I challenge you to think of ANY period in world history and I bet Eddie Izzard could make it hilarious. Eddie Izzard isn’t quite a household name in the US yet, despite his unbelievable success in England. In British television station’s poll, he ranked in the top 5 comedians of all time. Though he is most recognized for being a transvestite, Izzard is no gimmick. His sets consistently tackle issues of history and religion. From the small quirks to the big disasters, he can find a laugh in any joke he tells.
His style is very unique. He has no set routine before he goes out on stage. Typically, a comedian has everything planned out (first I’m going to do a joke about the grocery story, transition to fat people, then go on to make fun of the South…), but Izzard, though his jokes are prepared, does not have everything in order. His set is entirely stream-of-conscious, which has a few effects on his delivery. First, because he does not know what joke to jump to from time to time, you’ll hear a lot of “So yeah…” fillers followed quickly by the new premise. Second, in the middle of a joke, he’ll go on a long tangent based on something he said. These can be a single sentence to an entire track. These tangents are so well done, that when he returns to the joke he was initially telling, the audience is completely oblivious to the fact that it was even a tangent at all. They just expect that to be the natural stream of the joke.
Izzard also likes to poke fun at Americans, either by impersonating our unnecessary profanity, or criticizing our lack of interest in other countries’ affairs. For example, after joking about Northern Ireland for about 15 seconds to a silent American audience, Izzard exclaims “do you know there’s other countries?” And on that note, I present my first review for a comedian born outside of North America, Eddie Izzard’s 6th album, Circle.
“The Pope…what’s going on there, eh?”
It takes Eddie less than three minutes to start making jokes about religion and history, starting light at making fun of the Popes’ names and then moving on to the Crusades. He pokes fun out how petty the reasons for fighting were and how most of the conflicts were just differences of perspective. The set veers off to jokes about Jesus and how He plays a role in most major religions.
Side tangent about Americans and baseball. Yes, it oddly enough makes sense in context.
Back to religion! Eddie has a long bit about the role of Dinosaurs in Christianity. He ponders their absence in the Bible and recreates a scene in which Jesus goes down to preach His Father’s word to them the same way Christians believe He did for humans; it’s very reminiscent to Bill Cosby’s Noah jokes. From the conversations between Jesus and God to Jesus ad-libbing the beatitudes, the joke is a hit, and Mr. Cosby would be proud.
“It’s a fucking weaving joke…”
From there the album turns more towards more mundane topics, like seals being handy with balls to inventions of weaving tools, which even he can’t help but groan at. The jokes are entertaining, but nothing spectacular.
And now, the set turns towards his expertise: History. He gives brief highlights of history from the Roman Empire through the Dark Ages ending with World War II. Izzard makes fun of several figures in history, both big and small, and each joke is hilarious. He chooses WWII to make the most fun of Americans’ ignorance, primarily talking about Saving Private Ryan and how the movie completely ignores any foreign aid given in the war (“what’s the name for us? Oh yes, the ALLIES!”).
“Dad, don’t worry, nobody’s going to work it out for 2000 years until the transvestite points it out in New York”
Back to Religion! In the same light as the Dinosaur joke, Izzard jokes about God sending Jesus down as man. He performs it as if Jesus is recapping everything He did to God as if God wasn’t aware of what happened. God doesn’t seem too pleased with a few things Jesus tells the people. The joke puts Jesus’ words and messages in a new light. It’s nothing blasphemous (though Izzard’s certainly not afraid of such thing), and incredibly entertaining.
Finally, one of my favorite bits of his ends the album. Ever wonder how everybody on the Death Star in Star Wars eats? Izzard did, and he has a whole track dedicated to the Death Star Canteen. The whole joke is a dialogue between Darth Vader and a cashier in the cafeteria. A brilliant, original joke acted out perfectly.
This album puts more emphasis on religion and less on history than most of Izzard’s work, which is a little disappointing considering how great he can be with historical jokes. Nonetheless, the CD is filled with great, original material that is perfectly timed and executed. The only reasons I can imagine somebody not liking this are Izzard’s British mumbling, which is rare but present, and if somebody is touchy to topics of religion. He doesn’t hit it as hard as say David Cross, and he does make a point to have jokes about all major religions, but there is material that Christians MAY be offended at. Extreme emphasis on the “may”. Regardless, it’s a great album that I recommend to all.
Worst tracks: Mad European Cows, Hatred and Sharks
Best Tracks: Jesus and Man, Death Star Canteen
Overall Rating: 8/10
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