The Aristocrats is the collective unleashed id of dozens of big-name comedians (George Carlin, Eddie Izzard, Paul Reiser, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, and dozens more) as they all tell the same joke: family walks into a talent agent’s office, and proceeds to show their act.

The underlying joke, of which the title is the punchlinem is a kind of oral tradition of standup (and Penn Jilette notes this when it comes to Penn and Teller’s turn, as he describes their role as semi-outsiders to comedy and how this joke is like a secret handshake), an experiment in seeing how far you can take something. In essence it’s a shaggy dog story. Well, if that story involved shagging the dog. The goal here is to tell the crudest, most vulgar tale possible (see the Aristocrats database for examples of the joke), and the comedians in this documentary clearly relish it - Bob Saget, widely acknowledged as possibly one of the filthiest comics around, does justice (and gives heart attacks to those who only know him from “America’s Funniest Home Videos” or “Full House), but even seemingly mild-mannered comedians such as Paul Reiser sink their teeth into the Aristocrats’ every orifice. The jokes usually span the full range of taboos: scatology, every sexual taboo from bestiality to incest, obscenity profanity and blasphemy.

So as you might expect from an all-star grouping that’s clearly playing the joke for an in crwod, the laughs come fast, furious, and filthy. Taking it to another level for me at least were Sarah Silverman, whose riff on Joe Franklin crossed into some dark, disturbing places, and Hank Azaria, whose telling of the joke involved musing on the possibility of how long the joke could go. And perhaps I’d liked to have seen more black comedians do the joke - Chris Rock talks about the chitlin circuit

But the revelation here is Gilbert Gottfried, whose telling of the joke at Hugh Hefner’s roast in 2001 a short while after Sept 11 shows the cathartic power of all that taboo-smashing. Gottfried in my mind has always been that annoying-voiced comic, but this was genius: he just goes balls to the wall for the joke, gloriously delving into the details even as his fellow comedians are doubling over in laughter (literally, it seemed, in Rob Schneider’s case). It’s a perfect palliative for fear, utter, reckless disregard, and the awe other comedians give Gottfried is well-deserved.

The Aristocrats will never, ever make it here to Singapore, I’d hazard to guess. But here’s an interview with director Paul Provenza. I’m dying to see it really - the world’s filthiest joke, a giant comedians’ in-joke, as told by such comedic luminaries as Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget, and Sarah Silverman. And I mean filthy - most tellings involve exploring every taboo, from scatology to incest to necrophilia, and then some. Here’s the South Park version (not safe for work, and not for sensitive people).

Incidentally, Bob Saget working blue is hilarious - I always wondered how he reined himself in on such squeaky-clean cheesy shows as “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” when he’s quite possibly the most vulgar, dirty stand-up around. The interview hints at that (”shortly after Pope Benedict’s ordination, Bob Saget called to share how much he wanted to welcome the new pontiff with a certain unmentionable sex act”). (Of course, some people think Bob Saget is God.)

According to Yahoo! News, “Chappelle’s Show”’s new season got shut down (bizarre to see the word “bitch” in a Yahoo! News story). Which is sad, but understandable - stand-up comedians tend to be such perfectionists, always looking to see what kills, what falls flat. Not to mention that various pressures that get to newly-minted stars… I do hope it gets back into production soon though, it was one of the funniest things around.

Now the R. Kelly “Ignition” parody is running through my head. Dagnabit.

There’s an interview with Chris Rock over at the Onion A.V. Club (which I admit I tend to forego in favour of the fake news). Lots of fascinating stuff about how hard it is to be a black comedian and get on SNL (nice little jibe at Jay Mohr too). Also, there’s an interesting little snippet on Jim Carrey from their In Living Color days:

I remember Jim Carrey walking into everybody’s office trying to get jokes for it. Not naming names, but the guys who were there for a long time at Saturday Night Live weren’t hanging out in people’s offices trying to get jokes. I saw a work ethic in Jim Carrey that I hadn’t seen before. I was like, “Wow, this guy doesn’t even know me, but he’s like, ‘You got any jokes for it?’” I thought he was going to be fine.

Salon.com has a list (note: premium content) of the top 10 comedians in the spirit of Lenny Bruce. From #10 to #1:

• Upright Citizens’ Brigade
• Louis CK
• Chris Rock
• Eddie Izzard
• Sacha Baron-Cohen
• David Cross
• Sarah Silverman
• Aaron McGruder
• Rick Shapiro
• Howard Stern

So, you’re reading up to #1, and then you go, Howard Stern? In terms of following Lenny, Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman are probably two of the best in the world at skewering racial and sexual pieties, Sacha Baron-Cohen at exposing hypocrisy through the comedy of discomfort (though the amount of time he can continue with the Ali G veneer is probably limited), and Aaron McGruder (together with Tom Tomorrow) at sussing out the polemical possibilities of a hitherto apolitical genre i.e. comic strips. But then we get a switcheroo at the end: it turns from a list of comedians whose style is most like Lenny’s to one whose life - specifically the political persecution of indecency aspect - is most Lenny-like. Strange.

Incidentally, Izzard seems to be in the list mostly for playing Lenny onstage; his style is so much tamer. If I were making the list, I’d put Silverman at the top - “Jesus is Magic” was awesome. Here’s my list.

• Upright Citizens’ Brigade
• Louis CK
• Robert Smigel
• Sacha Baron-Cohen
• Chris Rock
• Aaron McGruder
• Rick Shapiro
• Sarah Silverman

Yes, I’ve thrown in Robert Smigel, creator of TV Funhouse and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, instead of Izzard. For me to poop on!

Not Bruce-ian, but funny: Robert Schimmel. Conan O’Brien. Lewis Black. Dave Chappelle. Jon Stewart. Steven Wright.

(A version of this post was also published in dsng.net)

(Warner Bros)

‘Working blue’ is what stand-up comedians call using jokes based on sex. Robert Schimmel, however, doesn’t just work blue, he lives blue. The diminutive Schimmel’s third comedy album, Unprotected, is a recording of his HBO special with some additional parts and continues the sex-based theme of his previous two albums. But even if you’ve seen the special or seen Schimmel do his routine on Conan (where he’s a frequent guest), the hysterical routine is in no way diminished by repetition.

What makes Unprotected’s sex talk work is that it rises above the level of moronic frat-boy humour. It’s not that Unprotected is afraid of the scatological (here’s Schimmel describing an exchange between his wife and himself: “Maybe you suffer from premature ejaculation.” “Does it look like I’m suffering? Those aren’t tears on your belly.”). It’s that the album isn’t potty-mouthed for its own sake (hello, South Park). The album focuses on Schimmel’s family life, and its central point is our common insecurities about sex and the absurdities they drive us to: peeking down the TV screen trying to see what porn videos don’t show; explaining sex to the daughter. So despite his swagger, Schimmel comes across as a real person, oddly tender to his wife, and it’s his emotional closeness that makes Unprotected cut so close to the (funny) bone. A hilarious release from a star of the stand-up circuit.