:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 ::

Eddie Izzard @ Cardiff CIA, 16.12.03.

I’ll admit up front that this is not the most unbiased of reviews, as I did fork out 25 quid apiece to see this. Then again, I expect more in return for that.

Eddie was on form, the usual mix of observation and banter, mime, jumping around and sound effects. This provided exactly the sort of show we’ve grown to love him for. Oh yeah, and the skirt and high heels, although I could hear the woman sat behind me complain, “I don’t get transvestites.” At least she was still open minded enough to come along and appreciate the humour, as there still seems to be a lot of resistance out there because of that. This is a shame. I wonder how many people would be at the show if it wasn’t for that. Or would he lose audience too?

This review can only really act as an ad for the “Sexie” DVD (which I haven’t seen) as the tour is now almost over and is long sold out. I would recommend that you watch the show/DVD if you want to find out what happens when Medusa goes to the hairdresser, how to deactivate a shark, what noise flies should make if they want us to welcome them into our homes, or what happens when a transvestite with a Yemen passport tries to get through US customs, “hey, we got a comedian here. So what do you do?”

The material itself was exactly what you would expect if you’ve ever seen Eddie previously, live or on video. It was all new material, although references were dropped to older material to huge cheers. Like the passing reference to Pavlov in a monologue about Doppler’s cat throwing experiments. Despite this there was something familiar about all of the material, all of it is just slight variations on previous work and no real new territory was explored. The classic themes of the Bible and Greek Myth both came up again, like they are easy sources of new laughs every time he drops into them.

Like many established acts, whether they are comedy, music, film, whatever, he has found his safe ground and is walking it again. Few acts have the ability to constantly innovate, Bowie perhaps being the best example of someone who does, but I struggle to think of a comedian who can do it. I’d like to see Eddie take a risk and try to do something new with his live show, something he probably thinks he is doing by performing it in foreign languages, but that is not something that the home crowd can appreciate as new ground.

:: Dan 17.12.03 [Arc]    ::
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