Editing Eddie Izzard (section)

===Comedy===
[[File:EddieIzzard.jpg|thumb|upright|Izzard performing in December 2008]]
Izzard began to toy with comedy while at university with her friend Rob Ballard.<ref name="thsndytmes_appleyard"/><ref name="latimes_taylor"/> The two took their act to the streets,<ref name="thsndytmes_appleyard"/><ref name="latimes_taylor"/> often in the [[Covent Garden]] district of [[London]].<ref name="latimes_brownfield"/><ref name="indpndnt_burrell"/><ref name="thisislondon_dessau"/> After splitting with Ballard, Izzard spent a great deal of the early 1980s working as a street performer in Europe and the United States. She says that she developed her comedic voice by talking to the audience while doing solo escape acts.<ref>{{citation |title=One Plus One: Eddie Izzard |date=6 February 2015 |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/one-plus-one/2015-02-06/one-plus-one-eddie-izzard/6077128 |others=Jane Hutcheon |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=12 October 2017}}</ref> She then moved her act to the stand-up comedy venues of Britain, performing her routine for the first time at the Banana Cabaret in London's [[Balham]] area.<ref name="sydmornher_1"/><ref name="itunes_amstell"/>

In 1987, Izzard's first stage appearance was at the [[The Comedy Store, London|Comedy Store]] in London.<ref name="indpndnt_sweeney"/> She refined her comedy material throughout the 1980s and began earning recognition through improvisation in the early 1990s, in part at her own club, Raging Bull in [[Soho]].<ref name="thisislondon_dessau"/> Her breakthrough came in 1991 after she performed her "raised by wolves" routine on the televised ''Hysteria 3'' [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] benefit.<ref>''Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story'' (2009)</ref>

In 2000, for the comedy special ''[[Dress to Kill (Eddie Izzard)|Dress to Kill]]'', Izzard won two [[Primetime Emmy Awards]]: [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program|Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program]] and [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series|Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program]], while the special was nominated for [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)|Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Eddie Izzard |url=https://www.emmys.com/bios/eddie-izzard |website=[[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]] |language=en}}</ref>

Izzard is fluent in French and has performed stand-up shows in the language; since 2014, she has also started to perform in Arabic, German, Russian and Spanish,<ref name="French">{{cite news |last=Fleckney |first=Paul |title=Où est le punchline? The art of standup in a second language |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/05/edinburgh-2014-standup-in-a-second-language-eddie-izzard |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=5 August 2014 |access-date=23 February 2016 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> languages that she did not previously speak.<ref name="German">{{cite news |title=Grappling German grammar, Eddie Izzard proves humor can travel |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-eddieizzard-idUSBREA0S19Z20140129 |publisher=[[Reuters]] |date=29 January 2014 |access-date=23 February 2016}}</ref>