Believe Me

I listened to this on audio book and sometimes it was a treat and sometimes it was a tad annoying. So, if you are not accustomed to Eddie Izzard I recommend listen to a bit of his stand-up before listening to this on audio book. This audio book is narrated by Eddie Izzard. Those who are familiar with Eddie Izzard I thought the opening of the audio book before it even started was very long and annoying because it was just him rambling...which is not a great place to start. Later when you get into his stories, he'll do extra foot notes and some tangents. It works pretty well and it feels genuine. This book is pretty good and I had fun with it. ~Ashley

I discovered Eddie Izzard long ago, when I was in high school, and his comedy was a revelation. I didn't even KNOW comedy of that type existed, and it was such a balm. Nerdy, rambly, cinematic, it was super up my alley. I still think “Dressed to Kill” is basically a perfect standup, but - as the years have passed - the halo of magical perfection has definitely faded. I saw Izzard live once, when he received an award from the university atheism club, and I found his usual schtick kinda - weirdly narrow? I dunno. Not all rambles are funny rambles.

Which is basically this book. I tried this once, as an actual book, and gave up. I tried again, as an audiobook, and figured that having him read it would amp up the funny. But, instead, the endless footnotes within footnotes, the self-indulgent digressions and meticulous recounting of both the interesting and the banal, made this all VERY hard going. So I'm giving up at 34%.

It even made me - weirdly - start to see Izzard as a bit narrow-minded? I would never, ever have characterized him as NOT progressive - his transvestism was an integral part of his show since the 90s, he now identifies as transgender, he was vocally anti-Fascist before it was, ahem, “trendy” to say so and his secular/democratic principles imbue a lot of his comedy - BUTTTTT I found small moments in the book that irked me. That made me feel vaguely offended on someone's behalf. That felt kinda tone deaf, or a bit insensitive. This was surprising - and disappointing. I can't even articulate it; like, I can't remember specific examples (I know, very helpful), but I just got this vibe. And I started thinking, “well, the dude IS 50+.” He didn't feel very woke?

But that's not the main problem. The main problem is that this book just REEEEALLY needed a good editor. Izzard's comedy style has always been absurdist and full of digressions. So stuff like Jesus trying to preach to the dinosaurs, or Darth Vader ordering penne all' arrabbiata in the Death Star canteen, are random and funny digressions. Here, every single possible thought that Izzard could have had about every single banal observation is included. It makes for impossible listening, since he - and you - can barely keep to the main thread. A thread which is often quite boring! (e.g. Izzard liked soccer in school... and played in this one tournament once... and there was this girl who was quite good... but she didn't play well because she was sick...)

His holier-than-thou atheism was also pretty grating; i.e. at every single mention of “god” (as in “oh my God”, or “good God” or “God willing”), EVERY SINGLE MENTION, merited a footnote of Izzard going “who doesn't exist”. It's like, yes, we get it. You're an atheist. Atheism! Got it! Oh man.

If you are an Eddie Izzard fan, I can't recommend the audiobook enough.

If you are a fan I would recommend listening to the Audiobook. It has tons of extra since Eddie is expanding/updating on the book as he's recording. It is a memoir so it's not always funny but I think it's always interesting.

I love Eddie Izzard and it was interesting to get inside his head a bit. I especially enjoyed reading in his own words his relationship to gender. In places, his trademark humor shines through – there are certain stories you can imagine him using in his stand-up (or that you may recognize from his stand-up). But for the most part, this book is a serious memoir, and I think you might have to be a super hardcore fan (or one of the teachers or classmates mentioned by name) to really get enthusiastic about Eddie relating seemingly every minor detail he can remember from his childhood for posterity.

If there was a new project to tackle with Izzard's charisma, wit, and persistence, it's writing more. Although I am glad to have learned his inspiring story, the content reads kind of sophomoric and boring because he lists a lot of information instead of diving deeper into self analysis. Also it could have used more humor.

That being said, I would love to read a book of witty essays by him in the future.

A bit rambly. I liked the early stuff, but it got ramblier the longer it went. It took forever to get through this because, though I like his stand-up (which is rare, because I don't like comedy very much), there were moments in this book that were rather tedious. I appreciated the honesty in dealing with his mother's death and coming out. Those were probably the best parts. Some of the other events in his life he relates in a choppy, abbreviated manner, or spends rather bit of time on the not quite as interesting bits. But in the end, I enjoyed and appreciated his hopeful, stubborn spirit.

But where were the jazz chickens?

Listened on Audible, which adds (as far as I can tell) even more rambling digressions than the book apparently has (in the form of footnotes – called out as such in the audiobook). It's an interesting memoir. Didn't answer a ton of questions – in fact, it prompted a few I still don't have answers for. He discusses “regrets” and then lists things that of course he should be proud of... that one stuck out to me because it was as the book was ending.

It's not just a book of his comedy. It's heartfelt. But there's still a lot of comedy interspersed. It's a fun read (or listen). I'd recommend it.