by CHRIS BARRY

Here's the deal: A man walks into a talent agent's office and says, "I've got this family act, see, and we're looking for work. D'ya think you could book us a gig?" The talent agent replies, "Well, I dunno, tell me a little bit about your shtick. What's yer gimmick?" At this point the man goes on to explain in great detail that the act is kind of a special one - always carnal, usually involving the rape of his children and more often than not culminates in his extended family taking their final bow drenched in fecal matter. The agent, pondering the commercial viability of such inspired entertainment goes, "Hmmm, sounds interesting; what's the name of your act?" The man replies, "We call ourselves the Aristocrats."

Ba-da-bing.

Yeah, I know, on its own it doesn't seem like much of a joke - at least, not when presented like the above rendition. But everyone knows that 99 per cent of the time, the difference between a good joke and a lame one is in the telling, and if you don't believe me, you've obviously yet to witness The Aristocrats.

Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette have taken this old vaudevillian boner (tee-hee, I said "boner") and rounded up roughly 100 of their funniest comedian buds to spew their own unique bile upon it, challenging each to put their own spin on it, but always staying true to the joke's form and, of course, respecting that both the child-fucking and scatological elements remain obligatory. And sure, while it's never too hard to get a laugh when riffing on child rape, The Aristocrats really separates the men from the boys when it comes to comic imagination.

Contrast the brilliant takes on the bit by the likes of Paul Reiser, Steven Wright, Jon Ross and Gregg Rogell, with the bland stupidity of, say, Whoopi Goldberg's interpretation, and you'll know exactly what I mean. Fortunately, however, the vast majority of tellings are really clever and funny. Goddamn, even something as potentially horrible as Billy The Mime's wordless rendering of it turns out to be funny as hell. All right, enough said, let's cut to the chase: This movie's fuckin' great, go see it.

The Aristocrats opens Friday, Aug. 19

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