Intelligent Design

From Live at Madison Square Garden DVD

More Eddie Izzard videos

Born in Yemen, Eddie Izzard moved to Northern Ireland when he was about two, then to south Wales in 1967. His mother died of cancer in March 1968, when he was six, and he has frequently cited her early death as a reason for going into stand-up.

He began as a street performer in the Eighties, having been being kicked off his accountancy course at Sheffield University, and then moved into the stand-up circuit. His first appearance at The Comedy Store was in 1987.

He was nominated for the Perrier in 1991, the same year he won a Time Out Comedy Award, and in 1993, he was named top stand-up at the British Comedy Award for Live At The Ambassadors – which was also nominated for an Oliver theatre award. He scooped the same British Comedy Award three years later for his second show, Definite Article.

He followed that up with the shows Glorious and Dress To Kill, which was to prove his breakthrough in America. First performed in 1997, it aired on HBO two years later, winning him two Emmy Awards for performance and writing. In 2000, he cemented his reputation in the US by touring the country with the show Circle.

In 2001, he hosted the Amnesy Benefit We Know Where You Live! at Wembley Arena, and in 2003 embarked on a world tour of a new show, Sexie. His latest show, Stripped, began with a 34-city American tour in 2008, before transferring to the West End for a five-week run, ahead of its tour of the UK in late 2009.

Early in his career, Izzard took a famously offhand approach to television, turning down most appearances. Although in 1997, he wrote the sitcom Cows for Channel 4, about a family of bovines, played by humans in prostethics. But the surreal show was critically panned.

Alongside his comedy, Izzard has developed a straight acting career, that has spanned TV, film and stage.

In 1994, Izzard made his West End drama debut as the lead in David Mamet's The Cryptogram, which was followed by starring roles in David Beaird's black comedy 900 Oneonta and Christopher Marlowe's Edward II. Izzard portrayed Lenny Bruce in the 1999 revival of Julian Barry's biographical play Lenny, and two years later he starred in another West End revival, A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg – a role he reprised on Broadway in 2003, earning him a Tony Award nomination.

He made his film debut in 1996, when he appeared in both the Damien Hirst short film Hanging Around and a movie adaptation of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent. Other early notable movie appearances include Velvet Goldmine, The Avengers, Mystery Men, All The Queen's Men, and The Cat's Meow, n which he played Charlie Chaplin. In 2003 he starred on TV as testosterone-fuelled Ralph in the three-part Channel 4 drama 40.

His stock as an actor rose further with an appearance in the blockbuster squel Ocean's Twelve in 2004; and in 2006, he landed his biggest American break, co-starring with Minnie Driver in the FX drama series the Riches, about a family of con artists trying to go straight after assuming the identity of a suburban couple, which ran until 2008.

Further major roles include Ocean's Thirteen in 2007, and his starring role opposite Tom Cruise in the 2008 wartime action film Valkyrie.

Izzard is also passionate about issues including history, European integration and the environment. In 2003 he fronted the Discovery Channel documentary series Mongrel Nation. aboutEnglish identity, has long spoken about becoming more active in European politics, and appeared in a 2005 party political broadcast for the Labour Party, to which he has donated more than £10,000.

Eddie Izzard: Stripped in Paris
Live Review

‘Pourquoi êtes-vous ici?’ Eddie Izzard asks, supposedly baffled that anyone would negotiate the boulevard of neon-bathed sex shops and XXX cinemas in the insalubrious Pigalle district of Paris, just to see an Englishman talking in French in a tiny theatre.

Pourquoi est-il ici? might be a better question. His next performance after this run at the Théâtre De Dix Heures, is the 17,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl, so it seems an unnecessarily tough gig to spend two and half months playing to 135 French people a night, unaccustomed to British-style stand-up. But as his back-to-back marathons attest, Izzard is not a man who shuns a challenge; and as an avowed Europhile, he is being the change he wishes to see.

‘Vous étes les pionniers,’ he flatters his crowd , which comprises locals taking a chance, not expats seeking a home-grown celebrity. But, in truth, he is the real trailblazer. Izzard first brought his brand of flight-of-fancy comedy to Paris for a short run 11 years ago, when his language skills were less assured. He sincerely thought other British Francophones would follow, in the same way foreigners such as Germany’s Henning Wehn have found a place in Britain. But they haven’t… so now he’s back to perform Stripped ‘tout en Français’.

A brief preamble about his unusual situation aside, the content is the same as the show with which he toured the English-speaking world in 2008 – though edited to fit a brisk hour rather than the more nebulous shape his shows can sometimes take. It’s an atheism-inspired romp through prehistory and early civilisations: from ukulele-playing T-Rexes, the dawn of the Stone Age, the impracticality of the Noah’s Ark myth, the ferocity of the Spartans and Hannibal crossing the Alps.

A few routines have changed or been dropped to allow for different idioms and cultural references (no ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ here) – but not always: he has a stab at explaining who George Formby was, for example, via ‘Quand Je Nettoie Les Fenêtres’.

But there’s little need for change. Based, as it is, on big themes and nonsense imagery, Izzard’s is the sort of comedy that translates pretty well. The French have some knowledge of Monty Python, and make their own knockabout comedy films such as Les Visiteurs.

Despite speaking in an obvious accent, he doesn’t stumble over the language. Occasionally he might grope for le mot juste, but then he does that in English, too. Don’t we all? Plus stand-up shares some techniques with someone trying to be understood in a second language – not least the physical acting out what you’re talking about – so that helps. He occasionally asks the audience for an element of vocab, but only very rarely, and gets smatterings of applause when he successfully employs complex grammar such as the imperfect tense. Oh, and the very few words of English that do get in have a purpose: ‘la meme fucking chose’ should be adopted by L’Académie Française forthwith.

But the laughs don’t come because he’s an Englishman struggling with the audience’s mother tongue, but because the material is funny, just as it is in any language. The exaggerated verbal images he creates are ridiculously silly: a veloceraptor driving a car through the streets of Paris until he’s pulled over by les flics; giraffes trying to alert each other of danger despite being unable to cry out; or the overwhelming pedantry of Latin.

With my rusty schoolboy French, I followed most of it – though I made sure I was already familiar with the show before boarding the Eurostar. Plus my comprehension was surely helped firstly by Izzard’s anglicised pronunciation, and second by a French speaking pal to translate any vital words . Brits with a half-decent smattering of the language would certainly follow the show – but that would not be in Izzard’s spirit to reach out to the French.

And they seem to be connecting. There was no substantial difference between the laughs he got here and those he would get it the UK, plus he’s just added a night a 800-plus seat Parisian venue for his new-found fans. A bigger challenge comes in bilingual Montreal later this summer, when he performs the same show in French and in English on the same night.

With long-term plans to play in German, Russian and Arabic in his birthplace of Yemen, Izzard could well be on course to be the first global stand-up. Vive l’entente cordiale.

Skip to page: 1 | 2

Laughs in the Park 2011... Went Sunday this year and though as well organised as last year's event We and many many many others thought that Eddie should have come up with some NEW material. We find it hard to believe that if Eddie wants to bring comedy to the masses he feels that churning out the same ole same ole for the last two years is going to keep his fans enthused. We have seen Mr Izzard at the 02, also at LITP 2010 and now at LITP 2011 and unless he has a bit more respect for his fans by adding at least a modicum of new material we will be giving Laughs In The Park 3 a miss.

Tom & The Wife 2011, July 2011

Saw this event on Sat, well organised and impressed, Eddies warm up and interval slots far outweighed his main session as it seemed 90% of Stripped, which we had already seen at the O2, so more fresh material, rather than roaring dinosaurs and the ark/lion (though still top class stuff) would have been prefered. Dylan Moran (who I have only ever seen in Black Books)performed a hard done by grumpy middle aged man routine which went down well(we too, do not want to be shown around other peoples houses looking at their crap!) but I have to say on this occassion Reg D hunter stole the show for out and out belly laughs. I would watch them all again in a heartbeat and I only hope more of these events go on.

Tom & The wife, September 2010

Saw the show in St Albans, Eddie recycled his "history of the world" act, Dylan Moran was brilliant and Reg D Hunter was clever, but a bit too political for my taste

Dylan Moran fan, September 2010

Saw Eddie tonight in Liverpool. Good, but not worth the £30. Most of the set was mumbled ramblings and the same callbacks over and over again - I know that's pretty much his shtick, but the difference is, it used to be funny, and wasn't the basis of the WHOLE show. Disappointment.

Chris, November 2009

Saw Eddie live at the Secret Policeman's Ball. Magnificent! Had loads of people around me cracking up. I felt that, on a tour I saw him on a couple of years back, he was improvising too much. This routine was back to a more structured feel. He's now back in the no. 1 slot of my favourite comedians. Looking forward to seeing him again!

Steve, October 2008

I've been a fan of Eddie for years and was lucky enough to see him live a few years back. He is truly one of the funniest men out there and is amazing at what he does. Legend!

Stephanie Plowman, February 2008

You can't do justice to Eddie by talking about him, you have to see him live. Just be careful you don't die laughing. The funniest thing alive.

Michael Monkhouse, September 2007

Went to see Eddie Izzard perform a teaser show at the Arts Club in London, and I have to say that I thought he might have lost it ever since Circle and Sexie, but this was an incredible return to form. I've never laughed so hard or long at a live comedy gig, and I was crying for a large amount of time. Finest stand-up alive.

Steve, July 2007

Skip to page: 1 | 2