"The Aristocrats" is a taboo-defying, off-color joke that has been told by numerous stand-up comedians and dates back to the vaudeville era. [1] It relates the story of a family trying to get an agent to book their stage act, which is remarkably vulgar and offensive. The punch line reveals that they incongruously bill themselves as "The Aristocrats". [2] When told to audiences who know the punch line, the joke's humor depends on the described outrageousness of the family act. [3] [4]
Because the objective of the joke is its transgressive content, it is most often told privately, [5] such as by comedians to other comedians. [6] It came to wider public when Gilbert Gottfried told it during the Friars' Club roast of Hugh Hefner to recover after losing the crowd and eliciting "booing and hissing" with a joke about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which had occurred just 18 days prior. [7] It was the subject of a 2005 documentary film of the same name by Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette.
This joke typically has these elements—alternative versions may change this form.
"The Aristocrats" is a taboo-defying, off-color joke that has been told by numerous stand-up comedians and dates back to the vaudeville era. [1] It relates the story of a family trying to get an agent to book their stage act, which is remarkably vulgar and offensive. The punch line reveals that they incongruously bill themselves as "The Aristocrats". [2] When told to audiences who know the punch line, the joke's humor depends on the described outrageousness of the family act. [3] [4]
Because the objective of the joke is its transgressive content, it is most often told privately, [5] such as by comedians to other comedians. [6] It came to wider public when Gilbert Gottfried told it during the Friars' Club roast of Hugh Hefner to recover after losing the crowd and eliciting "booing and hissing" with a joke about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which had occurred just 18 days prior. [7] It was the subject of a 2005 documentary film of the same name by Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette.
This joke typically has these elements—alternative versions may change this form.