Cake or Death's Groovy News

[from onthebox.com]

Her Majesty The Queen is to appear on The Simpsons – voiced by comedian Eddie Izzard.

The cross-dressing comic, 48, jumped at the chance to play Ma’am on the show, a source telling The Sun that he: “jumped at the chance”.

The scene will see the Queen and Prince Charles watching a half-naked Homer on a CCTV screen after his gym bag sparks a terror alert.

Izzard joins a long list of British comedians who have contributed voice-overs for the show, joining the likes of Sacha Baron Cowen, Ricky Gervais and joker Tony Blair.

The episode will go out on Sky 1 next month.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and comedian Eddie Izzard take apart in a Q&A session with students at Brighton and Hove Sixth Form College today.

[thanks Kat!]

>> CLICK ON PART THREE

[from edp24.co.uk]

Comedian and marathon-running charity fundraiser Eddie Izzard joined the General Election campaign in Norfolk and Suffolk today.

Mr Izzard, who recently ran 43 marathons in 51 days to raise money for Sport Relief, visited Lowestoft this morning to meet Waveney Labour candidate Bob Blizzard.

He said: “It’s great to be here supporting Bob. We’ve almost got the same name, so it seemed only right that I support his campaign. I’ve always supported the Labour party and I firmly believe in our vision for the future of this country.”

Mr Blizzard said: “It’s fabulous to have Eddie here. The idea of Blizzard meeting Izzard will really set my campaign alight.”

After spending time in Lowestoft, Mr Izzard travelled to Norwich to meet Norwich South candidate Charles Clarke and Norwich North candidate John Cook.

The comic learnt about the city’s bid to become the UK’s first Capital of Culture in 2013 and said that if successful it would help to bring more people to the Eastern city.

[from mirror.co.uk]

1. He was born in South Yemen in 1962.

2. Eddie cycled solo from Sussex to Swansea when he was just 14.

3. As well as a comic, Eddie is also an accomplished actor and appeared alongside Hollywood giants George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Oceans Thirteen.

4. He describes himself as an action-transvestite or a male-lesbian.

5. He often does his full stand-up routine in French, a language in which he is fluent.

6. Eddie has appeared in two party political broadcasts for the Labour Party – first for the 2005 General Election and then for the 2009 European Elections.

7. The comedian has also been a panel guest on BBC’s Question Time where he described himself as

a British-European.

8. Marathon Man Eddie stunned the UK when he ran 43 marathons in 51 days for Comic Relief and received a special award at the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year for his efforts.

9.. Eddie wanted to join the army, but decided to go into performing instead.

10. John Cleese referred to Izzard as “the lost Python” during television special Python Night: 30 Years of Monty Python in 1999.

[from mirror.co.uk]

Comedian Eddie Izzard will hail “Brilliant Britain” in a Labour Party political broadcast.

In his TV message entitled ‘Have the Tories really changed?’, the 48-year-old will warn voters of the dangers of allowing the Tories to run the country again.

Talking about the film, Eddie, who has been a Labour Party member since the mid 1990s, says:

“I’m doing the broadcast because I take great offence at the Tories slagging off Britain, saying it’s broken.

“I ran around the country and I found that Britain is brilliant.

“People from all kinds of backgrounds ran with me. Kids from rural estates and kids from inner city areas.

“The country has a big heart, which I saw even while we were going through tough times.

“The Tory party have changed their suits, but still don’t believe in fairness, otherwise they wouldn’t be in the Tory party”.

> WATCH THE VIDEO

[from cambridge-news.co.uk]

COMEDIAN and marathon-running star Eddie Izzard will be in Cambridge tomorrow (Thursday) – to back the city’s Labour contender in the general election.

He is due to arrive at Christ’s Pieces in Cambridge, along with candidate Daniel Zeichner, at 4pm.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: “Eddie will be visiting other parts of the region earlier in the day, and is planning an open-air meeting with Daniel in the afternoon.”

[from newsandstar.co.uk]

Forty three marathons. 1,100 miles. Undertaken after just five weeks of training by a 47-year-old comedian.

Whichever way you look at it, Eddie Izzard’s fundraising epic for Sport Relief was hugely impressive and inspirational.

A recent three-part series on BBC3, condensed into a one-hour version on BBC1, gave a fascinating insight into his trek last summer.

Eddie’s adventure took him through Cumbria and the documentary covered much of this in some depth.

He struggled over mountain passes and did a stand-up show at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick and visited the Outward Bound centre at Ullswater, which brought back fond memories of a childhood holiday. But Carlisle was conspicuous by its absence.

One minute, Eddie was trudging up a dauntingly steep hill on the A6 between Penrith and Carlisle.

The next, we saw a caption saying ‘Carlisle’, marking the end of that day’s run. But there were no crowds or brass bands to herald his arrival.

The News & Star journalist who ran with Eddie for part of his journey recalls him entering the city up Botchergate before making his way through the centre and up to Scotland Road with little or no ceremony.

But it’s not too late to show your appreciation for his remarkable endeavour. Donations are still being accepted at www.comicrelief.com/donate/eddie

[from Huffington Post]

Why do we believe?

Is it a learned skill?

Or is it a gift, like faith or joy or grace?

Can we lose the ability to believe, or never have it to begin with, depending on the hand life deals us?

I’ve been ruminating on the nature of believing since watching and re-watching the new documentary film, Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story. The 90-minute film, released on DVD last month, deconstructs the career of comedian Eddie Izzard, a man who is, perhaps, the funniest person alive.

Izzard has been a favorite of mine for years. His seemingly stream-of-consciousness ramblings on everything from jam to Jesus are infectiously funny and imminently smart. I’ve seen Izzard perform live and watched, I believe, everything he’s ever committed to film — from comedy stand-up and feature-film roles (such as the voice of Reepicheep in Prince Caspian) to his virtuoso turn in the (sadly) short-lived TV series The Riches.

He is, in a word, brilliant.

Izzard, who is a transvestite and often performs in women’s clothing and full makeup, first won my heart when I watched his 1999 stand-up film, Dress to Kill. It was his mercilessly funny (and frighteningly astute) take on religion and faith that grabbed my attention and my funny bone.

Jesus: “Look Dad, I went down there, I taught ’em to hang out, be groovy, drink a bit of wine, they split into different groups! You’ve got the Catholics, the Protestants, the Jesuits, the Methodists, the Evangelicals, the free Presbyterians, the locked up Presbyterians … the Quakers, the Bakers, the Candlestick Makers … The Mormons are from Mars, Dad, we’ve had that checked out.”

God (in the voice of James Mason): “And what does the Holy Ghost think of all this?”

Jesus: “Oh, he’s useless, Dad. Got a sheet over his head these days.”

(God, in Izzard’s acts, is always Mason. And Moses — and sometimes also King Henry VIII — sounds like Sean Connery.)

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