THE ARISTOCRATS BY CHRIS WANGLER

92 MINUTES | Providence Place 16

Over the years, and never on stage, comedians have one-upped each other with renditions of a legendarily dirty joke. Its appeal lies not in the set-up or the flat punch line ( " The Aristocrats! " ) but in the exaggerated build-up, in which the teller conjures a perverse family-show-biz routine. In this documentary from director Paul Provenza, a bevy of comics (Paul Reiser, George Carlin, Sarah Silverman) spin their own versions, sparing no reference to pedophilia, incest, or bestiality, while TV writers and others (Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Phyllis Diller) speculate on the meaning of the ultimately absurd joke.

If you can suppress those adult-content filters, this one-trick pony will hammer your funny bone from start to finish, with notable turns from Bob Saget, Larry Storch, a cardsharp, and even a mime. Much of the fun lies not in the lascivious content (e.g., the meaning of the words " spacedocking " and " felching " ) but in the backstage glimpses of otherwise respectable celebrities unleashing their bluest material, at times with remarkable dexterity. By the end, you’ll know them a lot better. Maybe even too well.

Not everyone, of course, is eager to see this kind of smut in wide release. The MPAA, that bastion of family values, refused to rate The Aristocrats, and only weeks before its premiere, AMC Theaters decided not to present the film on its 3500 screens. Provenza and co-producer Penn Gillette (the fat one from Penn and Teller) couldn’t give less of a shit — not everyone’s invited to this party. But that’s only one of many reasons to see this unexpectedly brilliant romp, which plays like a controversy-courting blast of sexual and scatological hyperbole but manages, in its bizarre way, to say a lot about comedy, race, taste, and even September 11. Just don’t mistake it for the Disney movie with all the fluffy cats.