Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Hump Day Hottie - Guest Post

Hello! This is Playtah/Funny Girl/Wendy. Rachel's internet is down, so I humbly offer you my pick for Hump Day Hottie:

This week's humpday hottie was born in Aden, London on February 7, 1962.

He found some degree of solace in comedy after the death of his mother, and drew particular comfort from the works of Monty Python, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, and the early Benny Hill.

He began to toy with stand-up at the University of Sheffield and, after being ingloriously kicked off his accountancy degree course, he took his act to the streets. Having spent a great deal of the 1980s working as a street performer in Europe and the United States, he moved his act into the stand-up comedy venues in Britain, first appearing at The Comedy Store in London in 1987.

His style is heavily influenced by Monty Python, especially in his use of a stream-of-consciousness delivery that jumps between topics as he free-associates onstage. He does not generally work from a script. Instead he interrupts himself with new joke ideas, the characters he portrays turn into other characters, and he leaps from historical analysis to musings about household appliances. This often results in brief pauses in the routine which he fills with 'so,' 'yeah,' and other verbal ticks that have become his trademarks.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

He was number 75 in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

During the 1999 television special "It's... the Monty Python Story", which he hosted, John Cleese said he was the "Lost Python".

He describes himself as an "executive" or "action" transvestite and as 'a male tomboy', rather than a "weirdo" transvestite (he uses J. Edgar Hoover as an example of the latter). He regularly cross-dresses both on and off stage and makes it clear that cross-dressing is, for him, not a sexual thing – he simply enjoys wearing make-up and clothing which is traditionally perceived in the West as female-only. He remarks in one of his shows, "Women wear what they want and so do I."















This week's Hump Day Hottie is: Eddie Izzard.

12 comments:

minijonb said...

Nice pick, Wendy.

I had it figured out at the start of the fifth paragraph.

Eddie rocks.

Anonymous said...

Show more chicks.

Rachel said...

Wendy!!! I finally have access to the internet. Bout time.
I have heard of this bloke but didn't know who it was until I saw the name.
Great pick!

Anonymous said...

minijonb - thanks! I agree. He does rock.

dennis - in the second picture, he's kind of a chick....

rachel - yay! glad you finally got access. eddie izzard is fantastic. we need to watch "dressed to kill" sometimes. he is a riot.

laura b. said...

Oooohhhh, that is a really good pick. I love Eddie Izzard!

M said...

oh god I absolutely LOVE Eddie Izzard!

Tara said...

Oh cool! A friend of mine brought over one of Eddie Izzard's videos. He's hilarious!

Anonymous said...

He doesn't count as a chic. That is just wrong.

Anonymous said...

This has to be the first one of these I've seen on here that I've never heard of at all :(

Erica said...

I have been to one of his shows in London a few years ago. He is hilarious and I love him!
Good choice Wendy and hope Rachel is back soon!

Wanderlusting said...

I love Eddie Izzard! Seriusly, funniest fucker out there, I swear. Great choice...and I never figured to look at Eddie from that POV before.

Anonymous said...

Please make the next one Christine Baranski. Just because.