Comedian Eddie Izzard got an early start. "I was 12," recalled Izzard in a recent interview with Play. "Everyone was forced into a form review, little sketches, comedy things, singsong. I did a mime about cricket, which is a sport Americans don't really play. I remember getting laughs."
Izzard learned cricket as a child in England, though not very well. "There was a thing in cricket, when the ball comes to the non-good players, we swipe at the ball as if it's a fly, a dangerous, fast-moving fly, with a big bat," said Izzard. "It's a very ungainly thing. Then the coaches try to make you practice a good shot after, swinging at the air."
"So I mimed this whole process onstage," recalled Izzard. "And people recognized it. It was observational humor. I was almost doing stand-up at age 12."
Besides finding his comedy chops as a young boy, Izzard also made another discovery: He wanted to wear dresses. According to the Daily Mail, Izzard first wanted to cross dress at age 4, and did so in secret throughout his teenage years. In his early 20s, he came out as a transvestite.
"Six years after I initially came out, I finally came out to my dad," said Izzard. "I told him, 'If I can get loose with it, offhand with it, then people should relax about it.' I tried to turn it into a wannabe area."
"It was tough telling my dad," said Izzard. "It was tough telling other people. But, it got better."
Decades later, cultural norms have grown more tolerant of alternative gender self-identification and dress. "There has been a shift, a seismic shift," said Izzard.
He said he's glad he didn't wait to come out later. "We need to get people self-identifying younger," continued Izzard. "If you come out earlier, you can actually build up a life and build up a bunch of friends who are cool and groovy with that. I think Caitlyn Jenner is 65. I was 23. It was easier for me, and is easier for anyone, the earlier you can come out."
Izzard does not shy away from the topic. In a set of jokes he performs about puberty, he discusses avoiding disclosing his transvestitism to the other children "because I thought they might kill me with sticks." This potentially fraught explanation is met with laughter, not the silence it would inspire in a more serious context.
Izzard has been performing live stand-up and appearing in theater, television and movies since the early 1990s. His current "Force Majeure World Tour" has taken him to 28 countries since April 2013, during which time he has performed in four languages. He's known for devoting portions of his act to history. "I am from Europe," says Izzard during one popular bit. "Where the history comes from."
He speaks quickly during his act, often playing various characters during each joke, manically managing distinct voices and emotions in a larger narrative itself that hops between topics. Izzard's act can be something of a complex play in which one actor has all the parts.
Izzard credits his comedic style to various factors: Monty Python, Richard Pryor and the 4 1/2 years Izzard spent as a street performer. "The narration, the stuff where I talk to the audience," said Izzard, "was developed on the street. I kept adapting and adopting pieces."
But Izzard is more than just a comedian. Over the course of his career, Izzard has become engaged in various campaigns, most famously for supporting further integration of the United Kingdom into the European Union. He was one of the first people to spend a euro in London. Izzard plans to run for public office in 2020 to "know how the machine works, how it feels to be inside it."
In 2009, Izzard ran 43 marathons in 51 days across the United Kingdom to raise money for Sport Relief, an organization that raises money for poor people around the world. Izzard only trained for five weeks before embarking on this challenge. He was later named the Sports Personality of the Year in 2009 by the BBC.
Izzard's current tour, described on his website as "the most extensive comedy tour ever," continues this weekend in Anchorage.
Izzard kindly answered a few more questions.
Play: How do you tell jokes in German if all the verbs are at the end of the sentence?
Izzard: This was a big question for me. I asked many comics before doing it. The truth is, you don't change anything! There is a joke: Caesar, did you ever think you'd end up as a salad? In German, you say (unintelligible mix of English and German). But in the speed of things, they laugh. It works!
Play: What joke have you most regretted telling in public?
Izzard: No, I am not that kind of comedian. I don't do, "Hey, there were two dead people, and I was laughing at them for being dead." I just don't do those jokes. I just haven't got that. I mean, they are all surreal. If I am attacking someone, they are all power majorities or power minorities. I don't say, "Oh, those disenfranchised people, can't we laugh at them?"
Play: You are considering a run for Parliament. What are your political beliefs?
Izzard: I'm a radical moderate. I do things in a radical way with a moderate message. I believe in business. I believe in the safety net. I believe that as many people as possible should have a fair life. A decent life. And so that's what I will be fighting for.
Play: What's your secret to being funny?
Izzard: I think it's genetics plus application. My dad has a funny sense of humor. My brothers have a similar sense of humor. I kept pushing it. The more you do it, the easier it is to hit funny quicker. It's like that in almost anything you do in life. Like driving a car.
Eddie Izzard 'Force Majeure World Tour'
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17 and Wednesday, Nov. 18
Where: Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Atwood Concert Hall
Tickets: $49.25-$92.75 at centertix.net