The Aristocrats

The Aristocrats is a 2005 American documentary comedy film about the famous eponymous dirty joke. The film was conceived and produced by comedians Penn Jillette, Paul Provenza and Peter Adam Golden, and it was edited by Emery Emery. Distributed by THINKFilm, it is dedicated to Johnny Carson, as "The Aristocrats" was said to be his favorite joke. The joke "The Aristocrats" is a longstanding transgressive joke amongst comedians, in which the setup and punchline are almost always the same (or similar). It is the joke's midsection – which may be as long as the one telling it prefers and is often completely improvised – that makes or breaks a particular rendition. The joke involves a person pitching an act to a talent agent. Typically the first line is, "A man walks into a talent agent's office." The man then describes the act. From this point, up to (but not including) the punchline, the teller of the joke is expected to ad-lib the most shocking act they can possibly imagine. This often involves elements of incest, group sex, graphic violence, defecation, coprophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, rape, child sexual abuse, and various other taboo behaviors.