I am the director and, along with Penn Jillette, co-creator of "The Aristocrats." I love that you enjoyed the movie, but really need to set you straight on your comments about Chris Rock and Eddie Izzard. Neither of them were "drunk as fuck during their interviews."

For some background: Eddie was doing 8 shows a week of the very heavy "Day in the Life of Joe Egg" in London's West End at the time of shooting, and he came in early before a matinee performance, tired as can be, as he prepared for another grueling performance. He was drinking diet coke, in case you wonder what was in the cup he holds. He is also a master at what he does, and obviously knows how to tell a joke. Instead though, he allowed us to see his process in approaching the joke - not a finished work. He never goes through the front door on any subject in his comedy - he goes around, up, over, and pinballs all around it to find a unique Izzard take on anything. In his segment, we see exactly that. He is choosing NOT to do what he can do right away - but to look at other angles, punchlines, deconstructing it in the way he does every topic. His segment was fearless, letting us in on a process -Again, not a finished product. He wasn't drunk, he was creatively spinning. Sometimes they look similar.

Chris was on a non-stop week long press tour, and in the 20 minutes of down time he had before doing a show in Vegas, he refused to cancel a scheduled shoot with us as we had been trying to get together for about a year at that point with his insanely busy schedule. He chose to shoot with us rather than take a much needed nap, because he refused to disappoint after so much scheduling hassle. He's a hero for that, he wasn't drunk. Because he was being so generous, he gave us time I sure as fuck would have used to take a nap before a Vegas headlining gig.

Everyone went out on limbs to let their hair down and let go of their fears of being judged to give us a real honest, behind the scenes, without artifice look at their world. They're fucking awesome, every one of them.

The fact that Eddie and Chris put themselves out there for us trying to help us out and be a part of the project, knowing full well they were at less than best energy levels, speaks to how generous they in particular are with their time, talent and commitment to a project that is risky as shit for them.

Now you have the facts about what you misinterpreted and I hope it helps you enjoy the movie even more. That spirit they all have is part of what is so beautiful in it, we think.

Thanks for giving us your attention and writing such great things about our movie.

Paul Provenza

Anyone have any ideas when the Aristocrats will be out on DVD?

Hey Josh,

That just maybe the coolest reply ever. Paul Provenza is one of the finest, most intelligent comedians, writers and thinkers on the planet, and the fact that he took time to reply to your post speaks volumes. "The Aristocrats" is an important film, and one that I hope more people will "get over themselves" and go see...it's a real window into some very brilliant minds.
Hope you got your copy on DVD!

I found your site very informative, I love Eddy Izzard and have bought tickets to his "Work in Progress" show in Scottsdale AZ. I wanted to get some reviews to see how it was going, there were none then I found your blog and thought there might be something about it, not so but your blog was very interesting, and gave me more insite. Thanks
PS I think your eye will be very sore if you don't stop rubbing it, you may not have one left soon, I don't want to click on your face as I have no idea what I will see.