Eddie Izzard :: Stripped, and on the move
Eddie Izzard is one of the busiest men in show business today. Besides popping up on television (he starred in the FX series The Riches), film (Valkyrie and the Chronicles of Narnia movies), he’s also writing a book about his accomplishment of running 43 marathons in 51 days as well as doing his stand-up act.
His Stripped, Too tour is winding down in the States (he’s in Dallas and Oakland this weekend and then Los Angeles next weekend before a month-long trip to South Africa) but Izzard found time to sit still to talk with EDGE’s Jim Halterman about the show, how he’s gone from agnostic to athiest and why he’s currently not wearing dresses too much onstage.
An evolving show
EDGE: Can you talk to me about Stripped, Too? The show has really evolved since the Stripped tour last year overseas.
Eddie Izzard: Stripped is the show I did in Europe before and I’m almost starting through a final lap through America, this time I’m at the Nokia Theater [in Los Angeles] for two nights. The show has changed from what it was initially. I’m doing Madison Square Garden before I come in to play LA.
EDGE: How has the show changed from the beginning?
EI: Well, I can’t really tell because I’m there doing it every night, but it has to because I ad lib as much as I can. Some things I’ve lost, some things I’ve kept. I did five weeks in the West End of London at the end of last year and I just took it all over the UK, Scandinavia, and Holland so it will be different. I asked some friends because I just played Chicago and they said it’s 40-50% different.
EDGE: How are audiences different from the US and the UK and the manner in which they respond to the material?
EI: I think they’re pretty much exactly the same because I’m playing for a socially progressive audience and people who watch Discovery Channel, History Channel, The Simpsons, CNN and then around the world. Socially progressive or mainstream audiences, you know, if you grew up in America, you’re very America-centric, if you grew up in UK, you’re very UK-centric or French-centric, but the socially progressive people are always looking for other things.
