{image1}Dozens of top comedians walk into a film, ruminate on a joke, tell it a few times (each in his or her own way) and make moviegoers laugh. What's the film called? "The Aristocrats."
Paul Provenza's documentary about (potentially) the filthiest joke ever told is a pretty straightforward film; there's not much to say about it. You will see it, you will laugh, you will tell your friends. End of story.
There's a joke that's been around forever and between its lickety-split intro and ironic punch line there's a vast expanse that has allowed generations of comedians to riff at length on some of the most scatological, forbidden and disgusting topics. In fact, the improvisational aspect of the aristocrats joke is such that more than one of the comedians interviewed conjured the name of John Coltrane while describing it.
First off, be forewarned that you should, under no circumstances, bring the children to see "The Aristocrats."
Rather than list the comedians interviewed for "The Aristocrats" it's almost easier to list the ones not represented (Seinfeld, Hedberg, most SNL cast members, Chappelle). Otherwise, you'll see everyone from Larry Storch, Phyllis Diller, Don Rickles and Tim Conway to Emo Phillips, Robin Williams and Eric Idle to Eddie Izzard, Chris Rock, Jake Johansen, Jason Alexander and Sarah Silverman. And on and on and on. The breadth of the "cast" is actually quite astonishing.
If the language and imagery (mental, not visual) don't make you blush -- and even if they do -- "The Aristocrats" will have you practically rolling in the aisles thanks to fabulous deliveries of the joke by a mime (!), the South Park characters and Gilbert Gottfried and the wild flights of imagination from George Carlin, Bob Saget, Paul Reiser, Whoopi Goldberg and, frankly most of the rest of the interviewees, too.
With rapid-fire editing Provenza cobbles together the history of the joke, deconstructions of the joke, lore of the joke and every possible aspect of what may be one of the least structured jokes in comedic history.
Along the way, you'll get a few unrelated jokes that you can use to wow your friends.
"The Aristocrats" opens Friday, Aug. 26 at Landmark's Oriental Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
