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New York
(added 08.22.00, review by Cecelia)
I've been in Eddie Withdrawal for some weeks now...I saw all of
Eddie's New York dates in April and June (what can I say? I'm hooked...). "Phenomenal"
doesn't
begin to do the man justice, but I'll begin there. It's fascinating to noticethe
evolution of his riffs, and I'm convinced that I saw the birth of a few bits I
saw in Philly reach full bloom later on in N.Y. Yes, it was cool, indeed, to be
there on Saturday, "The Night the Sound F****d Up," as I now call it.
Let's face it - that's what a fan lives for. Eddie handled all screwups with grace,authority,
and cool wit. I know he's reached a new level of fame, and it has nothing to do
with willingness or unwillingness to give autographs, photos, etc. It's the level
of the celebs in his audiences - hey, when you have Gwyneth and Ben in your audience,
you've made it (and Eric Idle, Peter Bogdonavich, Clare Danes, etc.) I have but
one regret: Eddie taped THREE nights, and on not one of those nights did he resurrect
the Guinness Book of Records bit, which was truly hysterical...it will never be
immortalized on tape...sigh.... He crammed everything imaginable into that last
night, especially, even doing stuff I hadn't seen since Philly! Great outfit in
June (I especially like the prom necklace), and he was in top form. Fond memories:
Treason, the Bush Kangaroo; Flipper; Thatcher ranting; monkey with a gun; the
god Chaos and his son, Kelvin; dinosaurs playing the piano; the pope; the Last
Supper and too many others to
remember.
By the way, does ANYONE know what "and then the monkey pulled the switch!"
means? Two hecklers made reference to this on different nights. I asked a lot
of people, and NOBODY knew what this meant or was in reference to.
Just a word of warning, Eddie - if you see a movie with any one of the guys from
Friends in it, it will be a bomb, period. You will probably be great (although
I don't know why you want to exploit the drag aspect, when you want to be taken
so seriously as an actor), but the flick will be lousy.
Editorializing on my part: I don't expect autographs from any performer. I pay
my money to see him/her do whatever, and that's all I can fairly and realistically
expect. The only autographs I've ever gotten were from
organized signings, where you must buy a book, album, etc. - but at least there
was a payoff at the end of a long line.
Los Angeles
(added 08.09.00, review by PHSargent)
I
saw Eddie (for the first time live at that) on June 13th at the Henry Fonda Theatre.
First of, the show was wonderfully brilliant. He started the show by commenting
on the waiter from Sausalito heckler and then about the hecklers he faced back
in his street performing days. The rest routine was hilarious. I'm so tempted
to train a monkey to shoot and reload. Darth Vader needing a tray was almost as
funny as Darth arranging matches in D2K. The only low point was when Eddie tried
to do some local improv stuff
by asking what SoCalifornians dislike. The crowd mentioned Indiana because of
the basketball playoffs, so Eddie was stumped for material; he quickly went into
his knowledge of getting away from a shark.
The crowd was totally into the show. Eddie received about 5 minutes of applause
and laughs by just doing his James Mason voice. There was also a group that went
wild every time Eddie mentioned pagans.
One cool thing that happened before the show was up in the balcony there was a
large group, and one of them was wearing a blindfold. They had the whole balcony
in rapture was the performance started, and the lady was quite ecstatic once the
blindfold came off.
After the show I ventured backstage in hopes of seeing Eddie. The house manager
came out and kept us informed as to what Eddie was doing. At one point she mentioned
that the after show meeting was going to go long, so we might as well order pizza.
And one lady did, 10 of them! (Hence the slice in the pic w/ Eddie.) Eddie came
out wearing a red leather mini skirt. From
what I saw, Eddie and myself were the only men wearing women's clothing. The cool
thing about that was the house manager noticed me as I went in, so I felt special.
I got an autograph and memories to last a lifetime. It was incredible!
New York
(added 07.02.00, review by MariaK)
Saw Eddie Tues thru Sat and what a pleasure it was - not only
seeing the shows but also meeting up again with the rest of Eddie's fan and friends
- what a fine group of people we are! Saturday night was the highlight for me.
I know that a lot of folks were "not happy with......." the camera crew
in their faces but I enjoyed it. Even during the tech probs Eddie's spontaneity
shone thru and even after the show he took the time to sign and take photos with
everyone that was waiting there. This now appears to be a big bonus as that didn't
happen on the other nights. Tidbit "an aside" - on Tues night he mentioned
that he bought his leather pants at Dolce & Gabbana (probably in Bev Hills
on Rodeo Dr). The following morning Mary B and I walked up to their store and
saw very similar pants in the showroom but sort of capri style - the clerk must
have thought we were nuts making such a fuss so I bought some perfume just in
case she was thinking of calling the cops - so, that was fun.
I took lots of pics and Eddie signed my Toronto pic. He was a little
surprised when I handed the pic to him and asked where it was taken. I know Eddie
has short term memory but maybe he did remember. All in all it was a great week.
Now anxiously waiting for the HBO special.
New York
(added 06.29.00, review by JT)
The first show I saw was his second night at Town Hall. My seats
were 3rd row and I had the pleasant surprise of sitting directly behind MariaK!
:) Anyway, having seen him a few times at the Westbeth earlier this year, I was
surprised and thrilled that Wednesday's show was about 50% different from those
Westbeth shows. Plus he was totally *on* that night -- perfect. It was also interesting
that on the way out I passed what must be the video's director. He was having
a pow-wow with some others about camera placement.
The next show I saw was Friday. That night he brought back a lot of the Westbeth
stuff that he hadn't done the night before, which was a slight bummer since I
was already familiar with it. He also seemed a bit rushed; it was about 20 minutes
shorter than Wednesday's show. My seats were 8th row, right behind Toni Colette
(Eddie's co-star in Velvet Goldmine) and right in front of Randy Goodman (equally
famous B-O-F member) ;) My favorite bit from his Westbeth shows was his Flipper
imitation - he did it at Wednesday's Town Hall show, but not on this night. Rats.
I went on Saturday, too. I had bought 8 tickets...or at
least I thought I had. It turned out that I had only bought 6, but I had invited
7 others for that night! One friend couldn't make it but I still needed one for
me! Connie from B-O-F kindly sold me an extra one of hers, thank goodness.
I felt a little weird trying to explain to my friends that I
had to sit upstairs in the loge while they had 8th row
seats, without making them feel bad. As it turned out,
there was camera equipment upstairs in that section so they upgraded me to the
5th row in the orchestra (stalls)! This turned out to be a little weird. I was
in the fourth seat from the right and the rest of the seats to my right remained
empty for the hand-held camera operator to use. He would occasionally run into
my row and sit right next to me while shooting either Eddie or crowd reaction
shots. A few times, the camera guy was in the seat next to me pointing the camera
AT me (and the rest of the crowd)... I hope it was my good side because the lens
was about 6 inches from my
face. Not very conducive for a natural reaction, lemme tell ya. There aren't many
audience close-ups in his other vids, so I'm hoping that the same is true for
this one.
Like others have said, there were audio problems during Saturday
night's show. He'd gotten about 3/4s of the way thru his set when it started,
I'd say. It was an
intermittent buzzing that seemed to have something to do with his headset mic.
He then fiddled with his battery back which didn't seem to work. He called to
the technicians in the back asking if he should get the hand mic - this was the
start of the frustrating bit. They couldn't fix it and no one seemed to be able
to give him an answer when he would ask what he should do. After getting pretty
much no help, he went backstage and got the hand mic and announced to the crowd,
"Well now I can go crazy because none of this will get used!" This was
great news to me, the idea of him chucking his usual stuff. He had mentioned at
one point under his breath that all this was costing him $10,000. I guess that
was when he decided, on his own, to try to salvage the taping. After telling a
joke or two with the
hand mic, he then announced that he was going to reenact the audio problems for
continuity's sake. He then put the hand mic backstage again and then pretended
to have headset problems. He walked just offstage to get the mic again "for
the first time" and then continued with the show. A minute later, the buzzing/crackling
noise came back. He looked
really frustrated and said "Okay, executive decision,
guys..." hoping that the video director would tell him what he should do.
Again no help from them....
Eddie gamely tried to go ahead with the show with no mic at all. He tried a couple
of jokes but had to really shout to be heard and it didn't allow him to be his
natural self. He gave this up after a little bit and again, making his own decision,
he asked if we wouldn't mind finding a local bar to get a drink so that they could
use the 20 minutes to sort out the problems. This got a big round of applause,
so that's what happened. We came back later and he finished the show without any
further problems. I have to hand it to him, he really kept his cool when he was
out there all by himself with no guidance.
Some other random thoughts from Saturday....
The audience's reaction was REALLY enthusiastic on that night. I'm not sure if
it was because it was a Saturday night or because of the cameras, which hadn't
been there on the other two nights.
I don't know how the topic came up but he mentioned that he has *breast envy*.
He said "I wouldn't want them to be out to here <hands extended very far
from chest>, just out to here <hands extended only slightly less>...I
just thought I'd say that".
At one point, he referred to the King of Burundi which made the crowd go wild!
He looked stunned. He said "What?... What?" People shouted out "COFFEE!"
and he said, "Yeah, from what?". Everyone shouted "DRESS TO KILL!!"
He said "Well, I don't know... I can't remember this stuff I say..."
That must have been a bit of a wake-up call to him about his new popularity here
in the U.S.
I saw him on Monday too, his last night. There were several celebs in the crowd
- more than usual. Eric Idle was there with his wife & Lauren Hutton. Also
Claire Danes and Fisher Stevens (not together). Monday's show and taping went
off without any hitches. It was difficult to keep from looking at Eric Idle to
see his reaction to Eddie. One time I couldn't help myself was when Eddie quoted
my favorite obscure line from my favorite Python movie, Life of Brian. I won't
spoil it for the others in case it ends up in the video but it got a big laugh
from Eric which made me so happy for some reason...
New York
(added 06.25.00, review by AnnMarie)
This was my second time seeing Eddie this year. The first time,
at the Westbeth, I was front row...that was amazing. Since I bought my tickets
for the Town Hall show late, I got balcony seats. The Saturday show I went to
was filmed for HBO or for a video, or both. This was great except that the camera
crane was in my line of view. Eddie was fantastic though. He added a lot of things
and changed a lot of things since April. His outfit was amazing, even though I
couldn't really see it up close. He was wearing lots of diamond jewelry and very
nice makeup. The funniest part really was when his microphone headset started
squeaking and he had to turn it off and switch mics in the middle of the filming.
He dealt with the audio problem really well...no one was really mad about it he
just kept us laughing right through it-- he kept signing to the camera and audio
men "Give me words. I need words. Is this good? No? Bad? Can I use my lungs
and just scream?" He did switch to no mic for a while but he really had to
yell like an "opera singer" as he put it. They gave us a 20 minute intermission
which wasn't supposed to happen while they fixed it. He came back out and finished
up the last bits of the show and even came out once more to apologize for the
problems with the microphone. The highlight was that at 12:15, after I had gone
out to eat I passed the theater once more. There were a lot of people around so
I decided to see what was going on, and there was Eddie signing autographs. He
was incredibly gracious and nice about it and made sure he got to everyone in
the crowd. I loved his outfit-- a short black skirt and knee length boots and
even some fake breasts which I must say really didn't look so out of the ordinary
on him! Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me so I have no evidence to
prove that I saw him except for the autograph. Even so it was a really amazing
show and an amazing night for me--I can't wait until the next tour.
New York
(added 06.25.00, review by Fran)
I thought you might enjoy hearing about Saturday night's performance
in NYC. We had been lucky enough to see Eddie in Philadelphia in March 28
during one of the early incarnations of Circle. It was a great treat to see the
similarities and the differences. First of all Eddie was well which he hadn't
been in March. I think he was especially on because they were doing the HBO taping.
The set was great with stretchy bands of purple fabric in upright zigzag forms
across the stage. Lying at the the foot of them along the floor were feather boas.
The light and sound show were great. We had had a little preview before hand because
of the big Celebrity Digital truck that was in front of the theatre. It was actually
like a big RV. In the area were an RV would have storage it had big control panels
and part of the panel was a small video screen and we could see Eddie doing what
I would presume had been light and sound checks. It was really neat to see that
in advance.
When I had first called for seats, we couldn't get them together but since one
of the seats we had was in one of the boxes that was now occupied by camera equipment,
I got to sit in the sixth row! Great view. There was of course the buildup of
sound and lights and then he appeared. He looked great! He looked comfortable
in his black leather pants with the zippers and silver rings and of course, his
heels. I believe they were the same as in Phila. His hair was spiky blonde but
different from the other show. Just my impression, but I think he was just a bit
nervous because of the taping. It must be distracting to have people moving up
and down in the aisles with cameras and wires when you're trying to perform. There
was a cameraman and tech assistant up and down the aisle next to me and even sitting
in the row in front of me from time to time. It didn't actually bother me, I found
it kind of fascinating.
I'd had the impression that there wasn't going to be an intermission, but then
there started to be a lot of sound problems. I felt really sorry for him because
at first he tried to simply switch to a different microphone, but then there was
no use and he had to stop and talk to the tech people. They took an intermission
and moved large speakers on to the stage and he came out and continued. He went
through and finished the show, did the
intermission and then a neat "retreat exit" through the interesting
set piece I mentioned, which I'm sure will look great when the show is put togehter.
Then after the applause and everyone started to leave all of a sudden he was back
on stage. He wanted to apologize for all of the difficulties and hoped that everyone
enjoyed themselves anyway. I thought that was such a nice thing to do. He ended
the show the way he had to for the taping, but made sure the fans knew that he
hoped he hadn't disappointed us. That was just so kind of him I thought.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience to see him perform again and to have
a chance to be there for the taping. He doesn't disappoint, no matter what.
New York
(added 06.22.00, review by Tanya)
I must first catch my breath. Mr. Izzard is a most wonderful sight
to behold. His stage presence is just magical. I was so caught up in the excitment
before even getting into my seat. Then it was time. The lights went down, and
a voice recording asking if we were comfortable was heard, and the spectacular
colored light show began. The music and lights created quite a buildup, my heart
was racing.
Then it was Him, coming through the curtain, climbing over the feather barrier,
and sashaying/sauntering onto the stage. He has the greatest walk, even with the
4-5 inch stilleto boots. His black leather pants, with rings attached, were not
too tight, although that wouldn't be a bad thing now would it? His makeup was
fantastic, and from my seats, orchestra middle, I could see pretty well. He had
great movement being without the hand held mike, although, he did keep playing
with his headset.
I saw his show in April, and much of what he did then was not in his show last
night, 6/21, as a matter of fact, there were only a few pieces i recognized. He
did interact wtih the audience, once for a while concerning monkeys when someone
yelled, "and the monkey pulled the switch". He asked what was said,
and informed the heckler that one must project when heckling, and be proud, go
with it. When she finally said, "and the monkey pulled the switch",
Eddie was speechless, not quite understanding what she meant, and then went off
on that subject and elaborated with a skit on that, which was great. He is amazing
with his ability to create on the spot. He lost his way a few times, and said
that he would get it right "tomorrow", meaning Wednesday. He did the
whole writing on his palm bit alot, indicating he lost us on that one "a
long time ago". He definitely was all over the place, and the people I brought,
who never saw him, were quite confused. I, myself, laughed the whole time, especially
when he talked to himself and just mimed, in fact, I was the only one laughing,
and I couldn't help it. I could watch him read the newspaper and find him "awesome".
I did not wait around to see if he was signing, my group was a bunch of duds.
I would have waited, just to see him really up close. I did see a limo, wondered
if it was his, but kept walking anyway. I also saw some famous people in the audience,
some soap opera actors, so maybe it was their limo, who knows?
I will keep this memory of him forever, and wait until he comes around again,
hopefully to perform Lenny on stage next spring. Until then I will search for
him in the movies, on T.V, in magazines and anywhere else he might pop up, just
because he is Eddie and he is wonderful. Laughter truly is the best medicine.
New York
(added 06.21.00, review by Roxy)
OH...MY...GOD!!!
Phenomenal seats, thanks to Peggy.
3-2-1...
We have liftoff.
Stunning eyes, Luscious grin. A confidently strutting, joyous, Eddie. Yummy pants,
sparkly shirt. ALL IN BLACK
The Izzard, masterfully extracting every last molecule of oxygen from my lungs,
in chuckles, roars, snorts, giggles, and squeals of adoring laughter; making my
heart race - like trying to swim in the pounding surf.
IT FEELS GOOD! (This man is BRILLIANT - a gift from, and for, our universe. Let's
enjoy him, let's love him, let's respect him.)
Mesmerizing ability to work with ideas, movement, expressions, all at the Speed
of Eddie...You can't measure it, can you??? ABSOF**KINLUTELY "TRIFIC"
Los Angeles
(added 06.20.00, review by Linda)
After waiting one year and five days, the time had finally come.
My turn to see Eddie Izzard in person, up close and personal (second row seats
making this possible). Up to now, I really had not been feeling as excited as
I thought I should be. Pulling up to the theater and seeing his name on the marquee
changed that. My heart went into double time. When the lights dimmed and the music
changed, I thought I would burst! And then, suddenly, there he was! Eddie Izzard!
I think I forgot to breathe. I do know that in two hours I never took my eyes
off him for longer than 15 seconds. I was trying to burn his image into my brain.
I wanted to remember everything about him, the way he looked, the way he sounded
and the way he smiled. And GOD did he smile. He's looking about as good as I've
ever seen (in pictures anyway). Trim, energetic, healthy and most of all happy!
His makeup was not as heavy as in D2K, but it looked great. He had on a pair of
black leather pants, which for once were not so tight he couldn't breathe. A black
long sleeve shirt buttoned half way down the front, with a see-through tank top
underneath. And for all you East Coaster who saw him with the handheld mike, he
had the cordless mike, which gave him all the freedom he needed. His eyes were
sparkling and even from my seat, the blue was unbelievable. From the first moment
he started to speak, he had us in the palm of his hand and he knew it. And so
did we. But we didn't mind, because it's just where we wanted to be. He took us
on flights of fancy, where monkeys shoot Charlton Heston, because they can. Where
another God, put dinosaurs on earth (when the real God took a day off). And where
mad cow disease was an INSIDIOUS plot. The two hours, that I had waited so long
for, flew by and before I knew it, he was saying it was over. The ride home was
a quiet one for me. I spent it wondering if I would ever have the privilege of
watching this genius work his magic in person again. I doubt it. Now all I can
do is wait until he sees fit to sell Circle on video.
Los Angeles
(added 06.20.00, review by Sheleybell)
I went to Eddie's June 18th show in Los Angeles. It was my first time going to
one of his shows and it was all I dreamed it would be. It was me and my wonderful
mom; she bought the tickets. Eddie was GREAT!!! I wish I could have gotten a closer
seat, but just being there was awesome (the original meaning of the word, not
the hotdog terminology). Although he did seem to be jumping through subjects more
than usual. Once the show finally started there was a big opening, music and a
colorful lightshow (which went on forever).
Now for what you've all been waiting for…his clothes.
Of course he seems to be wearing the same outfits by what others have said. He
was in full make-up, just like I was hoping. He was wearing what seemed to be
a black, mesh shirt under a black, shimmery over-shirt. He also wore black leather
pants with silver hoops around the waist and knees. I believe someone referred
to them as bondage pants. My attention kept being drawn back to the zipper on
the calf of his pants (I'm apparently attracted to shiny things like a small child)
it kept shinning in the stage lights. Which is when I noticed his black, spike-heeled
boots.
I think he may have skipped a few jokes, probably because of
his jumping around so much. But the ones he did were hilarious. Towards the beginning
he was searching for a word, I can't even remember the word. The first one thrown
out from the audience was insidious which wasn't the word he was looking for.
But he wrote it on his hand (like he does) for a 'spare' word. Which he threw
into his act wherever he liked. When he finally got it right he revealed that
he didn't know what it meant. So there was more audience participation, people
began giving definitions. One of which was 'Italian,' to which he told the person
to get a new dictionary. He did a bit on Mad Cow disease; I didn't know it was
started by cows eating cows (I assumed he was telling the truth). There was also
a joke about God, Jesus, and the creation of the world. This was when he did his
famous James Mason to which I realized he doesn't enjoy the audience showing too
much recognition to his imitations or too jokes from other shows, but really enjoys
audience participation. He did his "…don't tell the transvestite anything…"
bit after mentioning something about black holes. Another joke was about Margaret
Thatcher, who apparently he doesn't like at all. His Darth Vader and the Canteen
skit was kept for the encore. I was starting to get worried that I wouldn't be
able to see it. It was talked about so much that I knew it had to be good, and
it was hilarious.
I was a little disappointed, because the paper handed out by
the theater said not to take pictures. So my mother and I, being rule followers,
didn't take any (so anyone with pictures from this show could you please send
them to me at Sheleybell@aol.com?). And I didn't go to the stage door because
I wasn't sure if he was signing and I would have been too shy to talk to him.
Los Angeles
(added 06.20.00, review by Spoot)
I went three nights in LA - Thursday, Friday and Saturday
and they were all different and I was glad I did get to see several shows, it
gave me a true perspective on how Eddie works, how his material is shaped and
changed and how he responds to different audiences. Plus of course it was so much
candy for me bedazzled eyes!
On Thursday I went with my hubbie and with another couple
and we sat in the fourth row center. At first we had a little trouble hearing,
Eddie mumbles a lot and talks fast during his ad libbed asides and the sound was
a bit mushy. I saw Circle in New York but the show is now so different, with bits
moved around, or seams let out or taken in and bits of frill added and then Eddie
was trying lots of new stuff. Most of his sentences would start on one subject
and veer off into another, he lost his way a lot, standing there hand on hip,
then "Oh fuckit, I've lost my whole routine!" It was so fun to watch
his mind working through it's own maze. Hmmm i'm mixing my metaphors here...He
was great with hecklers, listening intently to them and gently commenting, ending
with a soft put down. So artfully done, it was like those Samurai movies, where
the guy doesn't know his head's cut off until he looks down.
So anyway, he was great but he seemed to be struggling with his material a bit,
or doing a lot of experimental improv stuff that wasn't working out and the bit
would just peter out, then he would glance at the audience and then do his patented
scribbling on his hand, "lost them there" Great show, about two hours
and BTW he was wearng a new outfit, Black leather "torture" pants, with
rings attached to hip and knees and other straps and stuff. Reminded me of Hellraiser
Eek! Also a black sequiny glittery button down shirt too small and four inch bootheels.
Gone was the spiky hair instead he had a Caesar cut, too precious for my taste,
and lots of eye makeup and red lippy.
On Friday I was with Dorene and Atlanta Patti and we sat back at the seventh row,
center and Eddie was amazing. He hit the stage and took off like a rocket with
really wild ad libs and lots of loopy antic mimes. He was so on that night and
everything gelled, it was brilliant and he had a smile on his face the whole night
and so did I, no actually I was gasping and teary eyed from laughter! He was talking
about his segues and he started miming them, piroetting and gyrating gracefully
about. During his routine about Moslem
women having to wear blankets a heckler yelled out "What about Turkey?"
And he stopped as asked "What?! Have I been to Turkey?" Beat "Yes!"
Then a sly look at the audience and then "Have You?" She answered no
and then he grinned and the whole audience was with him. And he said something
about "Why did you bring it up then?" and took off on a riff about how
hard it is
to get this tangent into his routine and then he started miming a crazy zig-zag
spastic route from one side of the stage to the other, like a steel ball shooting
through a pinball machine. The whole evening was like that, just absolutely stoned,
daft, hilarious nonsense. In the end he sort of had to hurry through several routines
in the last half hour and he went a half hour over the two hour show. I'm so glad
I got to see this performance; now I know why Eddie stands head and shoulders
above all the others. We stayed for about an hour in the front of the theater
but apparently he slipped out the back. Durn!
On Saturday I went with a huge group of eight and we had six row left seats. Again
the sound was terrible but this time it stayed bad and Eddie seemed somewhat off.
He seemed more grounded, almost businesslike and he had fewer improv riffs and
much of the material was trimmed of it's frills. Early in the show someone yelled
"Louder" and he was taken aback, though he did a funny routine yelling
his next lines slowly and then slowly yelling that it was ruining his timing.
Then somebody made it too loud and he started back. The audience was quieter and
he even commented on it and I think after a bit he sort of just packed it in and
mentally started packing his bags for New York. Of course he didn't stiff completely
but in comparison to his previous shows it was a rather workmanlike. Well actually
I just remembered one reason why I didn't enjoy it. They had put some of the wheelchair
people in front of me, taken out seats for them and one fellow had a very tall
wheelchair so that it was as if he was standing. The couple in front of me complained
and the staff moved them and I should have complained too. They could easily have
switched this fellow more to the side so that he did not block anyone's view but
this theater's staff were not the creme de la creme let us say, sooooo....well
i could see Eddie but not fully and it was distracting. Funny I forgot that.....We
didn't stay but went for a drink afterwards and then went home.
Oh another thing, I brought small binoculars to see, and everybody was sort of
joshing me but I'm glad I did. One of my favorite things about Dress to Kill is
the many close ups of Eddie's face which really show his delightful expressions
and when I looked through the binocs it was as if I was manning that camera. Much
of his fleeting moods cannot be seen from the seats, even if one has front row
seats and with those glasses one could capture them. I only wish it was
a camera and I could watch a replay now....
All in all a wonderful three nights and I just wish I could teleport myself to
New York. Lovely lovely man......
P.S. - The Most important Bit
I forgot to mention that Thursday night, as we were filing out of the theatre,
I noticed three older men standing at their seats towards the rear orchestra,
sort of facing each other, chatting and waiting for the crowd to file out. They
were laughing and smiling and I could hear snatches of conversation as they were
recounting favorite bits from the show we had all seen, admiration and enjoyment
all over their faces. The three men were Tim
Conway, Bob Newhart and Dan Rowan and the sight of them paying homage to Eddie
was the highlight of my Circle experience. Eddie you deserve all the kudos that
come your way, you are the Best comic mind in a generation!
San Francisco
(added 06.16.00, review by Tish)
It finally happened...I finally got to see Eddie live! I went
to the
San Francisco shows on Friday, June 9th and again on Saturday, June 10th! Friday
night, it was just my husband & myself & we had front row seats, almost
center stage. Although Friday's show was good, it almost sort of seemed to pass
me by - I had a difficult time understanding everything Eddie was saying &
just felt like I wasn't "getting everything," however, the audience
response was tremendous. At first I thought it might be the sound, or perhaps
Eddie was mumbling a bit, but it did not occur to me until I saw him again on
Saturday night (and was sitting much further back in the Mezzanine Section) what
the real problem was - I was just too darn close to "His Awesomeness"!
May sound
funny, but it's true!.....I realized that I was in such awe of him
standing there that close to the front row & I was so focused on just looking
at him, that I really wasn't absorbing much of what he was saying! (which turns
out was fine with me....Friday night ended up being for "looking" and
Saturday, sitting farther back, I got to enjoy more of the show itself!) He was
just absolutely gorgeous. He wore the same black pants, shirt & boots outfit
that he has on the previous shows & it looked really classy. His nails were
painted silver & were perfect! One other notable thing about Friday's show,
was that the first thing he said when he walked on stage, was that he had hurt
his back doing Yoga or something along those lines. He kept holding his back on
& off throughout the entire show....you could tell he was in a lot of pain.
I really felt sorry for him. He did change things around a bit from Friday night
to Saturday night. It was a real treat to watch him improvise like that. At one
point on Friday, he was talking about how Americans overuse the word "awesome."
He pointed out that "awesome"
should be reserved to describe things that you are actually "in awe of,"
not to describe things like hot-dogs on sale, for instance. At the end of the
show, when the audience was clapping, some guy yelled out "You Are Awesome".....Eddie
quickly responded with the question, 'I'm a hot-dog?" It was very funny!
After the show on Friday night, we waited outside for about 45 minutes to see
if Eddie was going to sign autographs. There were probably about 25 of us waiting.
He finally came out & did sign a few autographs, but in a hurried sort of
way. He signed my D2K book & I got a few pics too. He was very quiet &
seemed so shy, I think he only looked up maybe once....one lady handed him a stuffed
animal to sign & I think he must have been confused at first as to why she
was handing this to him, then he kind of chuckled & signed it. He then turned
and walked away down the street, into the night, looking like a Star! As I said,
Saturday our seats were further back...and I caught much more of the show! This
night, I went with my husband, my sister & her husband & their son &
a friend of ours. I won't go into details, (so as not to spoil it for those who
have not yet seen the show), but he did bits on whales & singing, dinosaurs
playing piano, a Colombo impression that was hysterical, the Margaret Thatcher
bit, the Spanish Inquisition, the Pope, The Stoned Olympics and a bit on Holy
Communion that was really funny & Mad Cow Disease. He saved the Death Star
Canteen routine, on both nights, for the encore. Loved that bit too! Saturday's
show was definitely better, even aside from my little "front-row trance problem"!
Eddie was no longer holding his back on Saturday night, so it must have been feeling
better by then. Undoubtedly, this also helped his performance on Saturday. After
the show, we waited outside again for an hour until one of the security people
finally told us that Eddie would not be signing any autographs that night &
wasn't expected to even leave the theater any time soon. Although I was disappointed
at not getting to see him up close one last time, overall it was a very fun &
exciting two nights for me! Watching Eddie live on stage, really left me with
a much deeper appreciation for his talents. His humor, quick wit, intellect, timing,
courage & such graceful physicality, are all stunning to see and truly AWESOME!
San Francisco
(added 06.13.00, review by Micki)
Saw Eddie at the Curran in SF on Wed and again on Sat. The Wed.
show was fantabulous, I couldn't stop laughing and thinking how cute and brilliant
he is........even when he handled the annoying "I'm a waiter from Sausalito"
heckler...(" First you need a point....and these people paid big bucks to
hear me ramble and they're gonna kick the shit ouuta you if you don't shut up.
I won't, but they will"). Waited for a bit after the show in the alleyway
hoping for pics and autographs, but when he finally came out, he
was whisked away toward a waiting limo. As he got close to where I was, he was
quietly apologizing for having to go, and I handed him a gift bag with a little
Scoobie Doo and a thank you card. He hesitiated, looked at me to see if I was
"Stalking fan" or mere "devoted fan" and when I said "thank
you Eddie" he took the present, said thanks and was escorted to the waiting
limo, which was heading off to the private party. Went up again for Sat's show.
He seemed a little off, still very funny, but the energy was not the same and
he left out some of his bits from Wed nite
and the show ended 20 minutes earlier. I again waited and after a period of time,
the ZZ Top guy came out and told us Eddie was not coming out this way. After everyone
left, I spoke to one of the theater security and he said that Eddie and his people
had snuck out ( with Eddie disguised ) after everyone had gone. So my friends
and I went to the Bar at the Grand Cafe just up the street. I had this weird feeling
that Eddie and his gang were there, and when I scoped out the restaurant, there
he was!!!! It looked like
a group of about 10 people, some of whom I had seen in the audience and some possible
press types. He looked like he was having a good time (and still very up and sexy).
I wanted with all my heart just to go up and just say hi and thanks (and ask if
he liked my gift), but I didn't want to interrupt his dinner and I figured he
needed to unwind and not have to contend with another annoying fan...........god,
that was the most diffucult thing i've
done and I hope i get some good karma outta it. So close and yet so far.
San Francisco
(added 06.11.00, review by Behind the Zion Curtain)
Another week of the Circle tour has finished in San Francisco
and I was fortunate enough to be part of that week. Eddie performed in the Curran
Theater, a large (seats 1700), old, but extremely elegant theater with 3 levels
located in the Theater District in downtown San Francisco. I attended three performances
(all sold out with well over 100 folks waiting in line for extra tickets each
night), the first night sitting up in the first row of the loge, which gave me
a more global view of the show than sitting up close and personal. Eddie has added
a light show to the opening of his
act which was great to experience from above. Lots of different colors and patterns
which seemed especially appropriate to experience in San Francisco.
Eddie's show is tight, has the bits down for the videotaping in New York in two
weeks and with that seems to have a certain amount of fun about him with his adlibbing
portions of the show that I didn't experience on the East Coast(different than
in Boston when he was not ill). Eddie just seems to be frolicking around the stage
a bit more, lots of physical movement in his mimes and he seems to be singing
on stage alot right now in every show besides the treason/skippy bit which is
based on a song. And like his
speaking voice, he has musical talent and a nice singing voice so it's all good
stuff.
One of my favorite moments to date in the many shows I've seen this year is when
Eddie mimics a model walking down a catwalk swaying his/her hips(Eddie is walking
towards rear of the stage), then jerking his head and body around back to the
audience claiming he's never practiced that bit before (liar!).
There was a heckler in the audience Wednesday night that Eddie patiently let have
the floor for an appreciable amount of time for the person's lips ranneth over,
but when the time came to press on and the audience was getting really annoyed,
Eddie masterfully terminated the rant. He has complete control of what goes on
during his performances....he's quite amazing. At Friday night's show, for some
reason Eddie looked especially beautiful to me. Don't know if he was wearing the
perfect lipstick for his
skin tone or what (more purple or wine colored, but perfect), but he just glowed
up there on stage and it's always fun to watch his facial gyrations and the amusement
he finds in himself and the audience. There seems to be a certain lightness
of being about Eddie on stage that takes me out of my own personal tragedy and
pain and provides me a safe place to rest and play. On stage, Eddie's everything
I'm not, and I love him for that. I've seen
many great shows and will miss seeing more. If you have the opportunity to see
Eddie live, don't miss it. He's an experience, and much more.....thank you Eddie
for many wonderful moments...
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