Eddie Izzard in Denver
Brenda & I just got back from Denver, having just taken in the cutting, silly, schizophrenic, smart and above all, funny standup act of Eddie Izzard. Brenda & I saw him in New York back in 2003, and when we heard he was taking his new tour through Denver, we bought our tickets months and months ago. Turns out we had pretty great seats, just six rows back! Being that close to him, it felt like we were in a venue much smaller than the Paramount Theatre, and you could really see his expressions that are such a part of his stage presence.
This show was far better than the 2003 effort, I thought. His topics once again covered the gamut, with religion and politics taking their usual large chunks of the set. This time around, he was wearing man clothes instead of a dress, but there was still a few transvestite jokes (as well as a plug for his TV show “The Riches”).
His energy was high, and his digressions into improv did not disappoint. He spent some time debunking “intelligent design” by taking us inside the mind of an appendix (“we have this thing, an appendix, it’s there to digest grass, but we haven’t eaten grass for thousands of years, so they’re all just sitting there going ‘uhh, have you got any grass up there, hello?’... doesn’t sound intelligent to me…’hello, yeah, it’s me and Jeff here in the appendix room, we’re bored ‘cause you haven’t got any grass, so we’re just going to blow up now.’”). He also turned Noah’s Ark story on its ass, and pleaded for us all to vote for Obama in the election this year. Interestingly, that drew some boos and murmurs; I’m not sure how you can like Eddie Izzard and be a Republican. He’s so… smart! Anyway, all in all a great performance, and a nice evening.
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Just reminding you (waving hi! remember me!)—Republican, big ass (not just a commentary on my shape) conservative, love Eddie Izzard. Just saying. So, what is your opinion on Project Runway? Oh, I can’t like that either?
Love, your right wingnut, Laurel
So glad you got tix—I went to see him at Radio City last month. Hard to believe I’d seem him 10 years earlier in a 150-seat house at P.S. 122 on the lower East side. I enjoyed the bit about Egyptian-hieroglyph news reporting (man walking sideways, man walking sideways, bird with big head, big eye, big eye…).
@Laurel: I know, I know, there are a few Republicans that actually have brains for brains, you being one of the select few.
@Chris: Yeah, the Egyptian news bit was good too. He’s really fascinated with language, really. He did that whole Latin bit this tour, and he’s done some fun things in the past (“einen kleinen un problemo avec religione” comes to mind, from the “Dress to Kill” DVD). What’s trally amazing is that he’s performed entire routines in French, and he still kills. It really takes total mastery of language to be able to deliver punchlines, I believe, and he does it in multiple languages! Amazing…
I know this is an old post, but it’s been about a year since I’ve checked in with you – pretty much since my gruesome bike wreck. I was going through some old emails and saw yours, so thought I’d stop by and say hello.
You can’t begin to understand how I’m absolutely envious that you got to see Izzard. He is far and away my favorite standup artist. The man is absolutely brilliant.
Hope all is well up north.
—Benny the Icepick
(my “new” nom de guerre)
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