Film
Eddie Izzard: Definite Article
- Absurdist comedy
- Light-hearted
Eddie Izzard's 1996 breakthrough special captures her in full flight: a fearless, digressive comic riffing on everything from dead languages to dog food, powered by absurdist logic and delivered with theatrical precision. It's watching someone think sideways in real time. For anyone who loves comedy that refuses to follow its own roadmap.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like comedy built from long, digressive riffs that follow a single odd thought wherever it leads, and you enjoy a performer who sounds like she is thinking aloud.
Skip it if you want a tight joke-per-minute set or a fast pace, since this one lingers on tangents and asks you to ride them out.
What it asks of you: A single sitting of about 109 minutes, one voice building an evening out of association, so keep your attention loose and let it wander.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Maria Bamford: The Special Special Special!2012
A comedian using stage design, non-linear storytelling, and wild digression to examine the architecture of her own mind. Playful, theatrical, formally inventive—comedy that treats the stage like a playground.
But Her subject matter is mental illness and medication; the brilliance is undeniable but it's not always a light evening.
Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room2011
O'Neal had an extraordinary gift for taking a throwaway premise and spinning it into philosophy. His rhythm and willingness to follow jokes wherever they lead shares Izzard's fearless, associative energy.
But He died in 2011, and this remains bittersweet to watch knowing that. The loss sits over it.
Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin2017
Chappelle at his most digressive and playful, weaving between music, history, race, and pure nonsense with the confidence of someone who knows the audience will follow anywhere.
But Some of his material hasn't aged well, and his recent specials have been genuinely controversial in ways that might overshadow this one.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Eddie Izzard: Definite Article
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Monty Python's Flying Circus1969
Both use absurdist logic as the engine, neither needs a destination to justify the journey, and both treat the audience as clever enough to follow leaps. Izzard is standing on Python's shoulders.
The obvious DNA ancestor of Izzard's comedy: sketch-based, digressive, uninterested in punchlines or conventional structure. Watching it is seeing where that permission to be logically weird came from.
But It's 1969 British television; the pace is glacial compared to modern comedy and some of the cultural references are completely opaque now.
More like this (7)
Hannah Gadsby: Douglas2020
Gadsby constructs elaborate premises and tears them apart from the inside, mixing high observation with comedy that operates on multiple levels. Formally adventurous and defiantly weird.
But It's very much a reaction to criticism of their previous special; it can feel pointed toward that conversation rather than outward to you.
Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American2021
Rambling, Southern, full of digressions and tangents that somehow circle back to perfect pay-offs. Comedy that feels like someone thinking out loud in the best possible way.
But If you need tight structure and payoff, this will feel shaggy. It requires patience with the journey.
John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City2018
Mulaney's impeccable timing and storytelling architecture, plus his willingness to play with absurdity and non-sequiturs, recalls Izzard's theatrical playfulness applied to a different sensibility.
But His comedy is very format-dependent on the personal essay; some people find his delivery mannered.
Jim Gaffigan: Cinco2017
A master of comic architecture who uses absurdist thinking and self-aware digression, with excellent timing and a genuine warmth underneath the joke construction.
But His hot-take persona is extremely recognizable; if you've seen other Gaffigan specials, you know the rhythm already.
Kyle Kinane: Trampoline In A Ditch2022
Deliberately rambling, absurdist comedy powered by genuine heart. Kinane wanders through non-sequiturs and weird observations with the confidence of someone not chasing a specific destination.
But It's loose to the point of shapelessness; you have to enjoy the wandering for its own sake, not for the payoffs.
Hannah and Her Sisters1986
Both are works where the architecture is digressive and conversational rather than goal-driven. Both trust that following the character's thought process is entertainment enough.
Woody Allen's film moves through conversations and digressions the way Izzard moves through comedy: following threads, exploring ideas, willing to abandon premises mid-thought and pick up new ones. It has her rhythm.
But If you can't abide Allen the person, this won't work for you. And it's a three-hour ensemble piece, not a comedy special—a completely different pace.
Drunk History2013
Both believe that a brilliant mind thinking associatively in real time, jumping between ideas and languages and random facts, is the actual entertainment. Process over destination.
A show built on the premise that comedians drunk and riffing through history, making wild associative leaps and digressions, is enough. It shares Izzard's belief that your brain in motion, thinking sideways about the world, is inherently funny.
But The conceit wears thin; after a few episodes the format reveals itself as limited, and watching people get drunk gets old fast.
People
Cast
Suzy Eddie IzzardHerself
Directing
- Ed ByeDirector
Writing
- Suzy Eddie IzzardWriter