Cake or Death's Groovy News

(thanks Beth!)

You’ll also be able to tune in for a night of TV entertainment on Friday 19th March on BBC1 with highlights including special sporting editions of favourite shows including Masterchef and Top Gear; a one-off Strictly Come Dancing challenge and Frank Skinner will host a special edition of A Question of Sport Relief.

Other TV treats coming up during the campaign on the BBC include the return of Let’s Dance for Sport Relief, the all new Sport Relief Does We Are The Champions and a documentary series about Eddie Izzard’s 43 marathons in 51 days around the UK.

Izzard fan, Melanie, will be running for Sport Relief and you can sponsor her HERE.

[from Dallasnews.com]

Eddie Izzard is a Renaissance man – and not just because he can talk at length about the Renaissance period. The 47-year-old British comedian is an Emmy-winning performer, known for stream-of-consciousness ramblings about history. He’s acted in such films as Velvet Goldmine and Ocean’s Twelve, along with the underrated, defunct FX television drama The Riches.

Izzard’s recent feats include running an astounding 43 marathons in 51 days last summer for charity. A documentary about his humble beginnings, titled Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story, is screening in select cities and will be released on DVD this spring. He’s hinted at a future career in politics.

And yes, he’s a transvestite, often wearing flamboyant women’s clothing in concert. He clarified in Dress to Kill that he’s an “executive transvestite,” not a “weirdo transvestite” or a drag queen. Though, in recent years, he has performed in more subdued male garb.

He brings his “Stripped Too” tour to American Airlines Center on Thursday night. We caught up with him recently for a brief phone interview as he prepared for a Chicago performance.

>> REST OF ARTICLE

British comedian Eddie Izzard looked stylish as he walked out of his hotel in New York City, New York earlier today. Eddie is currently on the road with The Big Intimacy Tour, Stripped Tour going around the United States.

He performed at Madison Square Gardens on January 17th. Don’t be sad if you missed him. He has a few more shows lined up including one in Dallas, Texas on January 21st and then he heads to Oakland, California on the 23rd. He will wrap up with two shows in Los Angeles on the 29th and 30th of January at the Nokia Theater.

>> PHOTOS HERE

Thanks Maria K. for sharing 🙂

If you’d like to share some of your fan photos, email them to me HERE.

Photo by Maria K.

>> MORE FAN PHOTOS

[from the Depaulia]

It’s hard to imagine the Eddie Izzard that performed on Jan. 8 as the same magenta lipstick-wearing, English-accented transvestite comedian Izzard that took himself seriously and expected everyone else to follow suit. But for British cross-dressing joke factory Eddie Izzard, it a career.

The 47-year-old comedy veteran has ditched the women’s apparel as of late (even though he can rock stilettos as well as Kate Moss), but luckily refuses to give up his sharp-witted, intellectual sense of humor. Though the donning of a sequin gown may seem to be Izzard’s X factor, it is his comedic brilliance that has captured the attention of fans worldwide.

Sporting a tie and goatee, Izzard performed the first American stop of his international “Big Intimacy Tour: Stripped Too Friday” Friday Jan. 8 at a the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St. He began the show before a crowd of roughly 6,000 loyal followers explaining that tonight he was going to assess the entire history of the world-with some large gaps.

The history is a characteristic theme of Izzard’s performances. His shows are synonymous with hilarious lessons in past world affairs paying close attention to where and why things went amusingly awry. These untraditional accounts of history are frequently interrupted by fictional skits where Izzard plays several characters from the past hysterically interacting in bold could-be scenarios.

In one crowd favorite Izzard plays a panting Roman messenger desperately failing to overcome the difficulties of the impossible Latin conjugations to warn of an oncoming attack. When asked how many soldiers were coming, the messengers response of “Um, X…VII, um, MC, uhh, VIIV…IX…um, V?” was met with a “Twelve?” Izzard devotees had the arena shaking with laughter.

Throughout the show, Izzard somehow seamlessly squeezed in quips about a jazz quartet of farmyard animals, early journalists hurriedly weaving celebrity gossip into tapestries, the bored and lonely human appendix and speechless giraffes playing charades in order to caution an approaching tiger.

The show was fast-paced and a shade below being too smart, if your attention drifted for even a second to readjust your coat, good luck in quickly catching back up. Though the show is seldom directly political, it doesn’t take much to identify Izzard as being undeniably left-leaning and socially progressive. Early in the show he doubts the existence of God and proclaims his trust in people, and in Wikipedia.

Eddie Izzard’s performance was enlightening, daring, intellectual, ambitious and, as any comic should be, funny. It takes quite a man to get a crowd roaring over a joke about ancient military commander Hannibal, but Mr. Izzard did. Four inch Jimmy Choos or not, Eddie Izzard succeeds.

I was playing this hidden object game and came across this clue…apparently one of the game designers is an Eddie fan. haha

Thanks Kathryn for sharing your awesome photos!

>> MORE HERE

[from jimsullivanink.com | thanks Virginia]

Listen to British comic Eddie Izzard and you’ll find him riffing Heon Hitler, Stonehenge, the history of the Catholic Church, Pol Pot, attack badgers, as well as a few more current affairs. He’d often start a joke, gleefully veer off course and wander down a side road, ending up, perhaps, at the intended punch line. Truth is, there’s many a punch line, and you never know quite when it’s coming. Izzard, 47, relishes pauses, delays, real or apparent improvisation.

Izzard – whose “The Big Intimacy Tour: Stripped Too” lands at TD Bank Garden JaEddie Izzardn. 12 – has also developed a parallel career as a serious stage, TV and film actor, but remains committed to stand up. And committed to doing in on the grandest scale possible: In arenas. We did an interview with the Boston Phoenix that’s on newstands now or accessible on line at www.thephoenix.com . We thought we’d provide some of the expansive out-takes. A half-hour of Eddie doesn’t 800 words and just about everything he says has entertainment value. Sometimes educational. And, when you get to the end of this, you’ll find, very emotional. There’s also a comprehensive, warts-and-all documentary out called “Believe” which should be available at your finest video stores and is well worth a rental. The TD Banknorth Garden show is 8. Tickets: $75-$45.

>> READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE

[from tonight.co.za]

Serious comedian Eddie Izzard will take on South African audiences for the first time in February.

Before that though, Izzard becomes the first British comedian to play Madison Square Garden in New York this Saturday.

“I came to New York in 1996 and played an 80-seater, and now I’m playing a 16 000-seater, so it’s great. It’s the European dream.”

Izzard is currently in Boston touring his show Stripped Too, which relies heavily on history (at least 5 000 years of it).

Is it important to prod people to think?

“I’m really teaching history and it looks quite intelligent but it’s not necessarily. I think creative mediums are more interesting if they have more than one level, because it engages people’s minds, and I’m sure South African audiences will get that too.”

His visit aims to raise money for the 46664 charities.

“I received a letter signed by Nelson Mandela saying it would be great if I came. I thought I’d come over and give all the money away to the Nelson Mandela charity, because he is such an amazing person. So it’s my first time in South Africa and that’s what I want to do.”

His thoughts on the World Cup? “I want England to win (everything from now on until the end of time). I do like to see good football being played but I’d rather we just won everything.”

Widely known for his transvestism, Izzard comments on what decides whether he will be in girl or boy mode.

“It should be a toss of a coin, that would be perfect for me. At the moment it’s more strategic. I’ve been in boy mode for a while. I’ve established that I am a transvestite – I have been since I was four. But I like to go between the two and wear what I want, just like a woman freely decides.”

Izzard also has a strong acting career behind him, but is stand-up more challenging?

“I think stand-up is probably more difficult, but I think they do complement each other in some way. My career is a little schizophrenic – doing dramatic work on screen and then comedy live – but it’s what I chose to do.”

He names the American series The Riches as his favourite acting role so far.

Izzard is also deeply involved in activism and politics. Last year he ran 43 marathons in 51 days to raise funds for Sport Relief.

“It was great. The first three weeks were hell and the last weeks were exhausting, but my body got used to it. And since then, I’ve decided activity has to be part of my life – and, in fact, everyone’s life – because we were all meant to be hunter-gatherers, not sitting at home watching television and eating cake.”

The man is unstoppable. His future plans include more film work, touring Australia and New Zealand, as well as performing gigs in French, German and Russian.

“And lots of running also,” he adds.