6 minute read
An Interview with Eddie Izzard
OE INTERVIEW Interview with Eddie Izzard
Last term, we had the opportunity to interview Eddie Izzard, a stand-up comedian and OE. We spoke about her life at Eastbourne College and her career ambitions. Here’s what she had to say:
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Who inspired you to become a comedian? Monty Python really. They were very crazy and off the wall. Originally, I wanted to be an actor but they didn’t give me any parts at school. You had to be tall to get a role and I wasn’t tall or very good. But I did once play the Nazi in ‘Cabaret the Musical’ and it was my roles here at Eastbourne College that really launched me into my acting career and gave me the confidence to think that I could do it.
Were you the class clown and always on stage at school?
Ish. There was a guy called Trevor White and he was funnier than I was. But in Chemistry A-level there was a teacher called Dr Edmundson and he taught in a very slow and understandable way. I found I could throw in suggestions and I upped my hit rate in Chemistry. I consciously thought ‘I can use this for training in comedy’. My brother Mark had done exactly the same thing. The teacher was perfect for throw-in comedy, so I sort of became the class clown. I was more the class wit. I used it to impress girls and then one day a girl said ‘I didn’t even know you existed until this term’ and I thought ‘This comedy thing is working’. I got a B in chemistry A-level. What is your best memory from the College? My best memory was from doing performances. Comedy varies; one part I played had a helmet with a visor and a teacher advised me to tie a piece of string and use that to open and close it. I did this in Shakespeare and it got huge laughs. It was a village tavern scene and I was trying to drink beer and I couldn’t get to the visor and it went up and I drank and then down again. And it just killed, it was the first time I had a really enormous laugh. Old Pennell house had a reputation. It was an old rickety building, far away, and we tried to be bad kids but I wasn’t very good and I have some good memories from there too.
Is being an MP still on your political agenda? Absolutely. I will be an MP. I can’t guarantee it but I am relentless and I will keep standing in an election till I get it. If the public is willing, I will be an MP. That should be interesting! Why were you a remainer and is that still the case? If you analyse humanity, you will see that we gradually learn to work together and live together, for example the United Kingdom with the Ireland situation. Gradually, you come together and you get better situations and life works in a better way. The extreme right wing idea of pulling away encourages people to hate other people. I just don’t think that’s the way forward for humanity. I think the 21st Century will be a coming-of-age for humanity. I think this century will either make it a fair world for everyone or we are going to wipe ourselves off the planet. The stakes are that heavy because Covid is out there, it could be a chemical weapon but who knows. We had Sars before, Hong Kong flu, Spanish flu and these bubonic plagues will keep happening. If we are not learning to work together, vaccine and medical equality is not possible. In order for everyone to have a fair life, we have to learn to work together. If you track the history of humanity, what we
are doing now does not help. What can Labour offer people that the Conservatives can’t?
The Labour Party is about the many not the few. I think the Conservative Party encourages the few. Thatcher did not care if people were thrown on the scrapheap and I just don’t believe people should be. The NHS wouldn’t have existed had it not been for Labour; we would therefore be like America. Labour tries to give everyone a fair chance. Someone said to me ‘I don’t think fairness plays in politics’ but I think that is what has got to happen. I don’t like Boris Johnson’s racism or his sexism and homophobia and I don’t like his lying, his endless lying. Now he is Prime Minister: what example is that to our children? He is a bad example to humanity. For example, at COP-26 he talked about the climate crisis then got a private jet home. I want to fight him and all that he stands for.
Why do you think it is important to perform in multiple languages? I believe in ‘live together, work together’ in some shape or form. We used to fight the French and the Germans. Then someone said why don’t we work together and then I started to do gigs in French . Sometimes on the stage, the words go away from me but I pushed myself. If German kids can learn it then I can. Then I started to learn Spanish but I am not so good at that. I believe in making connections. It is the young at heart who want to make a more positive and tolerant world. The old at heart want separation.
What is your most exciting project coming up in the future? I am now rehearsing a one woman show of ‘Hamlet’. I am not exactly what you would expect to play this role but it is still incredibly exciting. I already do a one woman show of ‘Great Expectations’. But these one woman shows are great to do and I am a trans woman so why not. If Trump continues to lie, then we should all work on being more tolerant and more positive. I want to do more film projects. But I am going to become an MP soon so I will have to put my career in hibernation. But I may still continue to put on shows for charity and to pay for my political office. How do you think schools can better accommodate gender fluid students? If teachers and head teachers are encouraged to try and find out how our attitudes are changing and they then adopt those attitudes or encourage others to adopt this. Schools should try to be more positive which should allow children to be more tolerant. Bullies at school get away with much more than in real life as we have laws. It would be a totally different world if we were more accepting. What is your favourite joke? I don’t really have jokes. One of my favourite pieces I do is about Julius Caesar. He killed and enslaved many people, did he ever think he would become a salad?! I really like this piece as it is incredibly silly but also intelligent. I do stories more than jokes. And finally - Cake or Death? Well I normally go for ‘or’. That was based on Church of England fundamentalism. When I was thinking of this, I was channelling a village fate and a vicar going ‘cake or death’. But cake probably.
