The problem with this movie is that it ceases to be funny once the premise is revealed. The joke gets really dirty---get it? Now listen for another hour and a half as comedians say all of the dirty things you already thought up when you reached your "obscenity maturity" at around, oh, eighteen. Incest, various sexual positions, feces, etc.

Those things are funny when you aren't expecting them. For example, in the South Park movie, I remember actually being surprised at how many obscenities were invoked in the "Terrence and Phillip" movie-within-a-movie. It was a cinematic first for me, and I laughed.

But in this movie, once you have heard a fairly dirty version of this joke, you are expecting anything and everything. In fact, the only funny version of the joke (in my opinion) was told by the South Park characters in the second half of the movie. It was funny because it invoked something that was actually surprising--in other words, something that probably even offended some people who came to the movie knowing for the most part what it was about.

Other than that, the only interesting aspect of this movie was that it served as an unwitting empirical investigation into the self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement of the stand-up world.

Another user's comment reminded me of a thought I had during the movie--that this whole thing might be a hoax, a joke perpetrated on America to see how many people would laugh at something so clearly not funny. In fact, during the movie I kept wondering if we weren't going to all be told at the end, "Gotcha! Shhh...pass it on!" That would at least explain A.O. Scott's (NY Times) ridiculously positive review. Needless to say, we weren't.

But hoax or no hoax, since this is a review of the movie, I guess my comments stand--it was irritating.

I can't get through this without gagging at least once. Funny, horrific and disgusting investigation/explanation of the legendary showbiz joke that was rarely heard outside of comedians backstage gatherings. As terrible as the joke is, the fascination of this movie is watching over 100 legends of comedy put their own twist on the same joke. Its a real education in how comedy works. Even if you can't get through the whole hour and a half of filth you should skip to 40 minutes in and watch the mime do the joke. Or an hour in to watch Sarah Silverman who somehow makes this terrible filth adorable.