QotD: ROFL

nobody@vox.com(gaspode) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:04:53 -0500

What comedian makes you pee your pants laughing?
Submitted by pookieb.

Eddie Izzard all the way. la souris est en dessous de la table!

A while back I was trying to analyze exactly what it is I love about Eddie Izzard's standup, and I think I narrowed it down to the fact that I love his way of speaking in whole paragraphs, and then tailing off with a kicker line right at the end, almost as an afterthought. Another example from Dress to Kill (emphasis mine):

And you don’t tell tourists about the weather in July and August. You don’t fucking tell anyone. They’re all going around in summer shirts, going, “Jesus Christ! I can’t see! I can’t see! Fog! There’s fog!” And it really shifts it, your fog! I saw John Carpenter’s film, “The Fog,” seen it a few times, and that fog shifts it. I thought, “Well, that’s Hollywood, that’s fog moving really fast,” but your fog is that speed! ( mimes running ) Busy, busy, busy! It could be late to get in someone’s face somewhere! It runs down the road, doesn’t it? Faster than the fucking taxis! Of which there are five…

He's talking about SF and the fog, and it's funny and he's riffing but then the final line is said in such a sly, backhand way and it can catch you off-guard ("I thought we were laughing about the fog, and now he's made the punchline sneak up on us!")

He does that a lot, and that's not one of the best ones, but it'll do.

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QotD: ROFL