They Colonists Needed Eddie Izzard

Eddie Wizzard
On wedenesday, February 4th, our 404 english class had two very different subjects on the agenda. The professor opened up with an hour of Eddie Izzard’s awesomely hilarious stand-up, proceeded by a twenty minute lecture on the Sot-Weed Factor. I will predominately discuss Eddie’s stand-up, mainly, because it was funny.
The class I singed up for involved American rhetoric and humor, so it makes sense that I was in for a few laughs. It now becomes evident to me that in order to find things “funny,” an audience needs to find out what is not funny. How would one go about defining funny if there was no Tale of Two Cities, or Johns Grisham novels? I am pretty positive that is what Jan is trying to make evident to us; without telling us the bland truth. I am sure in some day and age, at some ancient American moment, the Sot-Weed factor was laugh out loud funny to its audience. I bet they ate it up. One thing is for sure though, they still did not think Ann Stephens was funny, that’s a fact. Anyways, the Sot-Weed read more like a history of colonial America assignment than that of a history of comedy assignment. The colonists in the 1700’s were probably starved for laughs considering they were busy enslaving Africans, growing maize, and exporting tobacco for their greedy motherland out East. They needed criticisms like the Sot-Weed factor to keep them sane, and for that, I am sorry for them. They would have been in much higher spirits if they had real comedians back then. They needed men like Eddie Izzard.
Eddie is a unique man. First, he is a transvestite. Without explanation, this gives most of the audience a common commonality that we can relate to. So if a specific joke was not the cream of his crop, you could easily just take a moment to laugh at his outfit. And second, he is one of the select people on this planet that can have an audience peeing their pants by intermission. After viewing the rest of his routine, it was evident that he is the man. Or so I think. He adopts a persona that I quickly saw through. I did not think he was any less of a men, because he dressed like a women, and as a man, disguised as a women, he still made me laugh. During the bridge between our two viewings of Izzard I was in the clouds to the purpose of his tranvestism. Was it nature or nurture?
Recently, I have seen Eddie in two motion pictures. The first was a 90’s hit, Mystery Men. He plays a sidekick disco bad guy working to fight against the men of mystery. In that role, he also adopts more of a risqué male getup, but uses very much a manly American tone. Nonetheless, he was funny. The other movie he made a funny cameo in was Ocean’s 13. In that movie, he plays a very straight engineering handyman helping the thieves in their quest to crush Willy Bank’s empire. His witty hand gestures and articulate style was the source for that comedy. Which brings me to my final argument; why a transvestite?
The answers to my questions were finally solved when he broke it down for us. First, he does not have to dress up like a woman. As seen in some of his film productions, he can be just as funny without it. He describes himself as an “action transvestite.” He makes it clear that it is his prerogative to dress like a women, and just because you dress that way, it does not make you a homosexual. That was an interesting way to put it because I thought the two always went hand in hand. Eddie made it evident that he is a straight transvestite or a male lesbian. This statement brings me to my understanding to why he dresses like a female. As a male, disguised as a female, he can fully relate to both genders; moreover, he can offend no one. Jokes that would usually be offensive to women are taken with a grain assault because of his female characteristics. But jokes that would be taken harshly by men told by a women, are disregarded because he is, in spite of everything, a man.
In conclusion, I am sorry the ancient colonists did not have an Eddie Izzard, and I am thankful I have people like Eddie Izzard in my life. Because if I didn’t, I might think the Sot-Weed Factor was funny.