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Stand-up comedy hasn't really made it in France. But that's going to change from October onwards. So how many British comedians do you know who'd get up in front of a French audience and do their stuff in French? This is what Eddie Izzard did in his new show Glorious on October 13 to 18 in Paris, warming up for a tour of Britain until Christmas. He's tried the same trick before. "Last time I got someone to write all my stuff out for me in French and it drove them mad, so this time I'm just going to have a few keywords and go for it. By the fifth show, I'll be in the swing of it." Eddie Izzard is flat on his back in his trailer on the set of The Avengers, in the middle of filming his death scene in the company of Sean Connery and Uma Thurman. Contrary to his reputation as a funny man standing in a skirt on the biggest pile of awards this side of the Oscars--Best Solo Artist, Top Stand-Up Comedian, you name it--his is a straight part. "I'm Second Bad Guy. And I don't get to say a word. The bigger the budget of the film, the less I get to say. I'm kind of 2-dimensional, enigmatic, but I try to make it into the third dimension, or failing that, the fourth." Izzard has plenty to say about France. He is determined--even anxious--to get across his vision for his six-night stand in Paris at La Boule Noire, the venue under La Cigale. "It's like in the mafia films. They kill the bad guy in Italian and then suddenly they're back speaking English over the dinner table. That's what Paris is going to be like for me. I'm trying to win over French people who speak a bit of English, I'm really hungry for that. I expect there'll be a good chunk of the expat community there as well, so there's got be a mix of French and English." But does stand-up transmit to another language? "If you're not punning on words, yes. It's universal humour. I mean, in the Outer Hebrides, the church minister reviewed me as 'abhorrent,' and I went on to sell out in Stornoway, so there must be something there. Last time I did stand-up in France, my first show was all in French and Antoine de Caunes said it was good. I thought, 'Oh yeah,' but he hadn't changed his mind two months later, so maybe it's all right." Why Paris? "I'm a really Euro-positive person. Europe is one fuck-off big melting pot, and we can go where ever our imagination takes us. Plus I love Paris. You know, bumming across on the Eurostar, missing La Manche and suddenly you're there. I'm starting to get the hang of the place. My family were Huguenots, got kicked out of France in the 16th-century, so Paris is a heritage thing... coming home. And I love doing interviews in French." And the last word? Izzard wants you to forget the clichés. "Everyone thinks that my shows are all sexuality-driven, but it's not like that. It's surreal bonkers, really, Pythonesque. Straight people think I'm going to be very gay, and the gay crowd... they think exactly the same. But I'm going to wear whatever the fuck I want, high heels or not, make-up or not, it doesn't matter. It's the right time to come, and I'm hungry for that." |