Edward John Izzard (born February 7, 1962) is a British stand-up comedian and actor. He has a very individual style of rambling, surreal monologue. He has turned his attention to acting as well as maintaining his demanding touring schedule. Early life and career Izzard was born in Aden, Yemen, as the youngest son of John and Ella Izzard. In 1963, shortly before Britain abandoned the capital of Aden, the Izzards moved to Northern Ireland. He lived in Bangor, County Down until 1967, when troubles started brewing there as well, and the family moved to Skewen, Wales, and Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England. His mother died in March, 1968, of cancer. Izzard found some degree of solace in comedy after the death of his mother. He drew particular comfort from the works of Monty Python, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, and the early Benny Hill. He began to toy with stand-up at college and, after being ingloriously kicked out of school, he took his act to the streets. Having spent a great deal of the 1980's working as a street performer in Europe and the United States, Izzard moved his act into the standup comedy venues in Britain, first appearing at The Comedy Store in London in 1987. He refined his material throughout the '80's, and in the early '90s, he finally began earning some measure of recognition, though originally he did not perform in women's clothing. Stardom His stand-up work brought him British Comedy Awards in 1993 (for Live at the Ambassadors) and 1996 (for Definite Article). After the British leg of the tour, he took Definite Article to major cities outside the UK including a successful stint in New York City. However, his US breakthrough did not really come until 1998, when Dress to Kill, which was shown on American television channel HBO, went on to earn Izzard two Emmy Awards in 2000. He only rarely appears on television, as he says it uses up material at too high a rate, whereas stage material can be continually re-used in front of different audiences for
1 | Cat Drilling and Dogs | Unrepeatable |
2 | The Romans | Definite Article |
3 | Openings and Reading | Unrepeatable |
4 | Amazing Animals | Unrepeatable |
5 | San Francisco | Dress To Kill |
6 | The Awesome Universe | Circle |
7 | Male Tomboy | Dress To Kill |
8 | Pavlov's Dogs / Cats | Definite Article |
9 | Secret Service and Politics | Unrepeatable |
10 | Mad European Cows | Circle |
11 | Being European | Definite Article |
12 | President Kennedy | Dress To Kill |
13 | The Tyranny Of Ducks | Glorious |
14 | Deus Ex Machina | Glorious |
15 | They Lie To Us, Hell in A Shower | Glorious |
16 | American Dream | Dress To Kill |
17 | Being Cool | Definite Article |
18 | Peoples Fear of Gay and Religion | Unrepeatable |
19 | Noah On Speed | Glorious |
20 | Philosophies with Strange Ideas | Circle |