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: Force Majeure
Live Review
Brighton Centre

It’s apt that proud global citizen and proud europhile Eddie Izzard has titled his world tour in French; and even more apposite that it translates as ‘act of God’. For there’s an epic ambition to this show, spanning centuries, civilisations and mythologies – even if the funniest routine is as simple, and as close to home, as taking the mickey out of Olympic dressage.

He’s known for his digressive, disjointed approach, of course, so it might not come as any surprise that the ideas don’t thread neatly into a grand narrative, despite employing recurring surreal motifs as diverse as bananas and a chicken Mark Anthony to offer some illusion of cohesion. Similarly, some of his meandering flights of fantasy don’t quite take hold – and if you don’t buy into the idiosyncratic premises, such routines can feel forced.

But there is a consistent intelligence underpinning the whimsy; his semi-distracted, naturalistically bumbling delivery concealing some significant thinking; while granting him the latitude not to have a line-perfect command of a tightly-written script.

The show opens with a title sequence in the manner of 60s adventure serial, the gentlemanly Izzard appearing like a modern-day John Steed. But the show owes less to the Avengers as it does to Game Of Thrones, given the legendary inspirations.

After some very low-key opening gambits, Izzard gets into the meat of Force Majeure: human sacrifices, the beheading of Charles I and even a little-known fact about Richard The Lionheart provide leaping-off points for historical material; while ancient Greek gods, Lords Of The Rings and The Kraken from Clash Of The Titans lend a mythical edge.

The scope of this truly globe-trotting show (25 nations at last count) perhaps demands a similar scale of topics. There’s no point doing ‘anyone remember Spangles?’ gags in Estonia. There’s a touch, too, of the personal, about his youthful ambitions to join the SAS at the same time he was shoplifting make-up –  but that’s a conversational routine that doesn’t really seem to fit anywhere other than a chat-show sofa, even given the wide-reaching show.

Yet some of the funnier moments are more down-to-earth. The aforementioned dressage routine is an instant, brilliant classic; and even if countless other comics have pointed out how ridiculous the sport is, Izzard proves they needn’t have bothered, with his precise, bizarre imagrey offering the definitive take on the subject. Force Majure, in its current form, might not be Izzard at the very top of his game, but segments within it certainly are. And it’s a game he invented, so he gets to make the rules.

Highlights include him recreating musicals (pretty much all of them) via his Spider In Trouserland composition, trying to tot up the size of the armies in the various Tolkein tribes, or the impracticalities of virgin sacrifices. And there are puns, too, from the old: the Magna Carta being sealed in 1215 ‘just before lunch’ and new; including one which earned both a groan AND an applause break, perhaps the holy grail of wordplay.

He has a jarring habit of throwing in none-to-subtle points about the political right, with self-righteous lines that lack his usual elegance. Perhaps politics is beyond a joke for a comic who’s openly stated he wants to run for London mayor in 2020; but tacking on simple lines bashing right-wingers seem to evoke the laziest days of alternative comedy, when saying ‘Thatcher’ was a free pass to a laugh. And he certainly evokes Godwin’s law of debates, by mentioning Hitler in relation to UKIP-type parties, very quickly.

But there’s a positivity to the politics too, tied in with his global ambitions. He urges us more than once to learn another language, as he so famously has, with some performances how being ‘tout en Francais’. Not that he can’t mock his new second tongue; not least its frustrating insistence that nouns have genders. Perhaps it takes a transvestite to properly point out how arbitrary the male and female label are.

A postscript tries to tie the messy threads of this hour back to his most famous routine of old; and while it’s too messy to fully triumph, it’s inventive, strange and interesting. And that’s a fair reflection of the two hours that preceded it.

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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

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