The Aristocrats

jimtyrrell · Post by **jimtyrrell** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:14 pm

http://www.thearistocrats.com

I wonder how far I'll have to drive to find this movie. Probably Boston.[/url]

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:05 pm

The animated version is awesome enough. Will they do it justice?
(Aristocats)

jimtyrrell · Post by **jimtyrrell** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:37 pm

Bahaha. Do not bring your kids to find out.

c.layne · Post by **c.layne** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:21 pm

did anyone ever see this?

Post by jb » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:32 pm

Saw it, liked it, B+

jimtyrrell · Post by **jimtyrrell** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 6:37 am

I've yet to see this. It's nowhere around here. One place in Concord NH is listed on the web site but it looks like I may have missed that showing. Ah well. Maybe it'll find it's way to DVD soon.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:10 pm

Okay, I am yet to see the appeal in this joke. I don't know. I haven't seen the flick but I've heard a bunch of different versions of the joke and they always fall flat. For instance:

http://www.spschat.com/RareMedia/videos ... ocrats.wmv

Mogosagatai · Post by **Mogosagatai** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:54 pm

The falling flat is part of the appeal. They always fall flat. Maybe you're talking about a different flat, though.

erik · Post by **erik** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:54 pm

The Aristocrats is a joke in the same way that Rocky Horror Picture Show is a movie. If you take either one at face value, you're going to be disappointed. If you went to a showing of Rocky Horror, and there was no audience participation, and no one was dressed up, you'd probably just think it was it was a decent musical with a plot that needs work, and a horrible third act. Yes, it's all those things, but the experience is really more important than the actual movie that creates that experience.

The Aristocrats is the same way, in that the joke is such a stinker in the traditional sense of "setup----->punchline=funniest part of joke". The punchline is stupid. It's a joke that should fall flat, on account of its lameness. So people started reclaiming the joke, and making the funny part about it not the punchline, but the setup. That way, it doesn't matter that the punchline fails, because you've already heard the funniest part of the joke.

The Aristocrats is also one of those meta-jokes that some people find funny, and some people find the exact opposite of funny. Like.

"What did the man say when he fell off the roof? OMG PLEASE CALL A DOCTOR I CAN'T MOVE MY LEGS."

The humor lies in poking fun at two of the conventions of jokes, namely that the punchline will contain a clever unexpected twist, and that jokes will be about things that people want to joke about. The Aristocrats pokes fun at a couple of conventions of jokes: 1) that they be short, and 2) that they concern things that people want to laugh about. What makes The Aristocrats funny (to some people) is that it's all this longwinded awfulness where a joke is supposed to be.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 1:27 pm

Oh, I get that part. I get that it's the set-up that's supposed to be the funniest part. I've heard Trey Parker (not as Cartman) do it and I can see that's the best part. But still it's usually just a long and tiresome line of incest and scat references. Just stringing together a line of those does not a joke make.