Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Campus

Though best known for being the funniest man in drag, British comedian and actor Eddie Izzard showed up at Louis Hall Monday afternoon in a track hoodie and jeans for an invitation-only talk with about 40 people.

Izzard covered topics including being a street performer, his transition to America, working on the show "The Riches" and his famous stand-up routines as a transvestite.

"I'm not a real transvestite," he said early on. "I'm an action transvestite. I'm like a Carrie-Anne Moss-in-The Matrix transvestite."

Audience members were all personally invited by screenwriting Prof. David Kukoff, who also asked Izzard questions throughout the talk and led an audience Q-and-A session. Those in attendance included script-writing students, theater majors and various faculty members.

The event, organized by the Radio-TV-Film department, followed a format similar to an episode of "Inside the Actors Studio."

"I told Eddie to let me know if I start sounding too much like James Lipton," Kukoff joked. Familiar with Izzard's stand-up for several years, Kukoff said he got hooked on Izzard's comedy through his DVD "Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill."

Izzard drew laughs from the audience right away by offering Kukoff money for this brief introduction. Izzard emphasized the importance of having an ego and working with it in comedic performance.

"Stand-up is the distillation of personal nepotism," he said. "So you may as well have a world view."

He also warned students about certain difficulties he has faced in Hollywood. Pitching stories requires practice just like acting, he said. Izzard recommended that students should practice the act of pitching stories to one another constantly.

Kukoff raised many questions about Izzard's transition to America as an actor and the work he now does on "The Riches," a show about an Irish gypsy family of crooks settling down in the deep South.

Izzard explained how being a foreigner influences his work on the show, with the idea of "stealing the American Dream" as a constant influence on his character.

"The story became outsiders trying to become insiders," he said. "Right now with the war in Iraq and the economy, it's a very interesting time to do this story."

Students asked about Izzard's lesser-known transition to drama. Izzard often referred to the year 1993, a period when he began to suppress his comedic ego at times and deal with more serious themes, he said.

"I admire that he has had such a multi-faceted career and he hasn't let people put him into a box," said Carrie Barrett, a first-year Master of Fine Arts graduate student of in Writing for the Screen and Stage. "That's something I hope to do too one day."

In the near future, Izzard said he will be funding his own "funny-voiced" cartoon show to be released only on the Internet. Putting out media solely on the Internet could lead to a positive, globalized outlook for the entertainment industry, he said.

"I think (the Internet) could blow things out of L.A.," he said. "There's good talent in New York, good talent in Chicago, good talent in Paris. I think it's time for an explosion."



d-head@nothwestern.edu


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Paul Takahashi/The Daily Northwestern
Comedian Eddie Izzard talked to screenwriting and film students at the John J. Louis Hall from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, April 7, 2008. The RTVF event was by invitation only.

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