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.

Laughs In The Park 2011
Live Review

Just before Laughs In The Park, Eddie Izzard became the first solo comedy act to play the Hollywood Bowl, entertaining 12,000 people in the venue where Monty Python and the Beatles once ruled.

But in St Albans, it’s a more difficult sell. Probably as this most certainly isn’t LA weather. The ambitious Laughs In The Park festival, now in its second year, has a capacity of around 6,000, but on this first night of three, it’s half-full at best, despite the added attractions of Ross Noble, Tommy Tiernan – and a side-stage sponsored by the BBC offering an afternoon line-up of strong circuit acts.

Nor do many shows start with an arial display team, but the four planes that execute impressive manoeuvres above Verulamium Park certainly piloted home the message that this is a big show.

The start of the comedy itself is a little less slick, as Noble cowers in the foliage that dresses the stage, urging the audience to take their seats. They only really comply when he comes out from the undergrowth and starts riffing with Izzard... after all, no one wants to miss the two master surrealists together. And jolly good fun it is too, especially when they start mimicking each other.

Once the show proper starts, Noble seems a little off-form; getting overly fixated on the idea that the on-stage shrubbery might be a dogging spot, although his imagination never really lets fly on the subject. However his banter with the audience members who attempt to yell things out is sharper, undoubtedly helped by the fact that one heckler’s seat hilariously collapses mid-sentence.

Back after the interval, the flightly Geordie hits his mark more accurately, with a prepared routine about Bono visiting that proves hugely entertaining, mainly due to Noble’s drifting accent and grotesque exaggeration of the U2 frontman’s persona.

Then Tommy Tiernan, who continues his steady bid to become as acclaimed in Britain as he is back home with this high-profile appearance – and he would surely have won over a lot of fans tonight.

On the face of it, he’s a walking cliche – a twinkle-eyed Irishman talking about religion, drinking and family life. But that’s to ignore the clear fact that he has the vocabulary of a poet, the soul of a maverick and the passion of an evangelist.

He sermonises against the cosy, cosseted modern life, urging us to be freed by the rush of unpredictability. ‘It’s important to stay wild,’ he exhorts, ‘to have a touch of lunacy about you.’ He practises what he preaches, too, this fiery iconoclast, with a whirlwind set that often has a frisson of danger.

But it’s not all bombast, Tiernan has supreme control of a crowd’s emotions - even a crowd as big as this one – turning them on a sixpence. He’ll rant and rave against the Irish economy or overemotional teenagers one minute, then bring it down to a whisper as he talks about a brother who died. But it’s not maudlin or mawkish, just another way of celebrating life.

His command of the mood is matched only by his command of the language. There are the grand, witty metaphors that get the laughs, but it’s the pleasing eloquence in almost every phrase, something as simple as coining the mass noun ‘a platoon of baboons’, that ensures joy in even the smallest detail. It’s why he’s one of the finest comedians Ireland has ever produced.

It was a tough act to follow... even if you are Eddie Izzard. The star attraction was somewhat overshadowed by his support act, not helped by the fact that the heavens opened by the second half, and audiences cowering under umbrellas or pulling hats tight around their ears are never going to be the most responsive.

Izzard trotted through some of his greatest hits from his Stripped show, the one which covers the entire history of civilisation with a slight atheist undertow. Tonight, we got the first bit, from dinosaurs through the dawning of the Stone Age to Hannibal crossing the Alps.

It’s jolly entertaining stuff, thanks to his one-man sketches such as the cavemen discovering language or the Roman messenger struggling with Latin that owes more than a nod to Izzard’s Python heroes. He knows this stuff backwards (and even in French, as his recent run in Paris proved) and the preposterous imagery and witty anachronisms are as funny as Izzard is smart.

But he did do a lot of this material here last year – and while there’s some pleasure to be had in hearing his greatest hits, this festival probably demands a greater turnover of material from one year to the next if it’s to get the repeat business to be sustainable. As tonight’s attendance showed – it’s a big ask filling 18,000 seats in a city with a population of 65,000, even if it is only half an hour out of London.

The idea of Laughs In The Park is a strong one, though, borrowing from music festivals to make a big, bold, must-see event – and the production here is faultless, from that initial flypast to the fireworks at the end. If only the British summer was so reliable.

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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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