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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Definite Article

Eddie Izzard

Vision Video · 1996 · 1 h 49 min

Darth Vader orders lunch and an orange defends itself.

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Eddie Izzard envisions the Death Star equipped with a fully functioning staff canteen. The resulting scenario involves Darth Vader trying to order lunch, getting scolded by a cafeteria worker for not having a tray, and ultimately pouting when the queue refuses to let him back in. It is a prime example of Izzard’s hyper-associative logic. The comic spends the set finding the mundane within the epic, at one point shrinking the universe down to the size of a stubbornly unpeelable orange defended by a microscopic German U-boat crew.

Filmed during a twelve-week residency at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre in 1996, the show caught Izzard transitioning from a local cult favorite to an international stage presence. She emerges onto the set from inside a giant mechanical book, delivering an extended stream of consciousness against a backdrop of projected literary quotes. The material bounces between Pavlov’s dogs, European languages, and the disproportionate quietness of English cinema. There is no overarching thesis or personal revelation, just a comedian working at peak stamina to explain the physics of supermarket shoplifting.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Mice re-enacting The Italian Job

    Transitions abruptly from poetry and Robbie Burns to elaborate mouse heist logistics, creating recurring callback motifs across the set.

  2. The color orange and religious differences

    Examines the set backdrop color to muse whether Buddhists and extreme Protestants living in close proximity require away strips.

  3. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    A duck wearing horseshoes closer

    Returns to an earlier absurdity from 90 minutes prior to tie together the show's finale.

  4. Animal sexual positions

    Ruminates on why dogs were awarded the authority to name and dictate mating positions for other animals.

How it plays

Tone
Absurd, playful, irreverent, and intellectual.
On stage
Louche, androgynous, surreal, and whimsical, prone to erratic ad-libs and self-referential stage commentary.
Pace
Erratic, freewheeling, and conversational, alternating between sudden wild leaps, long pauses, and expressive physical mimes.
About
Everyday absurdities and shopping, History and classical literature, Language and Latin, Animals and evolution, Cinema and James Bond

What the critics said

Hailed by the Daily Telegraph as capturing the thrilling moment a talent moves up several gears into major stardom, with critics praising her mastery of recurring callbacks beneath seemingly chaotic absurdity.

In the room: Uproarious and intensely devoted, with audience members willing to throw a miniature sewing kit onstage to assist during an impromptu wardrobe malfunction.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, comedydynamics.com, allmusic.com, cix.co.uk, chortle.co.uk, letterboxd.com.

Backstory

Performed wearing camp, androgynous stage attire (wet-look strides and a scarlet Gaultier jacket) with her heterosexual transvestism integrated naturally into the performance rather than treated as a separate lecture.

Details

Released
Taped
1995, Shaftesbury Theatre, London
Runtime
1 h 49 min
Where
Vision Video
Director
Ed Bye
Honors
British Comedy Award for Top Stand-up (1996)
Topics
Before
Unrepeatable (1994)
After
Glorious (1997)

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