Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Looking for some quality comedy entertainment to check out?
Who better to turn to for under-the-radar comedy recommendations than comedians?
One of the bestStar Trekmovies isnt really aStar Trekmovie.
What they dont know is that an alien race, the Thermians, think their show is real.
Comedian and actor Eddie Izzard takes inspiration from history as well.
Izzard performs in four languages: English, French, German, and Spanish.
Which isnt easy, especially the way Izzard does stand-up.
His style is discursive, wandering in and out of the narrative until hitting the punch line.
What appealed to you aboutGalaxy Quest?Its the guys ofStar Trekgoing on an actual adventure.
We know a little about the personal relationships of the originalStar Trek[cast].
There was some frustration that came to public notice after the series had finished.
Its like were seeing them, and they actually go on an adventure.
And they are so crap.
The characters theyre playing are so fucked up and real.
Theyre played by such a cast.
I hope they enjoyed making it.
Its such a stacked cast.Tim Allen.
Im British so I dont know him as well.
He had a show where he played a carpenter or something?
Home Improvement.I havent seen that, but I got the impression that it was kind of a mainstream thing.
He plays the main guy, and its incredible casting.
He does it really well.
He plays it really beautifully.
Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, its just beautiful.
I love the whole conception of it.
It just lands really well.
This is the interesting thing.
Sam Rockwell, even his mustache is stealing looks.
Great lines coming out of him.
Theyre all stealing, everyone whos got lines.
They interact, so everyone is stealing from each other and its all balanced.
Thats a wonderful thing.
Anything that people match up on, thats great.
Parents and kids can even bond over [this movie].
Not only did he play the ultimate bad guy inDie Hard,but playing the Half-Blood Prince inHarry Potter.
I was doing Broadway; its going well.
Wed go out every night with the cast.
A lot of us hanging out, and he turns up.
I didnt know what the protocol was.
I ask him, Are you doing very well withHarry Potter?
And he says Yeah, Im doing fine.
I liked the fact that he was reveling in being the Half-Blood Prince.
Its a beautiful arc for him in, what, seven movies?
Hes just a bad guy, until hes secretly the hero.
His character inGalaxy Questhas one of the bigger arcs, too.
From hating his catchphrase to saying it sincerely when his fan dies.He is so pissed off.
It must be nice to play a pissed-off actor whos doneRichard III.
I just think there must be a joy in that.
And Tony Shalhoub is so chill.
Hes just so,Yeah, wow.
Ive never had a series that got canceled, and then I had to live off that thing.
And I kind of arranged it that way; Ive just lived on my wits.
I had some weird catchphrases that came up.
Well, they werent catchphrases they were in one show and then I moved on.
Theyre just out there in the ether.
But if people come up to me, its nothing too in-your-face.
I definitely wanted to do things that people might notice.
And I worked at it.
My girlfriend asked me once, Why are you doing this?
Is it just for fame?
And I thought,Hmmm.
Thats very interesting.And I realized its for your peers.
The praise of your peers.
People that you like, and they say, Hey, I liked what you did there.
Thats better than anything.
Youve done comedy in French and German.
Ive got four languages running at the moment, Arabic and Russian to come.
I have a joke that only works in German.
Id say some people didnt get it because they were too young.
He ate all the cows,alle Kuhe gegessen.He had the sheep,alle Schafe.
He ate, except one sheep,ein Schafe.He did not eat, who wassehr cool, very cool.
He woreSonnenbrille,dark glasses.
And he hadzwei Jahre im Detective Schule gemachen,hed done two years in detective school.
And his name was John, John Schafe.
Isaac Hayes did a song about him.
But normally, everyone gets everything.
Everyone always says theres a different sense of humor in every country.
That is not true.
There is not an American sense of humor, a British sense of humor.
Because the American sense of humor … is that an extreme comedian?
I just go in with universal subjects.
Talking about human sacrifice, everyone can go, Why the hell did we do human sacrifices?
Why did someone ever say, The weather is bad; the crops have failed.
The gods obviously hate us, so were gonna kill Steve?
In every language, everyone gets it.
The idea of shared history being a universal topic is interesting.
Because inGalaxy Quest,the aliens think the TV show is a historical document, but really its fiction.
And the movie posits that fiction is the same as lying.
But in reality, the line between history and fiction is much muddier than that.Yes.
And also history is with the victors.
Whoever wins the battle gets to write the history of that time.
His history hangover was quite negative until recently, about 20 years ago.
He was different than Lee, but very good.
Thematically, the movielinks acting with lying, and lying with violence.
Because I dont think thats quite true.
Yeah.They had phasers on stun most of the time.
But I assumeGalaxy Questhad their phasers on stun.
I think they were the same gig.
Never give up, never surrender thats a thing for life.
I dont think violence is attached to that.
But I do think self-defense is attached to that.
I think [chaotic evil alien antagonist] Sarris is a liar.
Whats the difference between lying and acting?
Some people think of acting as telling the ultimate truth, others think its faking.
Thats the great debate between actors.I think the difference is between lying and pretending.
Lying is when you tell a lie so that gain an advantage.
Pretending is when you pretend and can show it to someone.
Pretending to play a character thats mirroring society, and within that they can tell the truth.
So its a different thing.
If you call [pretending] a lie, I think thats confusing the issue.
It would be tying yourself in knots.
I think the core of it all is entertainment.
And if you learn something, that stays with you.
