"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 attention 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.