Izzard’s enthralling trawl through human history delights
Eddie Izzard’s eclectic, eccentric humour kept a large Christchurch crowd enthralled this week.
A reduced-capacity Horncastle Arena might have been an odd, almost eerie setting for a stand-up gig, but it seemed almost appropriate for the 57-year-old’s rally for humanity.
First performed (in French) on a floating stage in Paris over a year ago now, the Yemen-born transgender comedian’s just over 90-minute show is his response to the prevalence of doom and gloom in the world and the resurgence of ‘‘1930s politics’’. Wunderbar was the most positive globally known German word he could think of (the other options being Achtung Baby and Schadenfreude) to sum up his celebration of our common ancestors and his mother and father.
Dressed in a leather jacket, stiletto-heeled black boots and a blue, plaid skirt (swapped during the intermission for a more sombre grey number), Izzard regaled the local audience with his lime-bike-in-a-skirt experiences around the city before launching into his unique blend of surreal intellectualism.
Few sacred cows were spared as this ‘‘spiritual atheist’’ set about proving that God(s) either don’t exist or are just having a laugh at our expense. Positing an alternative take on world history, Izzard caused regular waves of laughter as he offered up his version of the life of Henry VIII, looked at the events of 1066 (‘‘the year Britain lost the Battle of Hastings, but won the World Cup), suggested the pillars of human society include badminton, Scrabble and obesity and theorised that we are descended from a ‘‘little marmot called Kenny’’. Each story was passionately told with fulsome gesticulations, featured famous quotes, included a variety of accents and were peppered with 1980s popculture references ranging from Monty Python sketches to Peter Gabriel lyrics.
Highlights for this audience member included an expose of the lies told by Frosties’ ‘‘spokesman’’ Tony the Tiger, the labelling of Jellyfish as the ‘‘Nazis of the sea’’ and how the works of JRR (John Roger Roger as Izzard called him) Tolkien might be improved. Although aware of how revered The Lord of the Rings might be in this land, Izzard wasn’t afraid to expose the flaw of chief villain Sauron being a floating eye (‘‘Throw a flannel over him and he’s toast’’), and to suggest it needed additional ‘‘cheese jokes’’.
So entertained by the Victoria & Abdul star’s theological and anthropological ‘‘Ed talk’’, the crowd let out a surprised and extremely audible sigh when he attempted to wrap up the show.
Fortunately there was still time for a theory-of-the-universe-revealing encore and for the masses to then show their appreciation for a Wunderbar performance.