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Cold Call: Alan Jackson calls Eddie Izzard
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Comedian Eddie Izzard, 36 has spent much of this year touring America with his stand-up show Dress to Kill. A CD, book and video of the same name are released this week. He lives in London. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alan Jackson: I watched your new video last night and I made the odd note. You got through so much material that I can't remember it all this morning. Why have I written down "Englebert Humperdinck" and "I am a doughnut"? Eddie Izzard: Because Englebert seems to be dead at one point. And then you've got JFK getting it wrong when he does his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. AJ: Thanks. I thought I'd lost the plot for a moment. Now, it was filmed before a live audience in San Francisco, it's called Dress to Kill - and you were. Was it your view that an American audience might be more accepting of a transvestite who looks utterly glamourous than of one who is a plain Jane? EI: I didn't really give it any thought. I've found audiences there to be pretty similar to British ones, although so far I've only played the two coasts - I haven't yet ventured into Middle America which I suspect, like Middle England, would be less tolerant. Plus, it's always harder to be open and honest and wear what the hell you want off-stage, rather than on. That's when you find out who's groovy and who's not groovy. AJ: But you've done some of the big US chat shows. Mr and Mrs Middle America watch those... EI: I suppose so. I've done the David Letterman show three times now. The first two times were with four-and-a-half-minute stand-up routines, but on the most recent occasion I sat and had a chat. Actually I wasn't wearing any make-up, which is my right, of course, just as it's any woman's right. AJ: It's a far cry from being caught shoplifting cosmetics in the Bexleyhill-on-Sea branch of Boots. And from training in accountancy, come to think of it. EI: Well firstly, I'd say that I think shoplifting, make-up and being an accountant go hand in hand. And as to having come a long way... at 17, my ego was saying I could do comedy successfully in America, but then nothing happened to me for ten or 12 years. So it's not as if I'm some kid who's suddenly woken up to find himself the biggest thing in the world with no idea how it happened. I know it's happened for me because I'm relentless. I've plugged and plugged away at it. AJ: And are you still very ambitious? EI: Yes, absolutely. And the British aren't very comfortable with that. They equate it with being prepared to murder babies to get what you want. Yes, I want to take my comedy as far as I can. I want to make great films, too. But that doesn't mean I want to invade Poland every other Wednesday. If I weren't driven and ambitious, none of this would have happened. AJ: Do you take pride in being a positive role model? Previously, we've tended to think of transvestism in terms of Danny La Rue or, latterly, Lily Savage. EI: Drag queens! I think Paul [O'Grady, Lily's creator] would say he was doing drag, and he certainly does it better than anyone has before. The difference is that drag queens tend to be gay men being glamourous. Transvestites are male tomboys... AJ: Whom people widely assume to be gay, nonetheless. EI: I'm reluctant to categorise, but the majority of transvestites are not. The trouble is that when I say I'm heterosexual, journalists interpret it as me saying I'm not gay. I'm not avoiding anything - I'd be happy to be gay. Or bisexual, which would perhaps be the most logical place for me to land. But I'm not. AJ: You say, in the book of Dress to Kill that you have adopted Madonna's maxim of "Don't Apologise". EI: Yes. I have a human right to be who I am. This is my space. This is me. I'd be quite happy to be a woman but I'm not, I'm a bloke. |