The Aristocrats (2005)

Director:

Paul Provenza

Release Date:

9 September 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Comedy

Tagline:

100 Superstar Comedians. One Very Dirty Joke.

Plot:

One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.

Plot Keywords:

Joke | Comedian | Vaudeville | Hugh Hefner | Mountain Goat

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Chris Albrecht	...	Himself - HBO Chairman / CEO
Jason Alexander	...	Himself
Hank Azaria	...	Himself
Shelley Berman	...	Himself
Steven Banks	...	Billy The Mime (as Billy The Mime)
Lewis Black	...	Himself
David Brenner	...	Himself
Mario Cantone	...	Himself
Drew Carey	...	Himself
George Carlin	...	Himself
Mark Cohen	...	Himself
Scott 'Carrot Top' Thompson	...	Himself (as Carrot Top)
Billy Connolly	...	Himself
Pat Cooper	...	Himself
Wayne Cotter	...	Himself
Andy Dick	...	Himself
Frank DiGiacomo	...	Himself - Journalist
Phyllis Diller	...	Herself
Susie Essman	...	Herself
Carrie Fisher	...	Herself
Joe Franklin	...	Himself
Todd Glass	...	Himself
Judy Gold	...	Herself
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Herself
Eddie Gorodetsky	...	Himself
Gilbert Gottfried	...	Himself
Dana Gould	...	Himself - Writer / Producer
Allan Havey	...	Himself
Eric Idle	...	Himself
Dom Irrera	...	Himself
Eddie Izzard	...	Himself
Richard Jeni	...	Himself
Jake Johannsen	...	Himself
The Amazing Johnathan	...	Himself (as Amazing Johnathan)
Alan Kirschenbaum	...	Himself - Writer / Producer
Jay Kogen	...	Himself - Writer / Producer
Sue Kolinsky	...	Herself
Paul Krassner	...	Himself - Satirist / Editor, 'The Realist'
Cathy Ladman	...	Herself
Lisa Lampanelli	...	Herself
Richard Lewis	...	Himself
Wendy Liebman	...	Herself
Bill Maher	...	Himself
Howie Mandel	...	Himself
Merrill Markoe	...	Herself
Jay Marshall	...	Himself
Jackie Martling	...	Himself (as Jackie 'The Joke Man' Martling)
Chuck McCann	...	Himself
Michael McKean	...	Himself
Eric Mead	...	Himself
Larry Miller	...	Himself
Martin Mull	...	Himself
Kevin Nealon	...	Himself
Taylor Negron	...	Himself
'The Onion' Editorial Staff	...	Themselves
Otto Petersen	...	Himself (as Otto & George)
Rick Overton	...	Himself
Gary Owens	...	Himself
Owen Morse	...	Himself (as The Passing Zone)
Jonathan Wee	...	Himself (as The Passing Zone)
Penn Jillette	...	Himself (as Penn & Teller)
Teller	...	Himself (as Penn & Teller)
Peter Pitofsky	...	Himself
Emo Philips	...	Himself
Kevin Pollak	...	Himself
Paul Reiser	...	Himself
Andy Richter	...	Himself
Don Rickles	...	Himself
Chris Rock	...	Himself
Gregg Rogell	...	Himself
Jeffrey Ross	...	Himself
Jon Ross	...	Himself
Rita Rudner	...	Herself
Bob Saget	...	Himself
T. Sean Shannon	...	Himself - Writer / Producer, SNL
Harry Shearer	...	Himself
Sarah Silverman	...	Herself
Bobby Slayton	...	Himself
Dick Smothers	...	Himself (as The Smothers Brothers)
Tom Smothers	...	Himself (as The Smothers Brothers)
Doug Stanhope	...	Himself
Carrie Snow	...	Herself
David Steinberg	...	Himself
Jon Stewart	...	Himself
Larry Storch	...	Himself
Rip Taylor	...	Himself
Dave Thomas	...	Himself
Johnny Thompson	...	Himself
Peter Tilden	...	Himself
Bruce Vilanch	...	Himself
Fred Willard	...	Himself
Robin Williams	...	Himself
Steven Wright	...	Himself
Joe Garden	...	Himself (Staff of the Onion)
Todd Hanson	...	Himself (Staff of the Onion)
Tim Harrod	...	Himself (Staff of the Onion)
Chris Karwowski	...	Himself (Staff of the Onion)
Carol Kolb	...	Herself (Staff of the Onion)
Maria Schneider	...	Herself (The Onion Editorial Staff)
Trey Parker	...	Cartman / Stan (voice)
Matt Stone	...	Kyle / Kenny (voice)
Tim Conway	...	Man in closing credits
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hugh M. Hefner	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Jimmy Kimmel	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Paul Provenza	...	Himself (uncredited)
Rob Schneider	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Paul Provenza

Produced by
Glenn S. Alai	....	associate producer
Peter Adam Golden	....	producer
Penn Jillette	....	executive producer
Krasher Lewis	....	co-producer (as Ken Krasher Lewis)
Michael Lynn	....	associate producer
Paul Provenza	....	executive producer
Farley Ziegler	....	supervising producer

Original Music by
Gary Stockdale

Film Editing by
Emery Emery
Paul Provenza

Production Management
Gregor Hutchison	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Stephen Barden	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Steve Barden)
Penn Jillette	....	sound recordist
Trent Richmond	....	sound editor
Eric Wilson	....	sound editor
Keith Elliott	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Matthew Harrold	....	sound re-recording assistant (uncredited)
Jason Perreira	....	re-recording assistant (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Dean Cameron	....	camera operator
Corneleus	....	camera operator
Emery Emery	....	camera operator
Michael Goudeau	....	camera operator
Penn Jillette	....	camera operator
Mike Jones	....	camera operator
Michael Lynn	....	camera operator
Rich Nathanson	....	camera operator
Tristan Prescott	....	camera operator
Paul Provenza	....	camera operator
Spicoli	....	camera operator
Colin Summers	....	camera operator
Christian Tambur	....	camera operator
Ezekiel Zabrowski	....	camera operator
Emily Zolten	....	camera operator (as Emily Zolten Jillette)

Editorial Department
Ed Rafferty	....	on-line editor
Joanne Rourke	....	color corrector
Emery Emery	....	additional editor (uncredited)
Aristedes Zamora	....	color corrector (uncredited)

Music Department
Ralph Humphrey	....	musician: The Aristo-Jazz Cats
Clay Jenkins	....	musician: The Aristo-Jazz Cats
Alan Pasqua	....	musician: The Aristo-Jazz Cats
Bob Sheppard	....	musician: The Aristo-Jazz Cats
Andy Waterman	....	music recordist
Ken Wild	....	musician: The Aristo-Jazz Cats

Other crew
John Gordillo	....	creative consultant
Jim Levi	....	creative consultant

Thanks
Tom Bergeron	....	very special thanks
Beth Bernstein	....	special thanks
Paul Boross	....	very special thanks
Johnny Carson	....	dedicatee
David Fincher	....	special thanks
Hugh Fink	....	very special thanks
Jen Foster-Hall	....	special thanks
Alison Gale	....	special thanks
Hank Gallo	....	special thanks
Steve Garrin	....	special thanks
Terry Gilliam	....	very special thanks
Cruz Golden	....	special thanks
Michael Greco	....	special thanks
Jackie Green	....	special thanks
Dave Harris	....	special thanks
Carey Hoffman	....	special thanks
J.R. Hughson	....	special thanks
Ron Jeremy	....	very special thanks
Kelli Kirkle	....	special thanks
Steve Landesberg	....	very special thanks
Henry Marsh	....	very special thanks
Louis Nye	....	very special thanks
Carole Propp	....	special thanks
David Rose	....	special thanks
Kim Scheinberg	....	special thanks
Ronnie Schell	....	very special thanks
Steve Schirripa	....	very special thanks
Marla Schultz	....	special thanks
Madeleine Smithberg	....	special thanks
Marilyn Sokol	....	very special thanks
Dee Dee Wilde	....	special thanks
Glenn Wool	....	very special thanks
Aristedes Zamora	....	special thanks
Emily Zolten	....	special thanks (as Emily Zolten Jillette)

Production Companies

• Mighty Cheese Productions

Distributors

• THINKFilm (2005) (worldwide) (all media)
• Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Paradiso Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• National Film Network (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Comedy Central  clip courtesy of
• Comedy Central  special animation courtesy of
• Deluxe Post-Production  post-production facilities
• Entourage Studios  music recorded at
• Eyes Post Group  video post
• Film Effects  film post
• Sound Dogs Toronto  sound mix
• Stand-Up New York  special thanks

Also Known As:

The @r!$t* (r@t$ (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | Australia:R | Norway:15 | Finland:K-18 | New Zealand:R18 | Portugal:M/18 | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:AL (uncut) | USA:Unrated | USA:Not Rated | UK:18 | Ireland:18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario)

Company:

Mighty Cheese Productions

Trivia:

Promos for this film promised a film with no violence or nudity but tons of bad language. However, Penn Jillette had to add blurring to the private parts of a "friend" sharing a jacuzzi with one of the comedians in order to fulfill this promise.

Quotes:

Bob Saget: Can I get a copy of this? I'd like to send it to the kids from the show "Full House".

Movie Connections:

References "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992)

A celebration of laughter

The Aristocrats uses a warhorse joke to give the audience a window into humor, obscenity, and the American conscience. I am not aware of another study capable of inducing such laughter. The premise is devilishly simple and almost a modern version of comedia delarte. This allows some of the best American comic minds to muse wildly about humor. A great achievement of the movie is the raw footage of a who's who of comedians. Comic greats such as George Carlin, Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Godfrey, Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Phyllis Diller, Drew Carey, Sarah Silverman, and many more weigh in on how comedians put their signature on jokes.

The editing and pacing of the movie insure that the audience goes no longer than two minutes without a good laugh. There is no shortage of obscenity and lewdness in the film. The Aristocrats is not a family film. However, the film proves that there is much to be gained from wading into the lake of obscenity. Packed between laughs about bodily functions and social taboos, are searing insights about improvisation, character, show business, and things which most of us would not willingly put in our mouths. The movie hits on many different levels and stands as an insightful sociological achievement garbed in laughter.