Features

mburbank · #1

This movie is so damn funny I thought I was going to die. I don't know if it's going to appeal to people less interested in the structure of comedy than I am, since it's about 100 comics telling the same joke (it's intercut, not just one after another, and some of the comics are tallking about the joke and about comedy as opposed to telling the joke) but I highly reccomend it. It's got very limmited distribution because it's so foul mouthed, but it's playing art houses so look out for it.

If you ever wondered what it's like in a comedy club at about three in the morning fter everyone but the comics have gone home, this will give you some clue.

Studio8 · #2

Agreed, I enjoyed it a lot. I think it was very nicely put together. Go see it.

Royal Tenenbaum · #3

Good movie on a level, but way too much of it was people who weren't really all that funny telling us what funny is. Unless you're a retarded, I think you can understand the irony of the joke. Really, it's quite fucking simple, and the joke itself isn't that funny. What was funny about the movie were the genuinely funny people - such as Carlin and Sarah Silverman - who adapted it to their styles and add personality to it. Beyond that, it really wasn't all that great.

whoreable · #4

Overall worth seeing and very entertaining, I guess I saw all the comics in it and was pretty damn excited, but when actually seeing it I was very disapointed at the lack of comics I actually enjoy. royal is right, its a bad joke made good by a comics certain style. I found
alot of comedians lacked in making the joke their own.

Sara Silverman was great. I also loved fred wilard and the victorian gazing ball. And I really liked the sort of the behind the scenes view of standup comedy. I did find it interesting to know that Gilbert Godfred is so well respected amoungst comedians.

Chojin · #5

Heyyyy, I didn't edit your sig :<

I thought this was about the Aristocats at first and assumed Max had lost his mind.

mburbank · #6

I first saw Gilbert Godfried on the lammentable single season of Saturday Night Live (6'th season, I think) that followed the departure of Lorne Michaels and the mebers of the original cast that were still on board. I thougt and have thought since that he was a fucking genius. He's a comedians comedian.

As for the not funny people, I didn't think anyone they showed was totally not funny, they all had some chops, and I found that takes that I found completely unfunny had something to offer to the joke. Drew carey, for instance, who I hate, had that body language on the punch line, that was in fact kind of lackluster when he did it, but brilliant when better people adopted it.

I agree that explaining the limmited structural appeal of the joke (why the punchline is funny) was a waste of time, not neccesary and very much beside the point. It could really have been any number of jokes where the entire center is improvised. I think this joke was a good choice because it encourages comedians to go to a place people outside the community rarely see. All professions have things they do and say in thier own company that they would never do outside it. I've spent a fair amount of time with Doctors over the years, and you would not believe the shit they talk when the bedside manner gets put away. The interesting thing about comics is that their whole profession is about saying things people wouldn't normally say. So when you go to the private stuff, it's unimaginable.

It also brought out some funny in people I don't usually like. Whoppie Goldbergh, who I am oh so sick of, had a very nice riff, for instance.

deAdeNdz · #7

I saw The Aristocrats....funny...but way overdone and a little bit too long.

the best part was bob saget and the card trick guy

sspadowsky · #8

Did anyone get this when it came out on DVD? I did, and it was worth every penny. The extras are abundant, and the excellent commentary helped shed light on a couple versions that I didn't 'get.'

Yeah, it ran a bit long, and Howie Mandel had no fucking business being in that movie at all, but there is so much greatness (the uncut version of Doug Stanhope telling the joke, plus everything Gilbert Gottfried does, plus Kevin Pollak as Albert Brooks, etc., etc.) that you are a communist, dog-fucking heathen if you don't buy it. That is all.

Jixby Phillips · #9

In Howies version of the joke he mentions the dad shaking the talent agency guy's hand and after telling this part, howie mandel starts gagging and excuses himself to wash his hands. They include this footage in the special features.

sspadowsky · #10

I heart you, Jixby.

Jeff The Ninja · #11

I Saw this a couple of weeks ago. The Best ones had to be Bob Saget, And Billy the Mime. Just the image of a mime performing the joke is one of the most hilarious moments in movie history.