Believe Me

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.