# "The Aristocrats": what's the joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875 "2005-07-17T15:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/21 "2005-07-20T02:27:48Z")
AMC theatres has decided to not show this movie in any of their theatres. So, if they are the only game in your town, you probably will have to wait. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/22 "2005-07-20T03:15:06Z")
I just read an article in Rolling Stone on this today. It was mostly about Gilbert Gottfried, who is also in it. I think it can be funny the way certain ones tell it. I have no doubt Carlin could make it or any joke funny simply with his delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/23 "2005-07-20T03:27:54Z")
I think it’s a given that the joke itself is kind of lame; what’s (supposedly) funny is the spin that each comedian puts on the telling. > [@Good Egg](#): > > I just read an article in Rolling Stone on this today. Me, too! I added it to my Netflix queue afterwards. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/24 "2005-07-20T03:54:00Z")
I doubt Cosby will be in it then? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/25 "2005-07-20T16:42:28Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > I doubt Cosby will be in it then? Yuh see, there’s this family, right, and they all go into the talent office, and they’ve got themselves these Jell-O puddin’ pops, and they say to the agent, “Hey hey hey! Have we got an act for you today!”… I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/26 "2005-07-20T16:57:16Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Yuh see, there’s this family, right, and they all go into the talent office, and they’ve got themselves these Jell-O puddin’ pops, and they say to the agent, “Hey hey hey! Have we got an act for you today!”… God: Noah. This is God. Call your act “The Aristocrats”. Noah: Riiiiiight. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/27 "2005-07-20T17:42:09Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Yuh see, there’s this family, right, and they all go into the talent office, and they’ve got themselves these Jell-O puddin’ pops, and they say to the agent, “Hey hey hey! Have we got an act for you today!”… > [@Telemark](#): > > God: Noah. This is God. Call your act “The Aristocrats”. > Noah: Riiiiiight. Considering what the act conisists of, I think it would be more fitting to have Lot and his daughters do it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/28 "2005-07-20T17:56:02Z")
I read an article about this, I think a couple of months ago, and my understanding was that being funny was not the point. The point was to mess with a newbie’s head. These old comedians would tell the joke, and all the old heads would start laughing hillariously. Then either the victim stares dumbly, which becomes the joke, or is caught up in the infectiousness of laughter, in which case the old timers stop laughing and say, “Why did you laugh? There was no joke there.” ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/29 "2005-07-20T18:21:21Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Considering what the act conisists of, I think it would be more fitting to have Lot and his daughters do it. And then, he whittles the pillar of salt into a giant CHECK PLEASE. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/30 "2005-07-20T18:32:02Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > That’s how I heard it: the joke is an old comedy tradition that goes back to turn-of-the-century vaudeville, and probably further. Apparently every comedian in America is familiar with this joke, and it’s been a sort of inside tradition for years. I’d love to have heard Eddie Cantor, Fannie Brice and Burns & Allen tell it. George: “So, Gracie, you and your brother walked into an agent’s office?” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/31 "2005-07-20T18:40:55Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I’d love to have heard Eddie Cantor, Fannie Brice and Burns & Allen tell it. > > George: “So, Gracie, you and your brother walked into an agent’s office?” I bet Gracie could swear like a longshoreman. I would’ve loved to hear W.C. Fields tell it… ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/32 "2005-07-20T19:04:10Z")
…or the Marx Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/33 "2005-07-20T19:20:14Z")
A lot of those people probably did tell the joke. The Marx Brothers came right out of Vaudville. I’d love to hear Groucho telling the joke. I’d bet he was both filthy and hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/34 "2005-07-20T19:22:32Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > A lot of those people probably did tell the joke. The Marx Brothers came right out of Vaudville. I’d love to hear Groucho telling the joke. I’d bet he was both filthy and hilarious. “…and two hard boiled eggs.” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/35 "2005-07-20T21:31:01Z")
> [@Good Egg](#): > > I have no doubt Carlin could make it or any joke funny simply with his delivery. Carlin is in the _Aristocrats_ movie, but mostly for philosophy and history. This being a largely improvisational joke, it doesn’t really fit in his style, which (IIRC) he himself admits. For his act, he works out every word, pause, and tonal shift beforehand, while this joke, in contrast, works best (insofar as it “works” at all) when it’s totally off the cuff, as it’s designed to show the comic riffing in the humor equivalent of jazz. As an example, I don’t find Robin Williams particularly funny, but his take on the joke in the movie is pretty amusing. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/36 "2005-07-20T22:22:35Z")
Bob Saget’s take on it: > [@](#): > > The purpose of the joke, what I thought was funny about it, is that people will do anything to make it in show business,” Mr. Saget said. “Because everybody wants to be famous. Not everybody—smart people don’t. And this is how low someone will go to be famous. They will have sex with their own family. What I find funny about it is the desperation. So it’s funny (or unfunny) on many levels. [Interview](http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:46je8XW7cJAJ:www.angrynakedpat.com/wwwboard/messages65/956.htm+%22go+home+to+Los+Angeles+for+one+night+before+the+run+ends%22&hl=en&lr=&strip=1) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/37 "2005-07-20T22:24:49Z")
The joke sounds a lot like the script for an A&E Biography of Paris Hilton. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/38 "2005-07-20T23:03:55Z")
Having read a few versions of the joke, it really can be funny, if it’s told correctly. It’s not just being super dirty. It has to be amazingly filthy, but clever flithy, not just going nuts. For instance, some versions have the family actually killing each other - but that takes away from the funny, because you need to imagine all of them, at the end of the act, grinning at the talent agent, having performed their vile act and knowing that they practiced it beforehand. As Bob Saget points out, the family’s desperation is an important part of making the joke really work well. I can see a talented comedian really killing with this joke. I can tell a pretty good joke and if I think about it, my best deliveries had people laughing harder before the punch line than after. Jokes are about timing and punchline but also about delivery. (The joke about the French Foreign Legion lieutenant who doesn’t understand how to use the camel is always good in this regard.) In the hands of a true master - Groucho, say, or Richard Pryor - they could make you laugh your ass off with “The Aristocrats.” It works on so many levels; it’s a joke about people getting into showbiz, it’s a simple joke on the word “Aristocrats,” it’s a way for a true master comedian to display his skill, it’s a joke on the audience, it’s a way to tittilate the audience with hilarious and digusting sex descriptions. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875/39 "2005-07-20T23:18:18Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s not just being super dirty. It has to be amazingly filthy, but clever flithy, not just going nuts. For instance, some versions have the family actually killing each other - but that takes away from the funny, because you need to imagine all of them, at the end of the act, grinning at the talent agent, having performed their vile act and knowing that they practiced it beforehand. Yes, I agree. I read one version where the daughter is killed and they roast and eat her. Stuff like that isn’t funny, and not just because it’s too sick. Primarily, IMHO, it’s not funny because it’s not the “opposite” of being aristocratic. That’s the key to the joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-aristocrats-whats-the-joke/312875.md?page=1)