Cincinnati got a special taste of British comedy on Friday, May 9 when Eddie Izzard visited the Taft Theatre on a stop of his new American tour, titled Stripped. The award-winning stand-up comedian and actor is back on the road to discuss his ideas on religion, history and everything in between.
His rambling tangent of a monologue bounces from the idea that all of the Ten Commandments can be replaced by the philosophy "treat others as you wish to be treated," the Battle of Thermopylae, the origins of the Stone Age and how Scrabble is a nightmare for the dyslexic.
The packed house was rightly enthusiastic about Izzard, giving him a standing ovation before he even spoke a word. He started the show by announcing that he had been taking a more proactive approach to researching, by using Wikipedia, which he said can be "true-ish." He continued by ad-libbing a history of Cincinnati, which the audience pretended to go along with.
His shows often involve his views on history, of which he is very knowledgeable, and his command of various languages. When in France, Izzard performed the entire show in French, which he has said was bewildering to the French. The main themes of the show were religion and history, specifically the existence of God, which is a theme that Izzard touches on in a lot of his shows.
He discussed his ideas about Jesus, who he theorizes was not the son of God, but just a guy who did some "really good work." He finished up the show by suggesting that the cast of Big Brother should be sent to the moon, because astronauts are too unemotional, and what space travel needs is some "nutters."
The sold-out show attracted a mixed crowd of sophisticated middle-aged adults looking for a laugh and "in-the-know" younger people, with the occasional man in makeup thrown in. For most of his stand-up career Izzard has performed in full transvestite attire, although he has reverted to a more manly look for this tour, which might be related to his role on his FX series The Riches.
In the critically acclaimed show, Izzard plays the head of a family of travelers who steal the American Dream from and then assume the identities of dead families. The Riches can be seen Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.
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