Dress to Kill ( Fresh Air (NPR) ) Barbara Bogaev, Philadelphia; 04-13-1998 BARBARA BOGAEV, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Barbara Bogaev in for Terry Gross. A lot of standup comedians come on stage in conventional clothes - - jeans or maybe a suit. It's their material which is shocking and scandalous. Then, there's British comedian Eddie Izzard who dresses in drag and talks about toast. EDDIE IZZARD, COMEDIAN: Toasted! Ah, toasters are good, like them -- like toast. Mmmm. LAUGHTER He's got a toaster there, but it's got a turning-dial knob thing on the side, and it lies to us. LAUGHTER It does not tell the truth, for it has numbers from one to six and they're lies. You set on four; you put bread in on four; and boom, comes up three -- three. This is three toast. No good at all. Hardly done. You set and change to five. It comes up six. This is six -- all burnt, all burnt. Scratch, scratch, scratch (expletive deleted) in. Forget it. 'Cause The toaster's in there going: "stay down, lads, stay down." "Stay down, go for the burn; no pain no gain; no fish no fowl; no socks no shoes; no hair, no haircuts. And the other toaster is going: what the hell are you talking about? LAUGHTER BOGAEV: Eddie Izzard's new one-man show, "Dressed to Kill, " is running off-Broadway at the Westbeth Theater. He's a cult figure in England, where Channel Four television once celebrated his birthday by proclaiming it Eddie Izzard day -- scheduling all his favorite movies and TV series, including "The Six Million Dollar Man." John Cleese of Monty Python, one of Izzard's idols, calls him the funniest man in England -- maybe on the planet. His one-man show, Dressed to Kill, is basically full speed ahead standup comedy -- a mixture of skits about anything and everything from British imperialism and the Anglican Church to the American space program and Star Trek. You have a sketch in Dressed to Kill about Engelbert Humperdinck and after -- after a bit you say very seriously, it was sad though that you just heard on the news that Humperdinck died in L.A. yesterday. And you get everyone going. Everyone believes this. Then you say: "no he didn't. You're all so gullible." And you go back and forth. You have people "yes he did," "no, he didn't." You have tremendous control over the audience. How did you learn to command that kind of control over an audience? IZZARD: That's through street performing. Yeah, that's -- you learn to manipulate the energy of the crowd, which sounds kind of floaty and it's sort of... BOGAEV: New Age-y. IZZARD: But yeah, but it is true. An audience has an energy and it can be -- it can all over the place or it can be quite -- and if you can -- if you're a good performer, you can knit it together as a type thing, so that they react as one. And the street performing is so experimental, because you constantly have cats and dogs and cars driving through your show and drunk people walking through your show, and police telling you to move on. And it's just -- and the weather starts raining on your head or it snows or there's wind or -- so there's a lot of natural ad-libbing happening, or natural forces happening against your show. So you just learn to be able to deal with anything. After street performing, you can deal with anything. BOGAEV: How do you handling heckling? Do you try to take it as a challenge to work the heckling into your act? IZZARD: No, actually -- it's just another -- I've analyzed heckling enough to know that it's not really a problem. I've done far too much performing for them to be able to do anything to me. And it' s -- you basically -- the best position to adopt if you're being heckled as a performer is a hugely arrogant one. And which is quite fun -- being able to play arrogance or just be incurably arrogant, 'cause it's normally not a very socially acceptable position to adopt. But if someone starts challenging your show, then you would just -- you can just tear them apart because they'll never -- they will never have had as much experience as you've had on stage. So they challenge you, and they think it's you against them. But in fact, the whole audience, if they're with you at this point, is your gang. So, they're on your side. They want you to win. And in fact, most hecklers -- 90 percent of hecklers -- are actually just trying to help you or trying to feed the show, unless you're actually on stage and dying thunderously, and having a really bad time, and then hecklers come in and attack. BOGAEV: You say right at the start of your new show that you are a male transvestite and you fancy women. You're a tomboy. You're a male lesbian. IZZARD: Who said that? LAUGHTER God, that's all -- yes, that's absolutely true. And what did I say? Male tomboy? Yeah, male tomboy or male lesbian. Male lesbian explains and confuses at the same time, which I like 'cause it's kind of like washing powder -- washing or cleans, (Unintelligible) hangs, as it flips over. Yeah, 'cause most male transvestites do fancy women, I believe -- I strongly believe that, 'cause there's distinct link ups -- a lot of sexuality traits we go together. And in the alternative sex world -- (unintelligible) gay lesbian of TV, a lot of people hate using the word "transvestite" 'cause there're very negative connotations on it. But I'm actually reclaiming on that word. But "TV" is the shortened version of it, or cross-dresser or -- but in fact there are no cross-dressers because, I mean, transvestite just is Latin for cross-dressers, so, why we should go around using a Latin term, I do not know. But you know, there were no women transvestites either. And since the '20s, they've been -- women have successfully removed the term "transvestite" from our social dictionary. Don't you think? BOGAEV: Absolutely. There's no meaning. IZZARD: Yeah, it has been totally -- whereas back in the '20s, it would have been used if we'd went back in a time machine or looked in history books. It was used as reference, and they had women doing male impersonations on stage in vaudeville. They definitely did in London. And now, it's gone. So, that's great. Women have total clothing rights and I think men have total clothing rights. If they want them, they're just sitting there to grab. So I grabbed them and I wear whatever I want, and it has nothing to do with my comedy. BOGAEV: How do you choose what to wear? IZZARD: Well, I go into a choice section. It's part of my brain. And it has little gates, "yes" or "no." And I go through all my clothing and I go "yes," "no." Well, how do you choose where you wear clothes? I just choose by the normal thought process. It's -- there's no big deal. And, how do you choose when you wear clothes? You just -- how you feel there, yeah? BOGAEV: Right, right, right. IZZARD: And it's that kind of thing. BOGAEV: Well thank God, no one looks at me when I do my work. I mean, that's... LAUGHTER IZZARD: Oh yeah, when you're on stage, well then it's sort of -- does discover that, and this, and I end up in this sort of tomboy area where you kind of -- I don't know -- I keep trying moving it around. Clothes are just clothes. They're just bits of cloth. Just wear 'em. It doesn't matter. BOGAEV: When you first came out -- some people when they first come out, they have a female persona. They (unintelligible) another name when they dress as a woman or whatever -- put these clothes on. Did you do that? IZZARD: Well sort of, but there was an idea. 'Cause I would be, as I said, male lesbian, 'cause I'd be quite happy to be a woman, but I look very male-like 'cause when you hit your teenage period, the -- there's coding going in. So -- and everyone's -- but you know, up to puberty, girls and boys have a pretty similar facial shape. But then, I've got into this sort of male jawline area, so it's - - I just look like a guy who wears makeup. So yeah, when I saw -- if I was -- initially when I came out, I was sort of trying to pass as a woman type thing, but everyone said "yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir" getting in and out of taxis or whatever, so I thought: "oh, well stuff this. This isn't gonna work." I'm very practical -- very practical in my approach to being -- getting this thing working for me. So, I've come to a much more sort of tomboy area. And it's also -- it's much easier for me 'cause I'm in the entertainment world. You know, if you're a lawyer; if you're a forklift truck driver -- and there's a lot of -- 'cause if you are a transvestite, there's a lot male in you. There's a lot of -- you know, a lot of people in the army; a lot of people do very male jobs -- and are TV. And it's a tricky area because, you know, you're surrounded by a lot of people who are deeply into macho and machismo. And so trying to express your feminine side is very difficult in that middle area; or trying to get to a middle area. But in the entertainment world, it's our duty in the end to find the way out, because you know that Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn were the first women to really wear pants, and so, get that whole thing going. And they were big movie stars. So everyone said: "oh if they can do it, then we can do it," and then it became a fashion thing. And that's the way it's gotta start. So you know, by the -- by the -- when we get in the 21st century, it's gonna chill out and everyone can wear whatever clothes they want. It'll take some time, but you know, it's -- it's much more positive these days. BOGAEV: I don't want to beat this to death, but I do -- I do have one more question. I'm just curious... IZZARD: Beat it to death. LAUGHTER BOGAEV: ... when you -- when you decide to come out, I imagine you have to experiment a little bit first. IZZARD: Clothing wise? BOGAEV: Do you -- yeah -- do you start very, very discreetly? IZZARD: Frumpy. BOGAEV: Or frump... IZZARD: No, frumpy. You have to go through frumpy transvestite. Well, it's somewhere between frumpy and over the top. You have to go through your teenage girl phase. You know when teenage girls first get access to clothing -- because there's a phase where -- I remember watching a sort of magazine daytime chat show type thing in London, in the United Kingdom, and there's a mother going on about her daughter, she was 11. She was wearing these high-heeled shoes. She'd caught her -- her own daughter, wearing high heels and makeup and "I told her to get this stuff off" she was saying. And I thought: hey, this girl is just being me. This teenage girl -- that's what I would have gone through. Because it's just fun clothing. That's why I think women who do want to wear heels and makeup and whatever, it's just kind of fun. And then when they -- you go through the teenage girl phase, where you go to your first disco and teenage girls just wear far too much and there's too much makeup; skirts too shorten and way over the top. And then in the 20s, when women get in their 20s, I feel they chill out and think: "oh, I'm not going to wear this all the time. This is a real pain." And just -- it's so laborious, but you know, makeup is quite a -- just fiddly to do, and so you'd just rather not wear makeup. So women in their 20s and their 30s, they just chill out and say: "well if I want to dress up, I can; but if I want to dress down, I can as well." And that's the phase I've got to now. So, I started out and the heels were too high and it -- and the look was all wrong. And you have to also get a look. You have to be able to wear clothes so that you can have friends saying: "oh, that doesn't work;" or " that looked good on you" "that doesn't work" -- and you know, I've got a kind of blokey male body, so I've got to say: what goes with this? And what doesn't go with this? And OK, my legs are better. All right, that's good. But you know -- and just trying to get -- and my body's shaped slightly different. So -- but then a lot of women have -- there's women who go through -- and men who go through lots of different facial looks and body shapes. There's women who are very mannish looking; there's men that are very feminine looking. And there's -- the whole gamut of range of looks are there. So, you can always get a look that will work for you. BOGAEV: My guest is British comedian Eddie Izzard. His new one- man show is Dressed to Kill. He's appearing at the Westbeth Theater off-Broadway in New York City. We're going to take a short break and then we'll talk some more. This is FRESH AIR. I'm talking with British comedian Eddie Izzard. And his new one- man show is Dressed to Kill. It's appearing at the Westbeth Theater off-Broadway. Your mother died when you were six. IZZARD: Yeah. BOGAEV: Did you develop ways of coping, as kids do, have imaginary playmates or magic conversations with them? IZZARD: No, I started performing, I think, because of that. I mean, people do think: "oh, your mother died. Oh that means that's the -- the transvestite link-up thing." But I don't think so 'cause I just knew I was TV before she died. But, I don't know. I'm still open-minded about that. I think the key thing that happened was that the performing happened. Because I wasn't really -- I remember doing a play, doing a sort of school play. I was six. I was a raven. My mother made me a raven suit. And I'm glad I -- I wasn't very good as a raven. And that's good 'cause, you know, there's not a lot of raven parts around. And, I wasn't that bothered about doing the show. But then after she died, I remember seeing a play and thinking: "ooh -- ooh, I've gotta do this." And there was sort of applause going on. And I think it's a surrogate affection machine, 'cause my mum was there and she was very affectionate. Then she disappears and then the audience is there. And I have to perform, you know. It's quite good because you don't just stand there, and they give you affection. You -- you've gotta go out and do your best. And then, you know, if you're interesting, they go: "hey, that's good." And then, it sort of takes off. BOGAEV: You know, it's really the opposite of unconditional love. IZZARD: Yes, it's conditional. It's very conditional, depending on the reviews. BOGAEV: You've acted on stage in London in Mamet plays and other plays. You have a movie coming out with Sean Connery -- the -- a take-off on "The Avengers" -- the old Avengers series. What's your role like? IZZARD: I have the biggest role in The Avengers. It's really my film and Sean... BOGAEV: Cameos. IZZARD: ... well no, it's -- no, I have a small role. I'm a small -- Sean Connery is a bad guy and I'm second bad guy. And I go around hitting people on the head, and I stare at them when I hit them. And I chew gum. And I have a huge fight with Uma Thurman, who's Emma Peel, and wears a lot of very tight rubbery-type clothing, which looks really good on her. And so yeah -- so it's a -- my role is more supporting and helping them get their lines right and giving them cups of tea and stuff. But it's -- yeah, it's The Avengers, which not everyone knows them in America, but it's a -- was a great British cult kind of quirky, campy-type thing. Camp in a good way; not camp in a -- camp in a sort of sassy, surreal, and dry humor-type way. BOGAEV: You have a really -- a physical presence, and your face is very expressive. Did you have to tone anything down to act on screen? I'm thinking that exaggerates, of course, every facial expression, especially in closeup. IZZARD: Yeah, I don't do comedy roles on television, so it's a totally different beast, really. I approach it in a totally different way and I don't -- yeah, I don't pull big old faces. "Hey look, I can do wide-mouth frog impressions." BOGAEV: You don't want to be cast as a funny -- in a funny role? IZZARD: Yeah. I don't do comedy roles like that. And I'm not doing transvestite roles 'cause everyone's come to say: "hey, comedy transvestite; here, is a comedy transvestite role. And I'm just going no. I'm just going to play straight roles, that are straight dramatically and just ordinary, orthodox sexuality area. Later on, I can play a transvestite role, when I find the right one or whatever. But -- and comedy, I don't play comedy 'cause my comedy is -- I was very impressed with Steve Martin. And if -- I just listened to his CD again -- early CDs of standup. And if you hit in this area of kind of crazy surreal stuff, people just want to see you do that. They don't want to see you do anything, any straight role because the hits of comedy are just so buzzy that you don't want -- you can't wait around to get the slow feel, the slow burn of someone who's bringing a character to a screen over, you know, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. You get drawn into believing in this person as being a real person. BOGAEV: Eddie Izzard, I want to thank you so much. It was a pleasure to talk with you today. IZZARD: Thanks very much. BOGAEV: Eddie Izzard's one man show, Dressed to Kill, is running at the Westbeth Theater in New York. This is a rush transcript. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. Transcribed by Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. under license from National Public Radio, Inc. Formatting copyright (c) 1998 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio, Inc. This transcript may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. For further information please contact NPR's Business Affairs at (202) 414-2954 Content and Programming copyright (c) 1998 National Public Radio, Inc. All rights reserved. Barbara Bogaev, Philadelphia, Dress to Kill. , Fresh Air (NPR), 04-13-1998.