death, please

[rosaw]

Last night Eddie Izzard performed at the Wiltern and I was there! It was cool -- the Wiltern is a great venue. And Eddie was pretty damned funny, as usual. But he didn't love this audience. Which was really tragic because that was the audience I happened to be in. There was much "ow!" yelling from a section in the front -- very loud and distracting when he was talking. And he hated it. He tried to joke people in to stopping ("ow sounds like you're getting bitten by tigers") and then tried more threatening jokes about it ("ow. Those tigers are making me think I need an assault rifle") before he finally just seemed put out by how rude the audience was. I was pretty sad and very embarrassed about the whole thing, though honestly I didn't make a single inappropriate sound (I feel like I should send him a fan apology letter "It wasn't me, I swear, please come back to LA"). "Ow" is not in my audience noise vocabulary, I'm much more of a "whoo" girl and after he asked people to knock it off, I only clapped at appropriate points. Which is not to say that it wasn't fun, but the audience's bad manners did put a bit of a cramp in the evening for him and, since this really is about me, for me, too. Maybe especially for me, since he will be funny other places, other places with more polite audiences.

It was nice to have Dressed to Kill to watch today. I hope there will be a dvd of Sexie, because parts of it were laugh-until-you-can't-breathe funny. He didn't have much to say about Shrub (sadly) or the Fab 5 has sherrold reported here. However, even without presidential jokes he was fabulous, darilings, just fabulous.

I'd see him again, though maybe not in LA.

Comments

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

"Ow"?

...I don't quite get that. Were they trying to communicate that his jokes hurt them?

How bizarre.

[rosawestphalen.livejournal.com]

It was more like "OWWW" you know, kind of a howling noise. I think it was exuberant but after he said he was annoyed, they still didn't stop. It was horrible. He was still great, don't get me wrong, I think you're going to have a terrific time in a couple of weeks in Chi-town. Wish I were going with you .

Dressed to kill!

[sherrold.livejournal.com]

YOu're right, Sexie would make a killer DVD. I hope that one of these dates gets filmed. He's going to the UK after he finishes in the US, so maybe they'll do it over there.

He was in town for me for three days in a row, and now I'm kicking myself for not going twice -- I'd love to see how the show varies from night to night.

I'm glad you loved him (and his breasts) -- sorry about your crowd, though, sweetie.

7 More Days!!!

Sandy

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

We saw him the night after you saw him. The audience "owed" and "woohoo" in the middle of his opening sentence, and he addressed that in slightly humorous but firm manner and woohooing was okay at the begining and the end of shows but not before he'd even made a joke. People went "ow" too and he told us unless we were being bit by tigers it wasn't cool. Of course, 5 smartasses immediately went "ow" again. With just a tad of chastisment in his voice, he explained that he'd told Europeans that Americans *did* have a sense of irony and he hoped we wouldn't prove him wrong, which got a laugh...and some more "ows". He moved on to another topic then.

I hate to say it, but I think the rudeness did throw him off.

Though he did mention doing things a couple of different ways to get the best pick for the DVD. But he might have just been being silly, and they weren't filming that night anyway.

I've seen rock concerts in England that those audiences are so polite, that they don't clap or cheer until the last note has faded away, and certainly no competing with the artist while they are performing. I think American audiences are getting worse...much worse. And I think *they* think they are being oh so clever and funny. It's terribly embarrassing anymore.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I've never heard about audiences shouting 'ow'. Sounds strange!

I'm going to see Eddie Izzard in Toronto next month, and I'm really looking forward to it. I suspect (and hope) the audience will be polite!