The Aristocrats

The Aristocrats is a 2005 American documentary about a joke that comedians have passed among themselves since the vaudeville era, a routine considered too obscene to perform in public and built on the same fixed setup and punchline, with each teller inventing a new and increasingly filthy middle. Directed by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the film gathers roughly one hundred performers who deliver their own versions and, in the process, talk about how comedy works, why transgression matters, and why this particular joke has endured as a private ritual among professionals. Among those appearing as themselves are Jason Alexander, Hank Azaria, Shelley Berman, Lewis Black, and Chris Albrecht, alongside the mime Billy the Mime, with a credited cast of 105.

The film was released in July 2005 and runs 89 minutes. It was produced by Mighty Cheese Productions, with Glenn S. Alai, Peter Adam Golden and Ken Krasher Lewis among the producers. Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.4/10 from around 17,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.9/10 from 184 votes. A film critics' rating of 7.3/10 from 150 reviews places it noticeably higher with critics than with the wider public.

For Jillette and Provenza, the project belongs to the mid-2000s stage of their careers; the film is a documentary rather than a stand-up performance, and it is the rare screen work in which the comedians themselves are the subject rather than the entertainers.