edkipp

Eddie Izzard is one of the only comedians that is worth seeing in person today. His humor works on many levels, and at times I out of the blue remember a line from Glorious or one of his other performances and it makes me laugh. As an actor he is pretty good but his strength is definitely as a stand-up comedian. It's almost as if a male college professor with a brilliant sense of humor and womens clothing is standing in front of a classroom of people and just lecturing about history, religion, whatever seems to cross Eddie's mind. If you haven't seen his stand-up performances, don't cheat yourself out of the pleasure.

Watched this series in Jr. High the season it was on, and while the series was short lived, it included some very funny sketches. My favorite, and the one I wish I could dig up the videotape on, is the Steve Martin parody of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' video. Dressed as the KOP, Martin walked down the street, and had to stomp on some 'tiles' to make them light up, then gave a typical Steve Martin shrug and glance to the sky for divine intervention. The Den of Revulsion was another memorable clip ('Eeeeewwwww!'), and for some reason their spoof of phone sex sticks in my mind - the backwoods brothers that actually go to the trouble of establishing credit to speak with 'The Naked Lady' (Catherine O'Hara I think), who talks to them while taking care of her kids and ironing for her husband. It was a series that with a little better writing and a better time slot (prine time on Fridays, I think, matched up against 1st season Miami Vice), this show could have gone places.

To call Strange Brew a cult classic is to do it a great disservice. The movie, spawned from SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, on the surface looks like just a lowbrow comedy sketch that ran 90 minutes. But when looking at it further (and listening to the soundtrack album), it becomes obvious that much more thought went into the writing of this movie. It is essentially a modern, beer-filled version of Hamlet. (Get the soundtrack and listen to the track titled 'Shakespeare horked our script', it sheds light on the parallels.) This gives the movie a one-two punch of silly, physical comedy ('Beauty, take it up to thirty this time, eh?') and an interpretation of a classical literary work that critics probably never even see, then kick themselves later for missing it. Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas are great in the roles of Bob and Doug McKenzie; their chemistry and timing are excellent, their dialogue and delivery are great, and they are just hilarious. A supporting cast of also-rans fills in the roster, although Paul Dooley (as Claude Elsinore) has done good work, and getting Max von Sydow (as Brewmeister Smith) was a coup. If you're looking for a movie you can laugh at immediately and analyze later, pick this one.