Customer Reviews

Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill

5 star:		(402)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I stumbled over this strange transvestite comedian several years ago, I believe during a Comic Relief program. I didn't really remember him, but slowly he started popping up everywhere on cable, including a (staged) crashing of Monty Python's induction at the Apsen Comdey Festival.

Then one night, I caught his HBO special, "Dressed to Kill," and laughed so hard it hurt. Eddie has an amazing skill of blending history, religion and his own personal experiences into a hillarious two-hour stream-of-consciousness. I have watched the special several times (I got smart enough to tape it) and each time I catch a new joke or bit that I missed last time. He is one of the funniest stand up comics I've ever seen and his observations are always dead on. I especially liked his observations on Hitler, and how we'll tolerate dictators who kill their own people; it's only after they start killing people in other countries that we object.

If you haven't seen the phenomenon that is Eddie Izzard, then get either a copy of this special or "Glorious," the only other Eddie Izzard special on video. And be prepared to laugh. A lot.

Jeezee Chreezee...I initially passed on the HBO special, as the thought of a "Transvestite Comedian" didn't interest me. However, now that I know he's an "Executive Transvestite" who fancies girls, everything is better.

Eddie's humor is NOT for the hard of thinking, nor for those who flunked world history..."Hitler wound up in a ditch, covered in petrol, on fire...and it was his wedding night as well! Double trouble!" His brilliant style of mixing humor with incredible body language makes him a treat to watch. His manipulation of the audience is brilliant, and the fact that he even laughs at the crowds reactions to things makes him even funnier!

I have loaned my copy of DTK out to so many people, that the tape is almost worn out. However, I have converted everyone who's seen it into immediate fans. We as a group went to the "Circle" show in Seattle, and were incredibly entertained by his blend of history and humor.

Dress to Kill is a must, and will certainly convert even the most apprehensive viewer. He sets up the last 20 minutes of his show, which is performed mostly in French, so you have to pay attention...and make sure you have something to wipe your eyes with, because it's hysterical! "Le Sange et sur la branche"

Please make sure you let Amazon know you'd like this available in the States. I want all his work available on DVD sometime this millenium!

It's hard to describe Eddie Izzard to people who've never seen him before. I was flipping channels once and came across an English transvestite (excuse me, "executive transvestite") doing a comedy routine in Alcatraz prison. I stopped flipping channels, and, for the next two hours, almost died laughing. Izzard's humor is unique and it works on many levels. A lot of comedians target a particular demographic. Their humor can be too trite or too low-brow or too high-brow for some. Not Eddie. On the one hand, he's clearly intelligent and educated and his comedy contains much that will tickle even the most intellectual of viewers. But he combines this with good old-fashioned silliness and dead-on impressions that he will have the most slack-jawed luddite in stitches.

Even as I type this, I'm laughing to myself thinking about several of his routines ("Cake or death?") and will probably go home and watch it again. And that's the reason why I recommend the DVD. A lot of standup humor is funny the first time, but loses its edge. Eddie's improves. I laughed *more* the second time I saw it.

Buy it. You'll love it. I can't wait until his next performance.

Eddie Izzard's comedy is refreshingly original, fast-paced, intelligent, thought provoking and hysterically funny. After taping "Dress to Kill" on HBO, we thought we were going to wear out the tape (we're waiting for the DVD). Frequently when we watch it, one of us will discover something we had missed - sometimes because we were laughing or simply didn't get it at the time. Once you get on his wavelength, watch out - you too will be impatiently watching for new releases. This past June, unknown to me, Eddie was in Seattle and my husband surprised me with tickets to see his new show, "Circle". We laughed ourselves sick during the entire two-hour show and left the theatre physically exhausted, unable to recall very few specifics of the performance because of the jam-packed fast-paced material that was delivered in his true Executive style. "Circle" was even funnier than DTK (if that's possible) and we are anxiously waiting it's release on DVD. Cake please.

Watch Dress to Kill and you'll know what the title for my review means

There are actually 5 Eddie Izzard stand up concerts out on the old video cassettes (in UK). Dress To Kill, his San Francisco gig, is the only one available on DVD so far. This openly transvestite man is arguably the best British stand up comic today. His material is very Monty Python-ish. If you like the Pythons, you'll like Eddie. If you don't like the Pythons, try Eddie anyway. You'll end up with stomach cramps from all the laughing. I did.

By the way, the 5 videos of his concerts are: Live at the Ambassador's, Unrepeatable, Definite Article, Glorious and Dress to Kill. They're all great. I hope they all come out in DVD soon.

I have been waiting YEARS for this to come out!

This is the best stand-up routine by him thus far. Eddie's showcases his genius by pontificating and poking fun at everything from religion to history to pop culture.

Hilights are:

"Do You Have a Flag" bit wherein he breaks down English colonialism for you sort of The British Empire for Dummies.

"Europeans" where he describes Italians, French, English and so on with such biting wit..it's uncanny.

All of his religious bits are as usual, hilarious. When he does God in a James Mason voice, you had better have some oxygen handy.

Eddie is seriously underrated, for now, but I am sure once this hits the DVD players of the States he will be very, very well known and not as just another pretty face, in heels, who's a guy.

Several years ago I was watching the British version of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" and a man named Eddie Izzard was one of the contestants. I had never seen him before, his performance on that particular episode was nothing to write home about, but his name stuck in my head. Then one day I was reading through a list of Emmy winners and saw Izzards name again. He had won two Emmy's for an HBO special called "Dress to Kill". As luck would have it, I had gotten cable tv and "Dress to Kill" was shown. I was absolutely floored. This man is brilliant! and smart! and *funny!* He's Fantabulous! I had never seen anything like it and will probably never see anything like him again. Buy this DVD now!!! I've watched it a million times and will watch it a million more. I wish I could give it ten stars.

I somehow (luckily) stumbled onto this "Glorious" (pardon the pun) stand up several years ago when Dressed To Kill was aired on HBO. In a moment of rare clarity I decided to tape this stand up sight-unseen and WOW! Eddie Izzard proves to be one of the most clever, witty and amazingly well-informed stand-ups of our time. I have watched my tape of this performance so many times I know it word for word. I have also forced all of my friends to watch it and they too have fallen under his magnetic spell. I often run into resistance from my straight male friends when they realize this is a transvestite comedian, but within the first 5 minutes they too are hooked and seemingly forget the commentary on life, history and painful yet hilarious insights into coming-of-age are coming from a man in a dress and FABULOUS make up! I especially like the fact that this British comic is filmed doing his stand up in America (albeit in San Francisco where the audience may be a bit more "receiving* of his unique brand of humor). His insights are priceless and his constant moving about the stage and fantastic facial expressions make this a performance you will not be able to take your eyes off of. See this. And quick. My friends and I have adopted several lines from the performance as our own little private jokes, such as, "It wasn't me, I was dead at the time!" and "Oh Sue! I've got legs. Do you like bread? I've got a french loaf. I love you! Byeeeee!!!!" and "I was on the moon at the time. With Steve."
This one performance led me to seek out several of his film roles including "The Cat's Meow" (excellant as Charlie Chaplin), "Shadow of the Vampire" (uh, WOW), and the [bad] "Mystery Men" (skip it).
Sit back, pop it in and be prepared to giggle till you fall over.

I caught "Dress To Kill" on HBO comedy a couple of months ago. At first I was put off by this guy wearing make-up and wearing a feminine pant suit. That didn't last long because I was too busy laughing, smiling or just being so interested in what this English guy was saying.

There are so many great moments in this comedy routine. Since the English language comes from England, we Americans cannot pretend to have any real authority on the language. Eddie talks about words we say differently. "You say erb. We say Herb, because there's a (expletive deleted) "H" in it."

Everything from how the British play bad guys in our movies because of the Revolutionary War, how he lost his virginity before he lost it, how you can tell members of the Church of England, Disney castles in Europe, and what is considered "old" in America are discussed.

You will just have to hear this for yourself to appreciate it. I don't find many stand-up comedians very interesting today, but Eddie Izzard is very original and hilarious in "Dress to Kill." Highly recommended.

My favorite form of comedy is standup, but Eddie put a whole new meaning to the word with "Dress to Kill". It was the first Eddie show I'd ever seen but I had not laughed so hard, so frequently in years. I just loved the way he took little potshots at royalty, the NRA, the Crusades, evil incarnate Adolf Hitler, and so forth. "God attack the Queen, send big dogs after her that bite her bum," reverberates in my head along with " . .. and fish in the sky and a big . . . monkey pie." He is the only comedian I would give up a day's worth of meals to see live! Should you purchase this? YES! Do not wait another second. If you want to laugh and be happy, even if only for an hour or two, get it. I promise you will wear it out!