Badgers can be choosers

There is no movie review today because I didn’t see one. I was treated to seeing Eddie Izzard instead. I saw him Saturday night at his second show in Toronto, the first stop on his Canadian comedy tour. I have to say I enjoyed myself.

Even though I know of Eddie Izzard, I had seen bits of his routines over the years and heard his name many a time but I hadn’t heard much about him in recent years, I didn’t know much about him or what to expect. I wasn’t sure if, as he put it, he was going to be in “girl mode” or “boy mode” when we got in there. I wasn’t sure what he would be gabbing about or how long the show was going to be. I was even more perplexed when I got into Massey Hall and the stage decoration looked like the inside of a cave with a small window to the world and writing on the wall. Or it could have been an aerial topographical map of the desert with a whole in it. I never really figured out which.

When the lights went down there was smoke and a mini light show like the start of a concert to herald his arrival. He waltzed onto stage in boy mode to an uproar of applause that he relished in. It was obvious that he enjoyed the attention and was comfortable in front of an audience. I was a little disappointed he was in boy mode however, I was really looking forward to him being more outlandish.

He started out by going on about his relation to Canada. He spent some time in the town of Campbellford when he was eight. He then went on to the topic of the evening, atheism. He actually renamed it non-theism because of the bad connotation the words “atheism” and “atheist” have. He went on about how there can be no god because there doesn’t seem to be any plan. I am glad there were no highly religious individuals in the audience.

Now that took an hour and a half. He went off stage saying that he would be back in 20 minutes and my friend and I were utterly confused. He was coming back? A typical stand up show is about an hour long. But he was far from done. I wasn’t very impressed with the first half of the show. He sort of just rambled on and I have to admit I didn’t understand some of what he said. Not the concept but the actual words coming out of his mouth went unheard and I missed out on quite a few jokes apparently. I was clued into the fact when other people were laughing and not me.

The second half of the show was a lot better. He seemed to have gotten rejuvenated and ready to go for another round. He continued on the same topic talking about the bible, and going through history from the dinosaurs to present day. He went really long distances to get to really bad puns that garnered both groans and applause because of its brilliance and stupidity. One of those roundabout puns is where the title of this post comes from and it will take a hell of a long time to explain how he got there.

Overall the show was a success. Even though his topic is a so-called heavy issue he makes it light and fun. This isn’t a lecture and he is not trying to convert people to his way of thinking. It is just his thoughts and observations. His mix of nonsense, rambling, and something resembling a point makes him entertaining. He can be hard to follow sometimes cuz he likes to go all over the place but by the end it is worth it.

Tra