The Circle DVD is also much shorter than the marathon show we were blessed with on the Dress to Kill DVD. Circle, like most of his filmed shows prior to Dress to Kill, runs about 80 minutes (just enough time to fit onto the CD release) instead of the Dress to Kill DVD's 120 or thereabouts (Eddie mentions on his commentary track that much of the stuff that was cut from Circle was him playing with the audience). His liberal stance on politics is evident in bits about gun control and religious fanatics. Much of his material is also more structured - there is a definite sketch format to some of his routines, especially the Darth Vader bit at the end. Here, his delivery is slick and seems far more rehearsed than his normal scatterbrained approach. However, perhaps that is to expected since the show was filmed at the end of his four month world tour, after most of his material had been set and performed night after night with little room for improv. After this time, Eddie notes on the commentary track that, unfortunately, his delivery becomes less like a conversation with the audience and more like a "prayer."

That is not to say Circle is without its fair share of geniunely funny moments, and it would be a crime to give away any of them. Despite some of the limitations placed on him, you can still see his surreal self shining through. The DVD also includes the "Dress to Circle" cut of one of his Paris gigs in French which was also on the Dress to Kill DVD. With English subtitles, it is a throughly enlightening look into his comedic mind as filtered by another language. There is also a short behind-the-scenes feature that has some fascinating and amusing moments and also shows Izzard at his absolute improvisational best with footage from the attempted taping of the show the night before the one featured on the DVD, in which he carries on brilliantly through technical problems in the sound system. In short, Circle is unlikely to be the sensation that Dress to Kill was when it stormed the Emmies a few years back, but in the end, its still a rare opportunity to experience one of the strangest and funniest minds of our time.

Also, I was fortunate enought to catch Eddie's 2003 Sexie tour in SF, and eagerly await the US DVD release for this tour.

Now, back to the DVD. While it is a bit more polished than the earlier releases, I believe this still warrants addition to all collections of comedy geniuses such as Sellers, Python and Carlin.