Eddie Izzard
History and religion reduced to deeply silly bureaucratic squabbles.
9 specials · 1993–2022
Start with Dress to Kill, the breakout (1998 · 1 h 54 min · Vision Video)
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She walks the stage methodically, stopping to mime a dinosaur trying to push a button or a Roman general getting a haircut. Her rhythm relies on trailing off mid-sentence. She mutters into the microphone, corrects her own logic, and plays both halves of a confused conversation. It looks like a person thinking out loud, though the tangents are fully mapped out.
Specials
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A surreal, history-obsessed hour of pantomime and empire-building.
Vision Video · 1 h 54 min
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A free-associative history of the universe delivered in a magenta suit.
PolyGram Video · 1 h 39 min
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Just for Laughs: Episode #10.1 with Richard Jeni & Frank Skinner
A television broadcast showcasing three distinct 1990s stand-up sets.
CBC
On stage
She is an elder stateswoman of British comedy who tours global arenas, performing full sets in French, German, and Spanish. Outside of standup, she runs back-to-back marathons for charity and mounts one-woman productions of Shakespeare.
The best of her material takes a monumental historical event and reduces it to a minor administrative squabble. She puts Darth Vader in a cafeteria line, turns God into a bumbling James Mason, and imagines the Church of England enforcing doctrine by offering a choice between cake and death. When she stays focused on the deeply silly, the act has a loose, floating rhythm. The momentum only drags when her genuine political earnestness overtakes the surrealism, turning a tangent into a straightforward lecture on human cooperation.
She came out as transgender in the 1980s, performing for decades in makeup and heels before adopting she/her pronouns and adding the name Suzy. That journey happened in the spotlight, but her standup largely bypasses autobiography. She prefers to focus her energy on the absurdity of the Roman Empire.
Turning points
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Breakthrough via Hysteria 3 AIDS Benefit
Izzard achieved mainstream recognition after performing her 'raised by wolves' routine on the televised Hysteria 3 benefit, launching her into prominent theatre runs.
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Double Primetime Emmy Wins for Dress to Kill
Her HBO stand-up special Dress to Kill won two Primetime Emmy Awards, solidifying her critical and commercial breakthrough in the United States.
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43 Marathons in 51 Days Feat
With minimal prior long-distance running experience, Izzard ran 43 marathons in 51 days across the United Kingdom to raise money for Sport Relief.
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2013–2014
Multilingual Global Comedy Touring
Expanding her international scope, Izzard began performing entire stand-up shows in foreign languages she had previously not spoken, including French, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian.
At a glance
- Born
- , Aden, Aden Colony (now Yemen)
- On stage
- since 1982
- Style
- observational, surreal, satire, absurdist, dark comedy
- Breakout
- Dress to Kill
- Topics
- Elsewhere
- Website, Wikipedia
Also on screen
- Mystery Men
- The Cat's Meow
- Ocean's Twelve
- 2007–2008
- The Riches
- Ocean's Thirteen
A clip to start with
Eddie Izzard - Learning French