Eddie Izzard
Stand-up specials
History and religion reduced to deeply silly bureaucratic squabbles.
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.
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.
Standup Specials
Wunderbar
Eddie Izzard
2022 · AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
Sexie
Eddie Izzard
2003 · DVD/VHS (UK)
Circle
A surreal history lecture interrupted by a Death Star cafeteria argument.
Eddie Izzard
2002 · DVD AND CD (UK)
Dress to Kill
A surreal, history-obsessed hour of pantomime and empire-building.
Eddie Izzard
1998 · VISION VIDEO / UNIVERSAL (UK VHS)
Glorious
A free-associative history of the universe delivered in a magenta suit.
Eddie Izzard
1997 · POLYGRAM VIDEO (UK VHS)
Definite Article
Darth Vader orders lunch and an orange defends itself.
Eddie Izzard
1996 · VISION VIDEO LTD / POLYGRAM (UK VHS)
Just for Laughs: Episode #10.1
A television broadcast showcasing three distinct 1990s stand-up sets.
Eddie Izzard, Richard Jeni, Frank Skinner
1995 · CBC / SHOWTIME
Unrepeatable
A whimsical 1994 theater set focused on vampires, cats, and laundry.
Eddie Izzard
1994 · VHS (UK) / THEATRE RECORDING
Live at the Ambassadors
A 1993 West End debut built on sprawling, tangent-heavy premises.
Eddie Izzard
1993 · VHS (UK)