A & E

Imagine an artist who paints large-scale historic epics such as the coronation of Napoleon or the armies of Alexander the Great riding into Egypt. Now imagine he adds a few extras to the landscape: a badger on a motorbike, a Tyrannosaurus rex playing the piano, a group of monkeys with guns demanding bananas.

Such might be the art of Eddie Izzard, had he been born a Renaissance painter. The cross-dressing British wit, whose conversational, highly digressive style suggests a genetic splicing of Oscar Wilde and Robin Williams, performs Wednesday and May 22 at the Benedum Center, Downtown.

Izzard struggled for years perfecting his stream-of-conscious comedy before he scored his first major breakthrough when his 1999 one-man show, "Dress to Kill," which aired on HBO, won two Emmys. The entertainment world scratched its collective head, trying to suss out this fast-talking British transvestite, who wore a kimono, lipstick and blue eye shadow and free-associated in a plummy accent about history, religion and science, like an Oxford Don auditioning for a spot on Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Like Python's best work, Izzard smuggles a keen intelligence beneath the daft silliness and hummingbird attention span. Another influence, the hilariously profane Scots comedian Billy Connolly, also used history as a launching pad for impersonations, non sequiturs, one-liners and incisive social observations.

"I actually picked up on it," Izzard says, "because I noticed people weren't doing it. When you're a white male stand-up, there's nothing that sets you apart. I wasn't a transvestite (yet), so there was nothing distinguishing me from anybody."

Onstage, he frequently performs historical re-enactments from medieval to modern times. During a monologue on the first moon landing, he suggests that Neal Armstrong missed a comedic opportunity when he stepped onto the lunar surface. He could have pretended he was being chased by a monster who was just out of camera range.

A monologue on Jesus bickering with his dad leads to a mention of the Holy Ghost, which then whipsaws without preamble into the television cartoon "Scooby Doo."

Has he ever thought about why his mind works in this way?

"That's a very good point, actually," he muses. "Um, I don't know. I really don't. I wonder whether all of our minds work in this way actually. ... I think it must come from the idea that you have to talk and, if you're going to ad-lib, then the thing in your own brain is, you have to keep the gate open so that you keep talking. If you start thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm boring,' that isn't entertainment. You have to almost say anything, in a way.

"It's probably a certain amount of fear or lack of confidence, initially. I've actually made myself cut back a bit on that, finish the topic I was saying, or the paragraph at least."

Izzard takes a bit less explaining these days, thanks to his acclaimed turn on "The Riches" series on the FX cable channel. He plays Wayne Malloy, the patriarch of a family of Irish travelers, or career con artists. When they come upon the bodies of a wealthy couple who have been killed in a car accident, he and his wife, played by Minnie Driver, assume their identities and move into their home, where they and their three children impersonate a typical family of suburbanites.

"The main thing is that he is a driven idiot and he will never stop until he either gets what he wants or blows up," Izzard says. "That's Wayne. His stakes are huge. Larger than mine. I don't have this prison or bodies-buried-in-a-swamp thing going on."

Izzard might have wanted to act since he was 7, but his comedy fans don't have to worry about him abandoning stand-up.

"I will do both forever," he says.

Izzard's career has been running on a parallel track since 1994, when he debuted in the world premiere of David Mamet's play "The Cryptogram." He has had supporting roles in "Shadow of the Vampire," "Ocean's Twelve," "Ocean's Thirteen" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," which opens Friday.

He says he actually tried to get less exposure as a comedian in order that he might be taken more seriously as an actor.

"If your comedy is very buzzy and out there and surreal, people can get very addicted to it," he says, likening the effect of comedy to a serotonin rush. "I have trained people on the way up, saying 'Look, I'm going to do both and they're not exactly the same.' "

He was born Edward John Izzard in Yemen. (His name, which he has said is French Huguenot, derives from the name of a French mountain goat.) The family moved to Northern Ireland and then to Wales. Izzard was six years old when his mother, Ella, died of cancer. He was already in boarding school.

"English boarding school is very tough until you're a teenager," he says. "Teenagers always have difficultly with their parents, so it's a relief to be in a place where you've got a certain amount of freedom."

Benedum audiences may notice that Izzard looks more masculine this time around. He's more a dandy than a transvestite. He sports the goatee worn by his television alter-ago and perhaps a velvet jacket and a pair of earrings.

Has he heard from fans who fear he's "gone butch"?

"Not really. I'm a straight transvestite. I never was actually great at being camp. Everyone knows I was a bloke and I was wearing a dress. It probably would be better if I was more naturally girlie," he says.

"I played football when I was a kid. I was going to be in the army. I always was that guy."

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Izzard filmography

Besides starring in two seasons of "The Riches," which just wrapped up its second season on FX, Eddie Izzard has had several film roles, including:

1998: "Velvet Goldmine" (Jerry Devine, manager of glam rock star Brian Slade)

1999: "Mystery Men" (Tony P., the disco-loving henchman of a Casanova Frankenstein)

2000: "Shadow of the Vampire" (silent-film actor Gustav)

2001: "The Cat's Meow" (famed actor Charlie Chaplin)

2004: "Ocean's Twelve" (expert con artist Roman Nagel)

2005: "Romance & Cigarettes" (church choir leader Gene Vincent)

2006: "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" (Professor Bedlam/Barry, the archenemy of G-Girl)

2006: "The Wild" (voice of Nigel, an effete koala bear)

2007: "Ocean's Thirteen" (Roman Nagel)

2007: "Across the Universe" (Mr. Kite, from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" fame)

2008: "Igor" (voice of Dr. Schadenfreude)

2008: "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (voice of mouse, Reepicheep)

2009: "Valkyrie" (German officer Erich Fellgiebel)

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Pointless questions

Try to guess which of the quotes below originated with Monty Python's Flying Circus and which were hatched from the mind of Eddie Izzard.

1. "And Henry VIII, a big hairy king, went up to the Pope and said, 'Mr. Pope! I'm gonna marry my first wife, then I'm gonna divorce her. Now, I know what you're gonna say, but stick with me. My story gets better. Second wife, I'm gonna kill her! Cut her head off. Ah, not expecting that, are we? Third wife, gonna shoot her. Fourth wife, put her in a bag. Fifth wife, into outer space. Sixth wife, on a rotissamat. Seventh wife, made out of jam. ...' And the Pope is saying, 'You crazy bugger! You can't do all this, what are you, a Mormon? It's illegal.'"

2. "Cake or Death?"

3. "I'm quite warm in this stick of celery, thank you, Senator Muskie."

4. "Indignant NASA officials to Neal Armstrong after he brought back rocks from the moon: 'We wanted diamonds, sherbet or a squirrel with a gun!'"

5. "But for sheer pointless behavior, you've got to admire Brian Broomers, the battling British boy who for two weeks has been suspended over a tin of condemned veal."

6. "What I'm talking about is blasphemy! Blasphe-you! Blasphe-everybody in the room!"

7. "'We are wise men.' 'Well, what are you doing, creeping around a cow shed at 2 in the morning? That doesn't sound very wise to me!'"

8. "And the National Rifle Association says, 'Guns don't kill people, people do,' but I think the gun helps, you know? I think it helps. I just think standing there going 'Bang!' -- that's not going to kill too many people, is it?"

Answers: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8: Eddie Izzard

3, 5, 7: Monty Python

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