Eddie Izzard wishes he came to America aboard the Mayflower
“Instead, I’m here now and I’m trying to do the New World thing in Europe.’’
If it was up to Eddie Izzard, the English comic would’ve been the first one to board the Mayflower and ship over to the New World.
Unfortunately for the veteran comedian, he was born a few centuries too late, but that hasn’t curbed his love for American culture. In particular, Izzard admires the country’s progressive idealism and its history of citizens standing up for the rights of all people.
Izzard, who performs at Tanglewood this week, has a long history as a champion for the LGBT community in Europe and hopes to spread open-minded ideas and postivity with his comedy.
Check out what Izzard had to say about returning to Massachusetts, why he thinks the New England crowd will be similar to the one in Moscow, and more.
You’re coming back to Massachusetts for a show at Tanglewood. What are your thoughts on returning to the New England area for a gig?
It’s always great to come back. I do like being in different places around the world. It’s very fun. Right now I’m in Glasgow, Scotland, and I’m going to shoot off in the middle of filming here to be in Massachusetts. You know, it’s the birthplace of the American Revolution, so it’s just great to go back and also to play in America in a way that it feels like another home gig… I would have been on the boat [bound for the New World] years ago. I would have been there. I would have gone. Instead, I’m here now and I’m trying to do the New World thing in Europe. Being out as transgender, I came out 30 years ago, performing in French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic—I’m really trying to push it in all sorts of ways. So it’s great to be back in Massachusetts because I like playing there.
You’ve performed around the world in so many different languages while on your Force Majeure tour. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from this ambitious tour?
The biggest thing I found out is that open-minded, progressive, positive people exist all around the world. The reactions to the show have been not at all different anywhere. The reaction I’m going to get at Tanglewood is going to be the same as the reaction I got in Moscow. Moscow, Berlin in German, Istanbul, Cape Town, Paris in French, London, now Tanglewood–they’ll be the same. That’s a crazy thing. As long as they’re open-minded people, they’ll get it. Mainstream audiences don’t get me too much.
Tanglewood is known for putting on great shows. Should fans expect a song or two when you come to town?
Not overtly. My mother was a singer, so it just happens that I’m playing Tanglewood and I happen to be singing more in the show than I ever sang before. If anyone knows about the sketch on Darth Vader and the Death Star cantina, it’s kind of a famous sketch of mine. Basically the idea is Darth Vader on the Death Star starts to go hang out with the troops at the cafeteria downstairs. In this show, I do the sequel to it. I do God going down to the cantina and ordering spaghetti carbonara, and Darth Vader saying, “Actually that’s mine,’’ so Darth Vader and God fight over it. And in it, there’s a song about this cantina… So it ties up neatly.
There seems to be an affinity between comedians and musicians. Why do you think the worlds of comedy and music are so intertwined?
That’s a very interesting point actually. I didn’t necessarily think that coming in, but I know this when I got in that some comedians really want to be rock stars. And then I found that a lot of bands were listening to comedy late night while on tour. We are similar gigs. The rock n’ roll venues that rock n’ roll people play, we play those same venues. But music is a feel gig and comedy is a mind gig and if music works hard enough at it, it can also be a mind gig… There’s a lot of thought that goes into comedy and there’s a lot of viscera, I think, that’s in music. It’s very visceral.
As a veteran of the comedy world, what keeps you motivated and inspired?
When I list all of the people, English speakers, who’ve done gigs in French—that’s a very short, bloody list. And that’s the same in German. So when I tour France this September and October, I get a holiday in France, the weather should be great there. I start off playing Versailles, I’m going to be going around all these French cities which I would happily pay to go and hang out in and it’s just going to be beautiful. So in the foreign language space, I’m motivated because it fills my awesome map. And in the English language, I try to set the bar quite high. I try to keep upping the bar as opposed to just reaching the bar, which I suppose came with Dress to Kill… I’m still trying to entertain myself. First and foremost I’m trying to make myself laugh. So that’s what keeps it going for me and will keep it going forever.
Eddie Izzard performs at Tanglewood on Thursday.
Famous Boston-area comedians:
[bdc-gallery id=”146592″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com