THE last time Eddie Izzard played here he packed the Odyssey in Belfast and Dublin's Point, confirming that he truly is a member of stand-up comedy's elite.

Now, in town for a few days working on a film shoot, Izzard grabbed the opportunity to perform a one-off midnight show in a venue which is tiny by his standards. Tickets were snapped up quicker than you can say his name and no doubt many people will be disappointed that they didn't hear about this low-key gig.

Barry Murphy of 'Apres Match' fame has always been Eddie's warm-up act of choice; hence, it was a pleasant surprise that this time he plumped for some fresher talent in Bewley's Comedy Club MC Matt Sadlier, who performed a hilarious and well-received 10 minutes.

As ever, Izzard's blizzard of surreal insanity is almost impossible to sum up in a few words. He started with some funny playacting with the microphone and performed a hilarious parody of your average rock concert, complete with impersonations of headless roadies and mic stands that keep falling down.

His material has always used the animal kingdom for source material and tonight was no exception. Routines about spiders in the bath and trying to get a fly to shoo out the window were side-splitting.

Sometimes, the sheer surreality of Izzard goes over people's heads, but he delivered one of the best ripostes to a heckler I've ever heard. A disgruntled audience member exhorted him to "get on with it". "You want an omelette?" Eddie instantly replied. "Jesus, Dublin! Get your heckles together."

While he didn't quite reach the dizzying heights he managed to climb in the National Stadium in 1997, when he was well and truly on fire and at the peak of his comic talents, he is still arguably the finest stand-up comedian of modern times.