Wunderbar
Prime Video · 2022 · 78 min
A rambling, surreal tour of history in a tiny London basement.
Instead of the standard massive arena stage, Eddie Izzard paces a tiny basement, trading grand spectacle for intimate, stream-of-consciousness rambling. The show winds through a loose history of humanity from the Big Bang to last Tuesday. It is built on classic Izzard logic, featuring bits about tigers pausing to say grace before hunting, a physical routine about a dinosaur game show, and speculation on what dogs are actually trying to communicate when they bark.\n\nFilmed at the Top Secret Comedy Club in London, the 2022 special represents a literal and figurative return to her roots. After her father passed away during the tour, Izzard elected to record the special in a 200-capacity basement just yards from where she worked as a street performer in Covent Garden in the 1980s. The material itself had a multi-lingual genesis, having been first improvised in French on a floating theater in Paris, then in German in Berlin, before being shaped into English.\n\nThe tour was billed as a farewell to stand-up before her planned entry into British politics. While some critics felt her appeals for global unity bordered on the messianic, the performance succeeds on the strength of her wordless pantomime and bizarre historical analogies.
The set list
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Tigers praying before a meal
Gently mocks religion by imagining an ambush of tigers pausing for a pre-hunting prayer.
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William the Conqueror
Riffs on William the Conqueror learning krav maga and the historical detail of his corpse exploding during his funeral.
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Jellyfish
Describes jellyfish as the Nazis of the sea world possessing neither a moral nor a geographical compass.
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Pop culture absurdities
Ponders how vaping would ruin film noir and the annoyance felt by the butterfly sent to help Gandalf in Saruman's tower.
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Theory of the universe and circles
An untutored explanation of how everything in existence is connected through circularity, from the Big Bang to the circle of life.
How it plays
- Tone
- Surreal, whimsical, optimistic, and philosophical.
- On stage
- An impish figure of butch femininity clad in a leather jacket, tartan skirt or hot pants, and stiletto boots, delivering whimsical stream-of-consciousness monologues.
- Pace
- Rambling, digressive delivery full of mumbling character voices, dainty steps, and physical mime dueling with herself.
- About
- theory of the universe, history, animals, religion, childhood and family loss, politics
What the critics said
Praised for vintage surrealism and imaginative riffs proving Izzard remains a master comedian, though reviewers noted occasional self-indulgent waffle and an awkward clash between light-hearted nonsense and political sermonizing.
In the room: Described as quieted during Brexit and political barbs and occasionally stiff in London, but appreciative of callbacks and surrealism.
Backstory
Conceived and developed across multiple European cities, starting with French improv at La Nouvelle Seine in Paris and German improv in Berlin before touring in 45 countries; filmed at a tiny venue in the round near Covent Garden where Izzard had started out as a street performer.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- 2019, top-secret comedy club near Covent Garden, London
- Runtime
- 78 min
- Where
- Prime Video
- Director
- Sarah Townsend
- Topics
- Before
- Sexie (2003)
More from Eddie Izzard
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Dress to Kill
Vision Video
-
Glorious
PolyGram Video
-
Definite Article
Vision Video
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