am i stupid if i don't even get the joke?

Yeah, that's sort of my feeling too. The joke (or rather the enjoyable, funny bit) is the entire set up about the act; comedians are free to get so raunchy, and filthy, and wild and crazy within the description of the act.

The punchline at the end is just a final mini-line tossed out because the joke-teller has just described all these gross, vile, funny, obscene things, and then the show is called something so proper and pretentious and as though it has an air of breeding and superiority.

That might strike you more when you check the quotes section for the movie here at IMDB; all the funny lines that people have submitted as memorable quotes are actually different descriptions of the show that the aristocrats put on, in all their obscene and vulgar glory...the punchline at the end is just a 'meh'.

In fact, I think one of the commediennes actaully spun around the gag by flipping it over. She described this sweet, delightful family sharing an evening together in a simple, happy, serene kind of way, and then they said they called their show the 'C0ck-sucking MFers'.

That's my reading of it at least :)

No, you're not really stupid, if you mean that you didn't find the joke funny, because it's not really supposed to be funny. I mean, it is somewhat humourous that they're describing the most vile things and the name IS something so snooty and proper; but the "humour", as you have quite rightly deduced, is meant to come from the ad-lib portion when the comedians describe the act itself. I guarentee you that if you told this joke to someone who had never heard it before, they would not get it, or find it funny. They'd probably be repulsed if you were somewhat decent at coming up with the act. That's why I found it to be so compelling...it really is an insider thing for comedians, a joke that they all know and have told, but never to the public because the public really wouldn't get it, since the public had never been let in on the secret. If I were at a comedy club now though, and I heard a comedian say: "A man walks into a talent agency..." I would immediately start to laugh, just because I could only imagine what was going to come out of his mouth next. And to me, the more "straight" the comedians or performers seemed, the more humourous it was when they were telling the joke because it was seemingly WAY out of character for them (ie. Bob Saget and the mime both killed me).

Anyways, the joke (set-up and punchline) isn't funny (or is not meant to be the "funny part"), the act is...so you're correct.

Cheers

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If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.

Yer Not Stupid. Try this analogy:

Every bar band in the world knows a couple of Rolling Stones or Beatles covers, right? (OK, in this day and age, maybe not, but bear with me...)

Anyway, many musicians have been in many different bands, many of them playing the same Stones or Beatles cover over and over and over, right?

It comes to a point where the original song has been performed so many times that it's lost it's meaning to the majority of the musicians. It's a rote set of chords, lyrics and rhythm. They could play it in their sleep.

But the customers still want to hear that particular song.

So, the bands try to add something exciting, something to reinvigorate their own rendition and to make their version stand out a bit from the million and one other versions. Something to make the audience go, "Wow. Interesting. Let's come back and see these guys again."

Now....think of the "Aristocrats" joke as one of those songs, and the comics as the heard-it-a-million-timers band members, suddenly thrust before a new audience. They'd be thinking, "Yeesh. I'd better REALLY make this version rock, or nobody will notice me."

That's where the questions of Talent and Personal taste come in. Some guys, like Doug Stanhope, really cut loose. Some, like Carrot Top, just do their usual schtick. The preference is totally up to you, but I do think that you'd have a very hard time finding anybody that would deny that Stanhope's version is Smarter, more Literate or more challenging than Carrot Top's. But, some people just LIKE carrot Top, and that's all there is to that.....


Or, try this one:


EVERYBODY hates Barry Manilow, OK? EVERYBODY. (Just go with me here.)

What if some for-hire guitarist was suddenly thunderstruck by Inspiration one afternoon at a Manilow recording session, and peeled off THE GREATEST GUITAR SOLO OF ALL TIME? Something so beautiful, so heartwrenching as to make Hendrix, Charlie Christian and Robert Johnson rise up from their graves just so they could fall to their knees and weep with Joy and Envy.

It'd STILL be in a Barry Manilow song, wouldn't it?



Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

If you actually watched this movie start to finish and still need this explained to you, you probably have a serious learning disability.

So to answer the question posed by your thread topic: Yes.

It is kinda confusing to get the joke (I still have an issue occasionally) but basically the point of the joke is the act itself. The punchline is really just how you say "The joke is over" without actually saying it. The punchline is really incidental, it isn't really needed, but if it can be used to get an extra laugh then it also works (Eric Mead, Bob Saget, Steven Wright, Wendy Liebman all are examples of using the punchline)

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Yes, you are stupid.