Hypoallergenic Aristocrats
A few weeks ago, a friend called and suggested we go see "The Aristocrats."
I immediately said, "Sure," and with enthusiasm.
He was surprised.
The fact that I don't swear like a sailor occasionally gives some people that idea that I'm more sensitive than I am. I tend to swear more like a scuba diver -- looks like I'm happily blowing bubbles while ranting away inside my head like a sunken sailor.
So, he confirmed, "You do know what movie I'm talking about? The one about the dirty joke? Not the one with cats in it?" Yes, yes, I knew what it was. And the stellar reviews made me think it was worth watching.
At the box office, I realized that I've probably said "aristocats" as a word more than "aristocrats." When I went to buy the tickets, I correctly asked for "The Aristocrats," then second guessed my myself, asked for "Aristocats," heard the error and quickly confirmed, "Aristocrats." Geez.
The movie was hilarious. The audience as a whole obviously thought so. Naturally, some comedians were more funny than others and to different people. For myself, when I wasn't laughing, I tended to feel bad for the comedian for being so embarrassingly unfunny. In particular, would someone take Andy Dick out? (I was going to say "of his misery," but I think it's more a case of his inflicting misery on me than feeling it himself, so I'll just leave that request with the mob-ish ending.)
There were lots of brilliantly funny stuff though. In the end, I was saying that the movie lived up to the hype from all the great reviews.
Some of it was by comedians or actors I knew. Some by those I didn't know. Unfortunately, it was such a large cast of characters, I largely still don't know who's-who of the people I didn't know before the film. One of the most funny guys wasn't a stage comedian or actor himself, but was, I think, a writer.
An exception to my continued ignorance is Sarah Silverman. She was a brilliant highlight. Turns out she has a film coming out this November called "Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic" coming out which was screened at SXSW. (And there's a longer trailer that it playing before The Aristocrats. Both trailers feature potentially offensive humor.) I can't wait to see it.
Update: Not unrelated NYTimes article: Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore