EDDIE IZZARD: THE MARATHON MAN
Midway through his epic 20-country (and growing) world tour, Jim Swidenbank catches up with the multi-faceted Eddie Izzard to find out a little more about what keeps him going.
There’s no end to the monikers that can adorn the name of Eddie Izzard; it’s fair to say that the comedian, actor, athlete, political activist and self-professed “male tomboy” certainly has a plethora of strings to his heavily-laden bow. Recent years have seen him complete an awe-inspiring 43 marathons in just 51 days, declare his intention to run for political office in Europe in the next decade and notch up a string of high-profile acting gigs in a number of blockbuster movies and television shows. Not bad for a man who’s just turned 51 years old. This year, however, sees Izzard return firmly to his comedy roots as he takes his new stand-up show Force Majeure on what promises to be a lengthy and substantial world tour, taking in an abundance of cities all around the globe including, for the first time, dates in deepest, darkest eastern Europe.
It’s the morning after opening night in Riga, Latvia, and Izzard is in high spirits in spite of the regions typically wintery conditions. “It’s a whole new level of cold!” he laughs down the phone. “The other night it was minus 14 – the sort of weather where you just don’t want to be outside!” Bringing his brand of comedy to these far flung areas of the world was something that he had always wanted to do but feared that things may have become a little lost in translation.
“The big worry was whether or not the people of Riga would laugh,” he explains. “I remember the first time I left London thinking ‘would the people of Coventry dig my stuff? Will they understand my show?’ but at least that was in the same language! Now we’re heading to places where English is the second language and the fear is whether they’ll even understand it.”
These are, however, fears which seem to have been fully allayed over the years. “Years ago when I was doing some gigs in Stockholm with Frank Skinner and even before that being a street performer in Holland, I found that the kids watching simply wanted to pick up English, particularly as it’s no longer an invasionary language,” he suggests. “It’s not like when the Romans were ordering people to learn Latin because they’d taken over their country and that’s just how it’s going to be. It’s the language of Hollywood and rock‘n’roll.”
There has also been an underlying fear that audiences in these uncharted waters would be primarily made up of British folk residing abroad – another fear Izzard was relieved to see dispelled and ultimately shaped the content of the current tour.
“I was blocking playing eastern Europe as I was worried I’d get to places and they’d just be full up of ex-pats,” he confesses. “It really hasn’t been though and it’s great to get through to the locals. I’ve made my new material very universal as a result – I’m talking about cats, dogs, supermarkets, pigs in space, God and the ancient Romans; it’s not all Curly Wurlys, John Major, Edwina Currie or what happened when Swansea played Arsenal, although football is so massive I could probably get away with that one,” he chuckles. “It’s basically not full of British-y things. If I tried talking about things in Swindon or Cardiff I’d have to explain everything first.”
May will see the Force Majeure tour roll into Cardiff, a city and region very close to the star’s heart having spent time living in nearby Skewen as a child. “It’s always good to go back and I love the audiences – Cardiff was actually where I first decided to play arenas!” discloses Izzard. “Back in 2000, Steps were playing in the arena while I was playing in the theatre and I just thought to myself ‘this needs to change’,” he admits with a laugh. “2003 then saw my first arena tour and a lot of comedians are now doing that. Some people think it’s a bad thing but I think it’s great – rock‘n’roll does it so why can’t we? The Beatles played Shea Stadium so why can’t we do it?”
His massive multi-marathon sporting feat in 2009 also saw him run through Cardiff at the end of his fifth marathon of the 43. “It was great running through Port Talbot into Cardiff,” he reminisces. “I was even shown around Cardiff Castle – I think it was that day – and the tour guide took me into all these little rooms and areas where people aren’t normally allowed to go which was a great way to be taken around. It’s always nice to go back.”
Frequently Izzard draws comparisons between contemporary live comedy and rock’n’ roll; has comedy, in fact, become the new rock ‘n’ roll? “No, I think comedy is just another type,” he declares. “Rock ‘n’ roll is a ‘feel’ gig, whilst comedy is a ‘mind’ gig, but apart from that they’re kind of the same. There’s many different types of music from folk through to heavy punk and it’s the same with stand-up where you’ve got very aggressive ‘attack’ comedy through to my stuff which is, um, different.” he states after a short pause, before continuing. “People use to say I was gentle but not anymore as I’m talking about human sacrifice and hating the Nazis and such so I think my style now is more surreal and high-finesse!” he laughs.
When it comes to acting it’s fair to say that Izzard’s CV has been expanding at a dramatic rate over recent years with both television and movie roles seemingly coming thick and fast, leaving the question as to just where he places himself between his two principle callings of acting and comedy.
“When I was seven I just wanted to act so that’s really where I started, but it wasn’t until I hit 30 and my stand-up really started taking off that I decided to get an acting agent and really push for it. In truth, the acting has always been playing catch-up to the comedy which is just in such a fantastic place at the moment. I’ve just finished the first season of the Hannibal television series though with Mads Mikkelson and been signed up for the entire second season, which is going to be great fun. Plus there’s a second Treasure Island in the pipeline as well so my acting is getting into a good place where I really know what I’m doing now.” The question begs then as to which medium he feels more at home with. “If I had to choose anything then I’d only do films,” he admits. “I do love that medium – it is a big train set as Orson Wells said! Touring stand-up can be hard – often you’re travelling thousands of miles in only a few days. I think that’s why a lot of comedians get to the stage where they just say ‘stuff that! I can do a television series and have people bring me a coffee’,” he jokes.
In spite of this, it doesn’t sound like he’s calling time on his stand-up career just yet. “Luckily, I don’t have to choose,” he wryly concludes. Lucky for us indeed.
Eddie Izzard, Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Fri 17 May + Wed 29-Thurs 30 May. Tickets: £40.25. Info: 029 2022 4488 / www.motorpointarenacardiff.co.uk