Well you're not wrong... if you don't like him then you don't like him.

I think he's very funny indeed - but I would qualify that by saying that he is a funny *stand-up*. I've never seen him come anywhere near to the quality of his stand-up in his many ill-advised forays into TV. I saw him live a couple of years ago, and have alos seen a couple of his stand-up vids. All really funny. I just like his gentle style - you mention Hicks, who is indeed great, but sometimes I just like comedy to be bemusing, and gentle and daft. Izzard does this very well.

You're not wrong, I agree with you. It's just a man talking bollocks in a posh accent - some people have been doing that for years without having undeserved money and applause thrown at them. I know it's a real film-geek's thing to say, but after seeing his performance in the horrible assassination of the Avengers, I thought - he may have the chattering classes cooing but, when it comes to being a camp villain, he'll never be the new Dudley Sutton.

I vote funny. "No pajamas, in the land of the dead" and so on.

I saw the "Unrepeatable" show live and laughed so much it hurt in several places...Likeability is a major factor in his stand-up, so if you don't like him, you obviously won't find him funny. I think as a stand-up he was losing it a little toward the end so its probably a good thing that he's moved on for now (even though his acting is embarrassingly shit so far). I like his stuff about Christianity and the Royal Family, but Al's right, none of it is of any consequence ultimately. But why does it have to be?

Ewar, we love you, Ewar, we dooooooo

Stoppit. This is the new, serious Ewar speaking to you now with my fingers. There will be no more mindless frivolity, especially if it concerns idneats.

When have I ever condoned mindless frivolity?

Repeat Brass Eye and make "Out Of The Trees" available online, that's me.

I don't think I like gentle humour Al and that's probably why Izzard doesn't appeal to me – ditto Harry Hill. I'm a rather aggressive cynical person and that's how I like my humour. And that's why I loved Hicks so much.

Body language and facial expressions are very important in his stand up, so a book is a hopeless introduction. Also the fact that much of the material is clearly the outgrowths from ad libs that stuck and got a reaction. His shows are like sculptures formed by natural laughter erosion, because he continually adjusts the "script", eventually beyond recognition, during a tour in response to the continuous subtle feedback, probably more than any other comedian. Hence the "Dress To Kill" audio cassettes and video are very different creatures, not just because they have totally different US audiences (small club East Coast vs. big hall West Coast) but because they were recorded at different stages and so the material is about 50% different. (By the way, the "Alcatraz" film at the start of the video is one of the funniest things ever created, despite the obvious influences - it sounds like it was recorded after a day of snogging Robin Williams.)

That said, there are definitely some ways in which he is a cunt, e.g. the bullshit he comes out with in the little interviews edited into the "Live at the Ambassadors" tape.

I haven't seen him live Peter, although I've seen some of his act on telly and I didn't think much of it.

That's okay, we'll just have to pick up the pieces and find some way to get along.

Izzard?
Great live. Probably better on the radio (I imagine...)
But he keeps doing TV... and... (catches breath) ... films! Ohhhhhhh no.
I thought he was grossly hopeless in The Avengers (and it's hard to single people out in that movie), playing a comedy bad-guy sidekick type. Then he was in Velvet Goldmine and was quite exceptionally rubbish but looked like he might have learned from his Avengers experience a bit...
Then, just now, I watched him pop up in the CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED "Mystery Men" (with Ben Stiller, William H Macy et al) and there he was, making a total fist of playing...
... a comedy sidekick bad-guy type.
Just like in The Avengers.

His "they all hate my success" thick skin appears to have spread to his head. How many bad career decisions must he make? Now everyone will just associate him with poor films, poor TV, bad chat-show appearances, the huge-selling recent videos and cassettes (which were of dubious quality: Dressed to Kill was a pale shadow of his Ambassadors shows, ruined by Americanising his appeal)...
It will become very easy to hate a very likeable man if he carries on trying to broaden his appeal in media where his act doesn't work.
He is a whimsical, English, stand-up comic. Why wasn't that enough for him?

I quite liked "Mystery Men" as well. Could have done without the saccharine ending but all in all one of the better films this year (particularly liked the Rage attacking the car). Agree Re Izzard, he was appalling in it.

Fairly decent stand-up, but other than that not very good.

Anyone remember the sitcom pilot *Cows*?

I saw about half of Cows. I wish they'd repeat it. It was probably shite (can't quite remember) but I'd like to see it again.

What really galls about Izzard is that he spent years telling everyone he wouldn't do TV, chat shows, sitcom, films etc because it cheapened what he was good at. He just wanted to do stand-up, he was a great stand-up, didlle-de-dee, lovely life.

What changed, Eddie? Did you drink cretin juice?

He was quite candid about the fact that his "no TV" stance was actually a ploy to get TV companies chasing him, and it worked like a charm. Thing was, he actually is best at stand-up, so when he ended up spending pretty much an entire year plastered over our screens ("And now the news, read by...") his limitations rapidly became apparent to everyone but him. And the whole film thing has to stop – someone should have a word with him.
It's frustrating, because he is a superb stand-up - unless you're after searing politically-motivated vitriol, in which case you might want to shun the stand-up circuit altogether and start turning up at Hackney Council meetings instead.

Never seen a huge amount of his stuff, but I have acquired a couple of CDs of standup which I'm looking forward to.
Mystery Men could have been a lot better if they'd hired an editor.

Never been exposed to much non-standup Izzard.
I've played a lot of his standup on radio and loved it - it translates well and is in handy chunks to slot into a playlist (oh yes, he's practical as well).