It is his major talent, seen clearly in this trailer for the later video of Glorious, to be simultaneously ridiculous and cool.
He gives himself huge power by being so obviously relaxed in clothes that would make most men feel ridiculous. What it amounts to, actually, is full-blown nerdery, but Izzard's genius is to give this glamour. (Is it too much to call this Proustian? Let's try.) Star Trek, dog walking, swimming lessons: the quotidian, which he scrutinises at great and detailed length. Izzard's territory, on the other hand, is the little things that no one else has bothered mentioning. Because that's what everybody knew about Izzard then: he was "the transvestite comedian", and a phenomenon with it, already famous for his whimsical rabbit-hole monologues and for his gigantic audiences.įunny, how? Some observational comedians – the Disgraceful! ones – get laughs from saying big things that no one else has dared to. Indeed, a large part of this show is about his attempts to convince people how friendly and unthreatening he is, while wearing women's clothes.
Slightly sweary, yes, but never very controversial. (By 1997, its screening seemed to be an almost weekly ritual on TV.) The second is that, although standup films like declaring themselves Outrageous! or Uncensored! or Transgressive! or whatever, Izzard has never been "unrepeatable" or anything of the kind. The first is that there cannot be a standup performance in British history that has been more frequently repeated. The setup: There are two reasons why it is misleading to call this show Unrepeatable.
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