posted on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 8:44 AM
by
Endie
The Aristocrats
As a resident of Edinburgh, it is extremely fashionable to treat the festival - and particularly the festival fringe - with a degree of disdain. Others prefer to adopt a different line: the "It's such a shame, I've been to virtually nothing this year" lament, which suggests that, given time, one would have spent the month, fringe guide in hand, scurrying from avant-garde naked trapeze-dance show, via Shakespeare updated to show Romeo and Juliet as scions of rival herring fisher families, to a 2am Kabuki version of West Side Story performed by the Disabled Theatre of Khazakstan.
It is therefore quite acceptable for me to say that I have been to virtually nothing this year. The Wedding Present was the first show, over a fortnight through the festival. But over this week I plan to immerse myself in low-grade festivalities.
Accordingly, I went see The Aristocrats at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last night. It's a documentary by Penn Gillette (of Penn and Teller fame), which addresses one joke over the space of an hour and a half.
Clearly, this is no ordinary joke. And it doesn't last an hour and a half in the telling, though some could stretch it out that far. In the film, twenty or so comedians discuss it, and many tell their versions.
If I say that it is, quite intentionally, the most repulsive, repugnant, horrible and shocking joke ever imagined, you may doubt me. But that is the very essence of the joke. There is no fixed version. Indeed, one is supposed to improvise. And the nature of the improvisation told, as some participants in the documentary pointed out, as much about the comedian as anyone else.
And there is no punchline. There are a few words at the bit in the joke where the punchline would be, which are spoken in the form of a punchline, but they are intentionally flat and unfunny. Part of the challenge of the joke is merely getting the audience to listen. The other part is getting them to laugh at the end.
If you have headphones, go to
http://www.lnreview.co.uk/media/journal/001842.php and see the South Park version of it. Note that this does not apply to members of my family. Please do not follow that link. You would not appreciate it, nor find it funny.
I think that Cartman's version is probably the best. I was disappointed that Chris Rock didn't tell it: I thought he might have given the South Park team a run for their money, just as the combined talents of the Onion's editorial staff did.