Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill

I find myself comparing all stand-up acts to this one performance now. Even older recorded performances I once thought were funny just don't seem as funny after seeing Eddie Izzard in this award-winning look at history, language disparities, and Englebert Humperdink...

This has to be the funniest stand up comedy I have ever seen. Eddie Izzard is a genius, he picks in Brits, Americans and everyone in between. His style is completely natural and completely hilarious. I doubt that anyone could sit through this and not laugh their a** off. Watch, enjoy, it's funny.

So I'm at home, flipping channels one night, and I come across this man wearing heels and makeup, standing in front of a colored background on HBO. Naturally, I did a double-take and decided I'd watch for a little while. I didn't change the channel until he was finished, it was so incredibly hilarious. The next time it was on, I made sure to tape it so I could watch it over and over again, and it has remained one of my favorite things to watch. During the first couple of minutes, you can tell that the audience isn't quite sure what to think, but he quickly wins them over with his incredible humor and wit. While many stand-up comedians mesh together in my brain, Eddie Izzard stands out as one of the best. His style is incredibly refreshing, and it is nice to hear jokes about things like history and puberty when most comedians stick to current events. His show stayed with me afterwards. I went to Italy over the summer, and all I could think about while I was there was how "Italians are always on scooters going 'CIAO...'" 10 out of 10. See it. You won't regret it.

This was one of the funniest stand-up shows I'd ever seen. Eddie Izzard is a comedian, but one a whole other level. His humor is much more sophisticated and intelligent than that of other young stand-ups today. With the use of a few foul words, like describing Hitler as a "Mass Murdering Fuck-Head", he covers everything from Theology and religious history to Star Wars and his childhood. I found this to be much more more entertaining that say Martin Lawrence or Andrew Dice Clay. However, since his comedy is that of an intelligent nature, those with minimum intelligent should stick to "must-see tv" and game shows. I highly recommend this to the true intellects of the world!

I give this ****!

Recorded at the Stage Door Theatre in San Franciso one night in 1998. Eddie Izzard delivers over 70 minutes of scatological material to a sold out crowd. He covers everything from the greta escape, the British empire, being a transvestite to Star Wars and puberty. Along the way he even has to deal with a heckler!

By 1998 Izzard had started to try and get into films and had had a huge amount of exposure and had been piled high with awards for his comedy. However his Dressed to Kill show proved that he hadn't lost his edge – even if the material for this show was wheeled out over a US and UK tour, he still managed to make it fresh as if it was all coming to him there and then.

In some ways the fame shows – he enters the stage flamboyantly from a purple rose in a huge dress. However his material is as good as ever and seems no different from his early shows – fame has certainly not gone to his head.

Despite that fact that some of his humour goes straight over the heads of the American audience it is still great – but when did the US ever appreciate surreal UK humour on a massive scale (except in retrospect)? Some of his material is a little stale, but he injects everything with crazy ideas and energy so that even when he goes off track a bit (dealing with the heckler) he still manages to be hilarious!

Overall I hope Izzard never totally goes after his film career and that he'll be on the standup circuit for many, many years to come.