Is it funny anymore?

I went to the opening night of Borat – the movie with friends, and it was great fun. Sacha Cohen ( aka Ali G) rips apart the conventions, ‘morals’ and prejudices that form the lint of the American fabric. The movie was hilarious for most part – but what struck me was a particular thing – there was a section of the movie, a ten minute sequence that fell under the category of the gross, squeamish and the likes. But, the whole hall (including us) was cracking up. I did find it funny in parts. Evidently, the makers intended to incorporate the ‘shock’ genre of humor – with a purpose to catch the audience totally off guard with scenes that would defy your normal sense of societal etiquette. Whether I am giving the makers too much credit or not is a matter of debate, of course. It reminds me of the ‘Aristocrats’ joke – supposedly the grossest joke of all time – one that comedians shared between themselves and never told on stage. It’s a joke that’s filled with all kinds of happenings (like incest) that would challenge the moral conceptions that today’s society is built upon(Of course, we can argue about the conception of society itself – that’s a different question altogether. I, for one, believe that each individual is a nation by himself – and I can argue that this stems out of the fact that all of us share a basic instinct of survival. Ok, this discussion for later! )
So, there’s this documentary (of the same name) that has 100 famous comedians adding their own ‘creative’ input to this joke and personalizing it and telling it to the audience. The documentary’s apparent intention is to explore the thin line between what is humor and what is disgusting. And if they are interchangeable, to what extent? Personally, I couldn’t take the Aristocrats joke at all – I didn’t find it funny. I found it repulsive, and couldn't watch the video for more than a couple of minutes. The film makers do shock you by having the 'joke' told to you through the likes of Bob Saget (the benign father of the kids in Full House, remember?), and you find it quite inconceivable that he could say disgusting things with such consummate ease. Clever ploy, though. But it does raise an issue – how 'flexible' are we and how far can the human mind stretch itself (involuntarily) before it realizes that things are no longer funny, and in fact that they are repulsive? Is it the same for different cultures around the world – or are there some that have a higher ‘tolerance’? Or is it just a completely individualistic thing - do our own sardonic thoughts inadvertently peek out in such times?

PS: Please watch the video at your own discretion.