Anisa Jibrell – News Writer
British actor and comic Eddie Izzard and his intelligently silly mixture of Caesar salad jokes and chicken clucks was definitely a force to be reckoned with when he took the stage at the John Lyman Center on his world tour titled, “ Force Majeure,” meaning “superior force” in French.
“Caesar, did he ever think he’d end up as a salad?” said Izzard. “But now the chicken Caesar salad is more famous than the Caesar salad. ‘Cause of course Caesar wasn’t very close to the chickens.”
The crowd erupted with laughter between the 53-year-old comic’s bizarre tangents that were rigged with historical references and energetic sound effects. It’s safe to say that Izzard’s humor is not for the easily distracted. Paying attention and following his jokes is key. Otherwise, it’s very easy to miss the heart of the joke.
“The funny thing is you don’t know if the tangent is planned or not,” said one of the audience members, Paula Saaf, who’s been following Eddie Izzard since 2009.
Saaf and her husband Dave said Eddie Izzard’s world tour gave them a reason to visit England.
“And as soon as we did that, he started appearing everywhere in the United States,” Dave Saaf said letting out a hearty laugh. “So we’ve been following him around ever since.”
Dave Saaf explains that he comes from “Monty Pythonish” roots so he’s happy to see Izzard follow that trend.
Monty Python was a British comedy group from the early 70’s who were known for their absurdist and surrealist sense of humor and heavy influence on British comedy. Monty Python is often referred to as the Beatles of comedy.
“He just has my sense of humor. He carried on the Monty Python trend, run it down to one person, but he plays all the characters,” said Dave Saaf. “ All of that just feeds into my brain. “
Izzard contemplated the existence of a God with a high-pitched voice and let out a loud high-pitched battle cry that was accompanied by many yell-laughs.
“God has designed us not to trust high-voiced people,” said Izzard. “We will not follow the high voiced people into battle!”
Izzard, who is known for cross-dressing on stage, described himself as a straight transvestite and “wanna-be lesbian,” and made a hilarious remark geared towards Caitlyn Jenner.
“I came out 30 years ago and I got the front cover of nothing,” said Izzard.
“My favorite Eddie Izzards are about 15 years old so it’s fun to see him make reference to Caitlyn Jenner or more current stuff,” said Sarah Wallman.
In the acting realm, Izzard is most recently known for his appearance on the first season of Hannibal, the discontinued FX series The Riches and his current major role on Playstation Series, Powers.
Izzard did not hesitate to showcase his acting muscles with his highly energetic example of what musicals tend to be like, as he broke out into song a number of times and sashayed around stage sporting lace-up block heels.
“His heels were pretty bad ass,” said Amanda Hokanson, New Haven resident.
Hokanson said she wasn’t familiar with Izzard’s standups and it was her first time seeing him but said that it was a pleasant surprise.
“It was like a history lesson, but funny,” said Hokanson. “The joke writing was really well done, everything circled and it all worked in the end. He delivered a fantastic show.”
The Force Majeure world tour started in March 2013 and has reached audiences from five continents and more than 25 countries.
Photo Credit: Eric Skiff
