the carport and – sure enough – he’s got a brick left over. So, unsure _what_ to do with it, he walks out into the middle of the street and throws it up into the air.”
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### Author:  [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/14 "2006-01-24T15:58:27Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#):
>
> [I found it faster than I thought I would.](http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/south-park-aristocrats.html)
That made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/15 "2006-01-24T16:10:00Z")
> [@Spiff](#):
>
> That made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. Thanks.
“…Hold on Kyle…”
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/16 "2006-01-24T16:10:46Z")
> [@Mathochist](#):
>
> “… so he finishes building the carport and – sure enough – he’s got a brick left over. So, unsure _what_ to do with it, he walks out into the middle of the street and throws it up into the air.”
Explain please. Googled. Got nothing. Thanks.
-FrL-
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/17 "2006-01-24T16:40:43Z")
> [@Frylock](#):
>
> Explain please. Googled. Got nothing. Thanks.
>
> -FrL-
It’s part one of a two-part joke. I can’t find a proper version by Googling, so here goes.
[You start out by saying something like “Hey, I’ve got a joke for you.”]
A fellow is constructing a building (house, carport, wall, whatever). He calculates precisely how many bricks he’ll need and buys the exact number. When he’s done, he has one brick left over. After carefully inspecting the building, he can’t see any place it should go, so he figures he miscalculated. He decides to throw the extra brick away and heaves it into the air.
[Yep, that’s it. End of joke. Nobody laughs. So now you say something like “Okay, that one was a dud but this one is really good.”]
A lady is riding on a train with her little dog in her lap. A man sits down across from her and lights a cigar. She asks him to put it out. He says “I’m not putting it out, but I’ll open the window.” The smoke is really getting to her, so she insists that he put out his cigar. He says “No.” She says "If you don’t put it out, I’m going to throw it out the window. He says, “If you do, I’ll throw your dog out after it,” and puffs away. She grabs the cigar and throws it out the window. He grabs her dog and throws it out the window.
She’s very upset of course, but when the train stops at the next station she looks outside and sees her dog running up after it. And guess what it has in its mouth?
[Someone usually says “The cigar?”]
The brick!
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### Author:  [@filmyak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmyak)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/18 "2006-01-24T18:41:28Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#):
>
> there’s a South Park version that has Cartman telling the joke to the boys. 'Tis priceless.
That’s a clip from the movie of the same name. (Aristocrats. Not South Park.)
It’s a documentary of the history of the joke, and why comedians tell it to each other. It also has about 100 comedians doing their versions of the joke.
Raunchy beyond all imagining, and one of the funniest films I saw in 2005.
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### Author:  [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/19 "2006-01-24T21:16:34Z")
My take on this:
first, according to the movie it began in vaudeville with the basic gross performance=aristocrats irony, then was built up amongst comedians with style and timing points and the ability to go beyond what you could say on stage. I would like to have heard Richard Priers’ version of this. Having said that, I think a lot of people make up in grossness what they lack in style, I really only liked a couple of versions of the joke in the movie, Carlins was great and Silvermans too, and whatsisname from The Usual Suspects doing an impersonation of Christopher Walkin telling the joke was priceless, just my humble opinion,
Larry
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-joke/341230/20 "2006-01-24T22:39:46Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#):
>
> [I found it faster than I thought I would.](http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/south-park-aristocrats.html)
Now THAT was funny.
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