Stand-Up Comedy by Eddie Izzard
The laughDB database is dedicated to the funniest comedy movies, stand-up comedy and TV series.
This section is for stand-up comedy by Eddie Izzard. By default the stand-up sets are presented starting with those ranking highest on the laugh-o-meter, but you can also sort them by year, title or IMDB rating.
About Eddie
( wikipedia | imdb )
For me, Eddie Izzard is in a league of his own. (Having said that, he is also Bill Bailey's lost brother.)
To illustrate, I'll contrast Eddie Izzard with Jerry Seinfeld (who also makes me laugh) because once you watch Izzard, the difference in craft between the two comedians jumps at you. In a sense, anyone can take a toastmasters course, put on a tux and imitate Seinfeld (poorly perhaps), because Seinfeld's delivery style is that of a best man making a toast at a wedding party—within the capacity of most American males.
The Comic Genius of Eddie Izzard
But who can imitate Izzard, a human bouncing ball whose delivery is uniquely animated? Eddie Izzard is one of those people (like Jimi Hendrix) who makes me go "Wow" and marvel at the genius that nature endows some of our brothers and sisters.
Izzard's shows don't make you think about the world, like Doug Stanhope's, and they're not filled with foul language, like those of George Carlin, Eddie Murphy and so many others. But hot damn, they make you laugh.
Believe is a documentary about the life of Eddie Izzard. The link takes you to the review on my best docos page.
There is a show called Force Majeure coming up in 2013/2014. I plan to go watch it live.
Eddie Izzard is said to have been born on Wednesday 7 February 1962, which would make him 62 years, 2 months and 16 days old (if this date is accurate and he is alive today).
Stand-Up Comedy by Eddie Izzard sorted by Laugh-o-meter (descending)
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
35 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Glorious
1997 |
U.K. | Laughs: 9.1 |
imdb: 8.4
wikipedia
Show featuring Eddie in a gorgeous red lame outfit. Meanders through a hundred topics from Noah sawing wood for the Ark to Queen Elizabeth reacting to Diana's death. When I woke up the next morning, my stomach muscles still felt the previous night's laughter.
(Last viewed: August 2010)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Glorious:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Glorious
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
34 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Definite Article
1996 |
U.K. | Laughs: 9.0 |
imdb: 8.4
wikipedia
Is this five stars, or four and a half? Izzard sets the bar so high that this would be a five if his other shows didn't exist, but four and a half next to
Glorious. Bottom line, it's brilliant and it made me laugh. Highlight: the segment about fruits. Might the segment about French and German language tapes be a bit long for someone who never learned a foreign language? Eddie seems really at ease in this show. Your eyes feast on his smile, his purple-champagne hair, his bright red jacket and his shiny black pants.
(Last viewed: September 2010)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Definite Article:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Definite Article
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
37 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill
1999 |
U.K. | Laughs: 8.9 |
imdb: 8.7
wikipedia
This show is often ranked as Izzard's best. I would rate it slightly below
Glorious for laughter but on a par overall for different reasons. Eddie's outfit is the most beautiful I have seen on tape: with his planetarium shirt and black shiny vinyl pants, he could be David Bowie's
Starman. The show is a bit slow to start, with a slightly boring intro of Eddie doing a goofy voice-over on footage of a San Francisco cable car. But relax, there are nearly two hours on the tape. The show builds up slowly, but you're not going anywhere—you're hooked in, entranced. The second hour is by far my favorite. Right when you think it's all over, after handling applause in a masterful way, Eddie comes back and revs it up for another round. Topics covered include mass murderers, a history of religion, snowboarding, cinema and languages. There's also an amazing segment where Eddie lets you hover between believing that a story he just told is true or untrue, true, untrue, true, untrue… I lived in San Francisco at the time… Why didn't I know enough to go watch Eddie then?
(Last viewed: September 2010)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
40 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Circle
2002 |
U.K. | Laughs: 8.0 |
imdb: 7.9
wikipedia
Great show. Eddie wears a shiny black outfit. More chuckles than laughs, but I particularly enjoyed the bits about monkeys interacting with humans, about Jesus amidst dinosaurs, and about Darth Vader in the Death Star's canteen.
(Last viewed: August 2010)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Circle:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Circle
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
47 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Stripped
2009 |
U.K. | Laughs: 7.0 (Watch Once) |
imdb: 7.8
wikipedia
Belongs in the "watch once" section. Izzard at the top of his mental powers, but not of his comical powers. Stripped of his former dazzling costumes, bare of make-up, less animated, Izzard puts his brilliant mind on display. You laugh less, but you admire him more. How can the man carry on for a hundred minutes? Well, the reliance on stream-of-consciousness to move the show along is too heavy, and the segment on the Greeks far too long. Perhaps this is a good show for the English: it's a bit on the brainy, sophisticated side, which makes me wonder if Eddie is trying to get on track for a knighthood. His unsparing caricature of the queen (one of the show's choiciest bits) could improve his chances with a fair-dealing monarch. Among the other bits that made me laugh, I remember those about computers, religion, the stone age and the sect of the
Hashishins.
(Last viewed: September 2010)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Stripped:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Stripped
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
41 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Sexie
2003 |
U.K. | Laughs: 6.0 |
imdb: 7.5
wikipedia
If you've seen all of Eddie's shows, watching
Sexie is a bit like a visit with an old friend. You have fun, it's very pleasant, but it's not a high of your existence.
Sexie is not breakneck-speed-Eddie-Izzard, but more of a casual presentation to an audience that already loves him. The most striking part of the show is perhaps Eddie's costume, taken to an extreme that suits the famous rock'n roll venue, a series of cross-dressing outfits complete with high heels, skirts and fake boobs. Apart from a few flashbacks to other shows (speed archeology, Achilles heel), the material is fresh. My friend and I found the ending weak, with a horse-riding skit that goes on for about three times too long, then, for an encore, an impersonation that would be more at home in a "bonus material" section. I liked the show but will probably not watch it again.
There is a second DVD release from the
Sexie tour called
Live from Wembley.
(Last viewed: December 2010)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Sexie:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Sexie
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
51 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Force Majeure Live
2013 |
U.K. | Laughs: 4.5 |
imdb: 7.4
wikipedia
Despite being an Izzard fan and watching with a lot of goodwill, I must admit to sitting through much of the show without laughing. Eddie's pacing, delivery, miming were as finely tuned as in his finest shows, but the material just didn't excite either of us. Have we reached an "Izzard saturation threshold"? Probably not, as older shows still work for us. Maybe we were just tired, or maybe Eddie wasn't as inspired as in the late 1990s.
(Last viewed: December 2014)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Force Majeure Live:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Force Majeure Live
Eddie Izzard was credited as
writer and
actor in the following stand-up comedy set.
At the time, he would have been about
32 years old.
Eddie Izzard: Unrepeatable
1994 |
U.K. | Laughs: 4.0 (Don't Bother) |
imdb: 8.0
wikipedia
Belongs in the "don't bother watching" section. The show is called
Unrepeatable, and indeed in my case there was little risk of it being repeated, because I couldn't catch much. Partly, it's the acoustics of the grand old London theater where this was shot and the fact that Izzard keeps the mike right in front of his face. Also, Eddie speaks with a more pronounced English accent than in his later shows. Eddie also speaks a lot faster than usual, without the pauses that he later learned to use for comic effect. For me, this show falls in the genre of "English comedy", which I perceive as voices that go annoyingly up and down, speaking lots and lots of words that don't really make me laugh. The interminable piece on Star Trek ranked with the most boring stand-up comedy I've ever seen. I don't watch television, and I certainly don't want to watch stand-up comedy about TV shows. On the other hand, I did enjoy the segment on cats and dogs, as well as the one on horror movies.
(Last viewed: August 2010)
More About
Eddie Izzard: Unrepeatable:
=> Read
what people say on Amazon
=> Add your own
Review or Comments on
laughDB's full page for
Eddie Izzard: Unrepeatable
Eddie is also present in the "feature comedy movie" section of laughDB. To see comedy movies involving Eddie Izzard, follow the link.
Not Finding a Movie, TV Series, Stand-Up Set?
Since the reviews span many pages, if you're looking for a specific title, you can use the search box at the top of each page.
Search Tip: Type a few letters of the title, for instance "wed" for Muriel's Wedding.