Eddie Izzard: Stripped!

Eddie Izzard
March 5, 2008, 10:30 PM
Union Square Theater $40
Orch G 7, with Brian

Eddie Izzard doesn't believe in God. The way he sees it, no one in Europe believes in God, not after those 2 big wars. And the flu plague of 1919. What America needs, he says, is a big ol' land war to kill a few million people, and then we'll see if you don't come to your senses--at least your people in the middle. The rest of you are fine. Coming from any number of other people, that wouldn't be funny. Reading it now, it isn't funny. Thank G0d (so to speak) for Eddie Izzard, who can make it funny (then again, this is coming from a NY'er and I can convince myself, as did the audience that he wasn't talking about us.) And welcome back, Eddie, to NYC.

In between Swiftian suggestions of self-improvement and thoughts on modern technology, Wikipedia and those pesky 'terms of usage' forms no one reads, Eddie laid out history from the dawn of time, riffing on the stone age as a pair of cavemen who discover that hitting each other with rocks is fun, the hunting and gathering age as the disgruntled guy who has to pick the berries while the others are out hunting, Noah and the Ark ("Do I believe Noah existed? Yes. Do I believe he built a boat? Yes. Do I believe he put 2 of every animal in the boat? No. How do I know? Try it.") Moses, and the possibility that if God exists, he just might be on crack--how else to explain female insects that kill their mates? Then onto a lengthy bit about a soldier informing his commander about Hannibal and the elephants delivered in Latin, German, and French as an example of why Latin takes too long and urgent news should be delivered in English. Actually, very bad Latin, German, and French, but I am stopping myself from nitpicking over that because I currently have a tiny Mr. Izzard in my brain saying "I'd like to see you do that!" And then a lengthy bit of speculation on how a giraffe, which can grunt, wheeze and 'make the sound of a flute' would warn his mates that a lion was near, conducted wholly in silence, aside from the aforementioned sounds, and turned into a game of giraffe charades. It was hilarious, and went on so long that I'm quite certain he was just trying to see how long he could stretch the laugh. He didn't stop until there were only 2 people laughing, rather like the way you're supposed to listen for the popcorn to know when to take it out of the microwave.


He's doing the show as a workshop to test material before he puts the proper show on in June, and it was very obviously a test run. He stopped a few times to note 'don't do that one' on his palm when a joke fell flat. For the most part he was matter of fact about it, apart from the moan that rose up at a joke about the spartans that culminated in the origin of the 'wolf in sheep's clothing' phrase. "Oh, like you've heard so many spartan sheep jokes. Ten a penny, those are!"

Eddie has said that he doesn't write out his act. He knows in advance what he'd like to talk about, but mostly he just sees what happens. The first five minutes of the show were start and stop as he tested his footing (actually a bit literally as he was on a stage with a bouncy floor due to the show that is actually housed in the theater, called 'Jump'), but once he hit his stride he was into it for the a near two hour show. Not every bit worked, but what did was fantastic, and what didn't really didn't. I admit, I zoned a bit, as one is wont to do at such a late hour when a man with a thick accent is talking. His voice is Just. So. Soothing. But my face needed a break from all the laughing...

And, for those interested in what our favorite straight male transvestite British-European-Yemenite Comedian was wearing--blue jeans, black t-shirt, dark blue blazer, no lipstick, which I found hilarious as before the show started I heard several people comment on their seats by saying, "We're close enough to see his lipstick!"

For me, the best part was something Brian didn't even notice. Brian has this laugh that always attracts performers. I like to think of it as an encouraging laugh. Early on Brian was laughing so hard and Eddie noticed and started playing right to him for a few minutes, but Brian said later he was laughing too much to notice. Eddie had a big grin on, though, and I certainly enjoyed it.

And that was our night with Eddie Izzard.