Monster Music & Movies

Reviews:

The executive transvestite's Emmy-winning 1999 HBO special is finallyout on DVD, and that should be all you need to know, really. For those who'venever seen the cross-dressing British comedian do stand-up (he's been underusedin small parts in several films, from "Mystery Men" to the abominable"Avengers," in which his entire dialogue consisted of one word), thisdisc is a treat. Izzard's stage presentation feels as if all of the membersof Monty Python have been squeezed into one body and are desperately tryingto escape. It's no small feat to conjure the pantheon of limey sillinesswithout props like dead parrots, but winning bits on a fictitious British spaceprogram to riffs on Hitler's vegetarianism to an encore performed almostentirely in French indicate a new heir to the throne. God save the queen, indeed.