Joke’s On Us: Obscenely funny ‘Aristocrats’ makes way to Vegas

Kirk Baird

Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 | 8:12 a.m.

No violence. No nudity. Unspeakable obscenity."

The tagline for Penn Jillette's new unrated documentary, "The Aristocrats," could not be more direct about the film's contents.

Jillette is similarly frank about the film as well.

"If there's ever been a word that has ever bothered you not the idea, not the concept, not the speaker of the word, but the word itself don't come see this movie because the word is in it," he said.

A critical and humorous examination of a vaudevillian joke passed down generationally, and how each comic leaves his or her imprint each time they tell it, "The Aristocrats" features 100 of the top comics working today, many stretching the limits of good taste with references to incest, beastiality and scatology.

The movie opened in select cities Aug. 12 and opens nationwide Friday, including Las Vegas at Century Orleans 18 and Regal Cinemas Village Square 18.

The film has received mostly positive reviews; it's enjoying a 77 percent approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Web site. Still, the movie isn't to everyone's taste including Jillette's sister.

"She thinks the language in 'C.S.I.' is a little bit racy," said the 50-year-old speaking half of Penn & Teller in a recent interview. "She's not going to enjoy it, so why should she go?

"That doesn't mean she's not hip or that I don't love her. It just means that it's not for her."

Jillette has gone out of his way to educate audiences about the content of "The Aristocrats" and avoid controversy. Still, the film made headlines after AMC Theatres elected not to show the documentary on any of its 3,500 screens.

"We are trying to program more speciality films in our theaters, but we are very selective," AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase told The Hollywood Reporter. "We've made a business decision and evaluated all the factors and we will stick with that decision."

Jillette said the decision by the nation's second-largest theater chain, behind the Regal Entertainment Group, was made to appease the AMC board of directors and to get AMC Film Group Chairman Dick Walsh some "positive ink" before buying the Loews Cineplex chain.

"He could've attacked 'War of the Worlds' saying, 'It burlesques 9/11, it's not to my taste and I'm not going to show it,' but then Amblin (Entertainment, Steven Spielberg's production company) would have crushed him like an insignificant insect."

Instead, it was easier for the theater chain to come down on Jillette, Paul Provenza, the film's director and co-producer (along with Jillette) and THINKFilm, the movie's distributor.

The joke may be on AMC.

The surrounding publicity has only increased curiosity about the film, which has performed exceptionally well -- $1.6 million so far -- in limited release.

"It's the best thing that could have happened" to the film, said David Brenner, a Las Vegas Hilton headliner who makes an appearance in the film. "It's like being banned in Boston. You can't pay for that kind of publicity."

Comedian Dom Irrera, who also appears in "The Aristocrats," agrees.

"I think the AMC thing helps the sales of it," he said. "It makes it more controversial and more appealing in a kind of taboo way."

David Fenkel, vice president of THINKFilm, which bought the rights to "The Aristocrats," acknowledged the publicity over AMC's decision has increased awareness of the film among the general public.

Still, the company would rather AMC theaters show the film.

"We continue to ask them to book it but they're still saying no," he said. "I think they would rather lose potential box office than get complaints. But the joke is, no one is complaining."

There have been the occasional walkouts, he said, but no reports of ticket refunds or protests.

It's a far different response than THINKFilm anticipated after purchasing the rights to the film for a reported $1 million after several well-received screenings at Sundance.

The small studio, best known for its documentaries "Spellbound" and "Born into Brothels," which won the best documentary feature Oscar this year, expected a public outcry about the film, especially in Middle America, and designed a marketing campaign to capitalize on the controversy.

Then Jillette stepped in and "(screwed) that up."

"I insisted 'unspeakable obscenity' be in the poster so that people wouldn't be ambushed. In every interview I did, I said this wasn't a freedom of speech issue (and) if you want to see this movie come on, if you don't, don't. And that ruined the whole ad campaign of 'The most controversial (movie) ... will they let you see it in your town?'

"I was throwing wrenches into the works going, '(Expletive) you, can't we just do this honestly?' "

While the low-budget movie is proving a box-office attraction, the initial plan was to make a home movie for friends.

"The Aristocrats" was born of a late-night discussion in March 2001 in a booth at the Peppermill as Jillette and Provenza compared the improvisational stylings of jazz performers and comedians and how each entertainer personalizes his or her work.

A Duke Ellington rendition of "Take the 'A' Train," for example, sounds dramatically different than, say, a version by Dizzy Gillespie.

The same goes for comedians and their version of "The Aristocrats," Jillette and Provenza reasoned.

While the joke's setup and punch line are nearly the same in every version, the middle section -- the essence of the joke -- depends entirely on the person telling it. In most cases the comedians rely on "unspeakable obscenity" to give the punch line its ironic zing.

The conversational thesis quickly evolved into a pet film project after Jillette and Provenza bought some consumer cameras and decided to document the joke's origins and what the yarn means to the person telling it.

"That was our obsession," Jillette said. "That was the little piece of minutia that Provenza cared about so much."

Their "obsession" grew to include such comedic notables as Robin Williams, George Carlin, Chris Rock and Drew Carey, as well as Las Vegas performers Rita Rudner, Amazing Johnathan, Carrot Top, Howie Mandel and Brenner.

In all, 120 hours worth of footage was filmed and painstakingly whittled to the movie's release time of 87 minutes.

And there's plenty more of the movie to come.

"The Aristocrats" DVD, scheduled for release early next year, will undoubtedly feature some of the footage excised from the film. Meanwhile, Jillette and Provenza continue to document the joke and its meaning to even more comedians and comedy minds. Among them: Norman Lear, Dick Cavett, Buck Henry and Conan O'Brien.

Jillette said the idea is, in five to 10 years, he and Provenza will release "The Aristocrats Project" as a DVD collection to the more scholarly minded.

"Our fascination and our passion go on," he said. "And that's what I want out of people who do art. Let your passion go on, don't just cash in on something that did OK."

And of his "art," Jillette said what's onscreen represents "maybe the purest labor of love that's out there."

"OK, maybe 'March of the Penquins,' " Jillette said correcting himself. "Those guys were willing to freeze their ... off. We just gave up our day jobs."