In toronto, on the opening night of his new North American tour, comedian Eddie Izzard stops his routine suddenly. He smiles broadly, straight out at the theaterful of people, and says, "I'm talking crap. Haven't done a gig in ages." Izzard, you see, does comedy the hard way: he doesn't write anything down, and he doesn't rehearse anything, either. During his surreal soliloquies with riffs on everything from cows ("They have rights ... though not many") to a new Canadian national anthem ("Oh Canada, how many A's do we have?/Like 'banana,' only different"), he frequently pauses to gather himself to figure out what to say next. Among Izzardophiles-the hard-core fans who'll follow "Circle," his new show, to Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York-the moments when he says "Urn, yes, ba-dum ba-dum... and that's all true" are the especially delicious trademarks ofhis style.
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