Why does eddie izzard wear makeup

A lifelong Palace fan, he became an associate director of the club last year , so we meet for lunch at the ground before the game. By the time post-match drinks arrive, five hours later, I have to conclude that while I had been very much looking forward to our meeting, he evidently hadn't. Then up bounces the former Labour leader.

It's a relief just to see a friendly, smiling face — but all the more so when it turns out that even with Kinnock, one of his all-time heroes, Izzard remains detached. Nothing seems to defrost the comedian, which makes me feel better about the whole strangely tense day — but even more confused about Izzard. Now 51, he has been widely adored for more than two decades. His fans worship his surreal, Pythonesque humour, and few were put off when he came out in the 90s as a heterosexual transvestite, and began cross-dressing on stage.

Everyone else fell in love with him in , after he ran 43 marathons in 52 days for Sport Relief. This year he performed the biggest-ever global standup tour, selling out from South Africa to Zagreb with a routine covering everything from human sacrifice to Olympic dressage, and the DVD — Force Majeure — has been enthusiastically reviewed. His childhood ambition to be an actor has come true, with roles in Ocean's Twelve, The Avengers and other films.

Most impressively of all, the French leg of his Force Majeure tour was performed entirely in French. Izzard is now studying German, and once he's pulled off a performance in that, too, he'll move on to Spanish, then Russian. So why make such heavy weather of an afternoon at the football? It starts with an innocent question about if it's harder to be funny in a foreign language. Language is not difficult to learn. He studies me doubtfully. I mean, I made a guy laugh in a traffic jam at the Cannes film festival.

We were going along at nought miles per hour. Then after about 20 minutes we went up to 5mph. So I said, 'Wow — c'est comme le Grand Prix maintenant. I have to play Yemen. This is right that I should be doing this. By May , however, Izzard intends to be winding up his showbusiness CV and launching a political career.

Having helped Labour fight four general elections, and been cheerleader-in-chief for Ken Livingstone's mayoral campaign, he has a good idea of what he'd be getting himself into. I should stand up and be counted. It's a laudable impulse, but while I was watching him wow Wembley on his new DVD, I found it quite hard to picture him planning local bus routes with a transport committee.

I can't think of any precedent. Who I know well. I said to him, 'What you're doing is what I'm trying to do.

Franken's comedy was always political, though, and Izzard's emphatically isn't, so I try to get a sense of his beliefs. He joined the Labour party in , and his politics sound like vintage New Labour: "Safety net for people who are having a tough time, encourage wealth creation on the positive side.

And I think that's an important thing. Europe is also a loose confederation of states—but without one leader, so it's hard to get people to work together. The European Union has to find a way. It's too bureaucratic otherwise. If we can't get the European Union to work, then the world will not work.

Those are the stakes. You have always been at ease cross-dressing, but lately you appear to have toned down your look, with less makeup and butchier men's clothes although still with a great pair of stacked Cuban-heeled boots. Has this been because of your political aspirations? I will wear what I want, when I want. I won't have anyone telling me what to wear.

I was campaigning in London in makeup, and no one seemed to give a damn about that. I showed up to the Labour Party conference wearing makeup.

I wear it, and I don't wear it, just like any woman does. I could flip a coin each day. Maybe that would be the easiest way to do it. In one of your most famous stand-up routines, you play out what would've happened if the Church of England had attempted an Inquisition like the Spanish one.

You suggest they would torture people by asking "cake or death? Someone told me to cut out the crap. C is caffeine, R is refined sugar, A is additives and P is the preservatives. Cut out the C. Obviously, sugar is a great little thing, but it's so obviously addictive, as is nicotine.

As is opium, as are all these things. Sure, some drugs have worse effects than sugar does. But eventually it has a health effect, as everyone becomes one of these large rolling mountains. Since I've dropped refined sugar it's sort of changed my life. I lost more weight in the two months I gave up sugar than in the two months I ran 43 marathons. My skin looks better. And I feel I'm closer to a more feral way of existing.

I remember when I heard people were doing the caveman diet and I thought, What a ridiculous thing. Then I realized, That's how we were meant to be. Then we found sugar and started to pump it into our bodies. Take out the sugar, additives and preservatives, and it will change your life. Change your life with no exercise. Other people continued the conversation with me, attempting to justify James' theory using Topshop and their "mens' clothing" and "women's clothing" sections which, if you are fairly closed minded, is probably a valid argument but remains a media-led way of marketing and does not, and should not, define the person who is wearing them.

I lost the will to live when one person told me that they also hadn't known in fairness, she was very young and said she'd asked her parents which is probably a better way to source the information needed and another said, "You learn something from Twitter every day".

So where am I going with this? I'm just so shocked that people use Twitter or social media in general as a form of education or as their one-stop-shop for obtaining information.

I've seen people retweet articles from The Onion believing that they are true which probably means that I could spout all sorts of shite some may say I already do and be considered an oracle. I've talked about this on many occasions before - we are lucky to have the internet at our fingertips and it doesn't just stop and start with a closed community following the character spoutings of famous and non-famous people.

Let's use this amazing tool to its full advantage rather than a place to be complete and utter uneducated wankers who express continued narcissism or who insult a whole community of people with just a few words in a tweet.