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Aug 28, 2011AtomicFez rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Making a documentary about one joke seems odd. Making it entertaining and able to last well over an hour is seemingly impossible. This actually works. The way it seems to be the impossible is because, were it as simple as above, there's no way anyone would want to watch it. But through the examination of the joke, we learn what makes comedy work. In the same manner that the comedians who tell the joke use it as a way to stimulate their own intellectual processes in preparation for performing, the comedians also reveal as much about themselves as the business which they share. What is 'funny'? What is 'offensive'? Sure, Lenny Bruce is famous for examining that question as a way to wake people up to their own illogical, hypocritical ways; is famous for it, even. Once we admit that 'sex is beautiful' and '10,000 people being killed in Vietnam is offensive', what do we do with the remaining 'grey area' of comedy and, thus, life itself and the society in which it is lived? Perhaps that too much over-intellectualizing about what is, at its heart, a really vulgar joke, but it really does start asking a lot about the mind of comedic writers: why do they do this? how do they do this? how do I avoid ever meeting one of them in real life?