Funny February w/ Eddie Izzard, Chelsea Handler, Henry Rollins & more (Feb/2010)

Eddie Izzard – January 21st – American Airlines Arena – Dallas, TX

I’ve always wanted to see Eddie Izzard, so tonight I couldn’t have been more excited. Like most Americans I wasn’t introduced to his brand of Info-tainment till his first HBO Special – Dressed to Kill in 1998. It was so unique and original that I had to see/know more and was thrilled when I discovered he was very prolific (and has continued to be) and this whole wonderful catalog of stuff for me to discover. Naturally of course, most Americans don’t even know who he is as British transvesite comedians re-telling the history of the world in hilarious detail, might just be the most un-American thing I think of sadly. But there are also plenty of people like me, for him to fill an entire sports arena like the American Airlines center. I had just got to Dallas a few hours prior and went straight to the arena, grabbed my ticket and got to my seat just minutes before he came on. Their was a real excitment in the air, as it was certain that most people here were seeing him live for the first time. He doesn’t tour the States frequently and when he does its usually sporadic shows on both coasts, so this being his first extensive tour of the States and clearly his first visit to Dallas. He hits stage and the place explodes – he didn’t have his trademark makeup and transvestite gear on, but its not like he would show up anything less than stylish. However it did seem like he was going for a matador theme 🙂

While his material is anything buy linear, his theme is always apparent and this show his brilliance was in full gear as the show revolved around him trying to make some sense of the history of civilization. Pretty ambitous for a two hour show. I have seen everything I could get my hands on of his but yet still seeing him do this whole self-referential pantomime thing in person was a thing of wonder. I literally laughed till I couldn’t breathe, and just a one of a kind class act. Long show too, he did about 90 mins, then an intermission and then a second set with an encore, all in total almost 3 hours.

Henry Rollins – February 24th – Lakewood Theatre – Dallas, TX

I was excited about this show for several reasons – namely, I’m a Rollins person (whatever that means) though over the years he and his output have changed considerably to various degrees to my liking, I’ve followed his career pretty closely. In the early days I can remember being a teenager and leaving his shows exhausted (they often ran 4 + hours) and inspired. Inspired in a way that nothing else quite could, and it would be unfair to say that I still patronize his wares as a residual to capture that old feelings because he still always brings something new to the proverbial table, but it would also be inaccurate to say that he has the ability to still move me in that same way. And why is that? Sure I’ve grown up and no longer impressionable, and his output is now largely dialed in to a political format that I often don’t agree with. However I still get a good deal of milage out of Ol’ Hank, and the reason is, that he is still a master storyteller, and maintains a zero bullshit disposition that is impossible for me not to be drawn to. And this was a good show. I’ve seen literally dozens of his spoken word shows, and as many Rollins Band shows and though the last few I’ve seen, though coming close, I’ve never felt downright dissapointed.
He did a 6 night stand a few years back in NYC with Jeanane Garafolo and Marc Maron that just didn’t work, and I think if asked he would say the same thing. I went to the first 3 nights and it just never improved and it was weird hearing him repeat stuff verbatim. I’m not naive and know that his show is a bit and he has to rework stuff night after night, but this is the closest I’ve ever seen the lines blurred from Spoken Word to a straight up comedy act.
Then about a year later I saw some solo shows in NYC and in Austin, TX and these were better but still lacked inspiration by comparison to some shows I had seen not that long before. The act seemed tired and I had heard alot of the material before and it seemed he had developed some bad habits that kind of made me feel uncomfortable. If you have been to a few of these, you know at some point he’s gonna get serious and talk about the importance of life and your assured a reference or two to his own inspirations of the Ramones, Devo, or P-Funk. Over the years as he’s become a seasoned performer he’s also mellowed considerably (to his benefit) and realizes that posing for pics and signing autographs just comes with the job and I like that, and don’t miss the “angry Rollins” that some do.
What had been missing was what seemed the inspired Rollins, and thankfully on this night, that’s just what we got. He’s also become practical and even effiecient instead of droning on for 4 hours no matter how enticing the story he’s able to do a healthy show that you can take from and do it in just under two hours.
His unique sense of humor and crushing wit were in full effect much to my hilarity and told some orginal stories that I hadn’t yet heard. Doesn’t really matter actually, he could have sat on a paint bucket and read Moby Dick, and the next time we were in the same city, it would still be hard to resist going.

Photos –

Roy Turner

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