As a break from long form narrative, I have been watching a lot of films of standup comics. It is one of the most puzzling things I have done recently. Nothing tells you more in a short time about someone than what they find funny. Part of that is the structure of the humor, the core of what I've been studying. But it is worth remarking that some component is what we want to believe is funny. Some of that is physical group dynamics; we join in groups in order to laugh. A related affiliation is incorporated into the humor -- race and class comedians exploit this. Sometimes you leave just feeling dirty afterwards by the association.I think Chris Rock brilliantly exploits this by alternately seducing us into joining a group and then allowing us to make fun of ourselves for doing so. Izzard works with a quite different sort of humor. I think I will characterize it as similar to Rock, but instead of joining a group, he tricks us into joining a narrative or reminding us of a narrative we already joined. Then instead of directly making fun of it or us, he takes it seriously to an extreme. This allows us to think we are laughing at him rather than ourselves, removing that barrier of ironic self-loathing. Underscoring this is his persona as a self-hating, ugly transvestite. Being a successful standup comic must be one of the hardest, most fragile things you can do. If you can do it and have the audience leave actually feeling better -- well, that is a gift.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I had never seen any stand-up comedy shows with Eddie Izzard, especially in his transvestite guise, and I was very keen to see at least one. He performs in San Francisco with his rather abstract but very amusing material, including his theories on pagan and Christian religions, the building of Stonehenge, empires and the European dream. Also he ponders the naming of Engelbert Humperdinck, Hollywood adapting British films, and some very humorous translations of French phrases. All of this is done while he is wearing his glittery straight top, tight trousers, high heels, and carefully applied make-up. It won the Emmys for Outstanding Individual Performance and Outstanding Writing for Izzard, and it was nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. Eddie Izzard was number 3 on 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, and he was number 19 on The Comedians' Comedian, and the show was number 30 on The 100 Greatest Funny Moments. Good!

One of the best comedians ever. I've seen this show about 10 times and will probably watch it at least 100 more. My friends and family quote from this DVD so often, you'd think we did nothing other than watch it. The beginning part about Alcatraz is a little bit slow, but either wade through it or zip on through to the part where Eddie is on stage. Watch for the "Cake or Death" part (Joking about the Church of England) and the "Hitler/Pol Pot" part (Hard to explain, just watch it). The best part of the show may be Eddie's facial expressions. He can really say a lot with his eyes. (Mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow probably help, huh?) Fair warning: Eddie does have a tendency to throw a lot of four-letter words in.

This is definatley one of the best stand-up shows evre. EVER. Eddie is so off the wall that I've been watching this damn show for nearly five years now, and it still rocks every single time. Just everything from his big broad physical comedy down to the little off the top of the head side remarks, it's a masterpeice. You need look no further than this line "The word herb. You say erb, and we say herb, cuz ther's a f###ing h in it". Brilliant.