Eddie Izzards comedy language crusade

The stand-up and activist speaks to EL PAS ahead of his return to

Spain, with Brexit on his mind

Eddie Izzard is a man with Brexit on his brain. The transgender comedian, actor,
activist and aspiring politician campaigned hard for the United Kingdom to stay
in the European Union, only to see his efforts come to nothing on June 23, when
Britons narrowly voted in favor of leave. But speaking to Izzard nearly five
months after on the day of the US elections, no less the topic of Britains
future is clearly still at the forefront of his mind.
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After a first, hugely successful run of shows in an intimate venue in Madrid in

2014, Izzard is coming back to Spain with his long-running Force Majeure show,
this time performing his surreal brand of comedy in both the capital and
Barcelona. And as he did two years ago, he will be performing part of his set in
Spanish despite speaking very little of the language. Its his way of bringing his
audiences together a cause he's passionate about.

So how were those first Madrid shows?

They were great, I think i may have managed about 12 or 15 minutes of

Spanish, which I will be continuing this time. Its a radical way of learning a
language. I back-fill the show with Spanish, so I do the first part in English, y
poco a poco en espaol.

The challenge might sound daunting, but Izzard has been here before, having
already translated and performed Force Majeure in several different languages.
In fact, for his so-called 333 gigs, he delivered three consecutive hours of
comedy in German, French and then English.

Its such a simple method, he explains. You just learn it like a play first, and
then you go and learn the language after that. If I hadnt been an actor as well I
wouldnt have been able to come up with this.
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During the Madrid run, Izzard was taking Spanish lessons during the day and
then performing his set at night. But he has now abandoned that idea and will
first focus on learning the show by rote. But what difficulties did he face with the
peculiarities of Spanish?

I think Im going to have the same problems as everyone does, the subjunctive,
the two forms of to be whats going on there?! You just have to get used to it,
the irregular verbs But I love the way you pronounce Spanish as you see it as
an English speaker, the accent just means emphasize this or that, so thats
wonderful. Theres a number of wonderful easy things.

When the conversation turns to his impression of Madrid and its people, the
Brexit floodgates open.

They were great, I enjoyed it and Im happy to be back. This is my thing. If half
my country is saying lets walk backwards, Im saying: Carry on walking
forwards. Im proud of my country but I reach out my arms to other countries.
Can you learn from us, can we learn from you? Trump is shutting it down, saying
Brexit it is a time of extremists. We are allies, we fought together in the Second
World War against extremists and the Allies have to come together and fight
again against the extremists.

Izzard was a very visible part of the Remain camp, having chosen a striking pink
beret complete with British and European flag badges as his wardrobe
trademark for the entirety of the Brexit campaign, touring the country in a bid to
get young people to vote on their future. So how did he feel after the result came
in?

I accept it but much of it was a con, he says. We were told that 350 million
pounds a week would go to the NHS and then the next day Nigel Farage said that
was a lie. So we were conned. The good people of the United Kingdom were lied
to. Even the most horrible people in the world have to accept that we have to
head towards a world where everyone has a fair chance. And if you dont accept
that, youre not a fair person. And how do we head towards that? Weve got to
make the continents work first, thats what the EU was set up to do.

Izzards intervention in the campaign was not without its critics, however. In
particular an appearance on BBC politics panel show Question Timecame in for
particular scrutiny, after he continually clashed with UK Independence Party
leader Nigel Farage and members of the audience. A subsequent editorial in
British daily The Independent said that if he wants Remain to prevail, Eddie
Izzard needs to stay out of the EU referendum debate. So did the campaign
experience dishearten him in any way?

We have to work towards a world where all seven billion of us have a chance,
he responds. Because otherwise we put people in despair, and despair is the fuel
of terrorism, hope is the fuel of civilization. We have got to be fighting towards
hope. Running and hiding, the pound going down the toilet because of a hard
Brexit, pulling out of the single market... it doesnt work, it will not work.

In another episode during the campaign, a pro-Brexit protestor at a Remain

demonstration actually stole the pink beret off Izzards head, running off with it
before being tackled by the police.

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Its got to be hope and not brex-hate, brex-hate is a terrible thing, he says of
the incident. They were standing there with death-head masks on and
paramilitary uniforms, thats the kind of hatred that brex-hate inspired. I jumped
in and got the beret back, and the police took him down and he pleaded guilty.

Izzard came out as transgender 31 years ago, and has suffered plenty of abuse
much of it homophobic, despite his not being gay since. But was he surprised
by the often ugly turns the Brexit campaign took ahead of the vote?

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No, I think that human beings have this capacity, we saw it back in the 1930s,
he says. The idea of leaving the single market and going back to 1973 was
1973 such a wonderful time? I dont think so. Youve got Farage, hes from an
immigrant family, hes married to an immigrant, and he hates immigrants. If you
look at the word hypocrisy [in the dictionary], Nigel Farages face is grinning out
from there, holding hands with Donald Trump, who says he wants Brex-hate plus
plus plus Theyre just pushing for hatred. Its an easier one to go for. Building
is much harder than tearing apart, and theyre trying to tear things apart. We have
to build, we cannot go back to the dark ages of the 1930s. We have to put more
hope in the world than despair. Thats what Im trying to do thats why Im
going into my fourth language.

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And of course, we all know what happened next. Less than 24 hours after Izzard
spoke to EL PAS, the Republican candidate was confirmed as the winner of the
US election. It looks like pro-EU, anti-Trump Eddie Izzard might need a few
more languages yet..