Movie Review: Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 11:03AM 
I'm an Eddie Izzard fan, plain and simple. Though not running around with a "Cake or Death" t-shirt or getting his autograph, I have seen him perform standup three times, caught his performance in A Day In the Death of Joe Egg and own just about all of his DVDs. Perhaps not a fanatic (I'm not making my own "Cake or Death" t-shirts) but definitely a devotee. When the recent biography came out, Believe: The Izzard Story, I was intrigued. I knew nothing about his back story.
What I found was interesting insight into the life of this comedian. Sharing his story, from childhood through his early years in standup, it follows the life of a man who refused to give up. Through trials and tribulations, bad reviews and rejections, Eddie Izzard never lost faith in himself. He always knew what he wanted to do and worked towards his goal, even when it seemed the universe was working against him.
He speaks about the obstacles he encountered through his career, both outside and internal and how he found ways to overcome them. Mostly he talks about the importance of believing in yourself. "If you want to be a singer, you've got to believe you can sing, if you want to be a comedian you've got to believe you can be funny." In dealing with hecklers and critics, he tells of lessons learned during his street performing days - on a unicycle. If someone walked by and said "don't fall" the minute he thought "I'm not going to fall, I'm not going to fall" he would lose balance. Letting those negative thoughts in altered his confidence. Instead, he turned his mind blank and let the moment pass.
Eddie Izzard is just another shining example of someone who followed his passion. He recognized his strengths and talents (in some cases through trial and error) and remained true to himself. And that is truly inspirational.
Reader Comments (1)
I LOVE Mr. izzard...the Joe Egg performance was a real eye opener for me...top comic and outstanding actor...inspiring indeed...as is your blog missus! x;)