Eddie Izzard

He may be the world's first French-speaking more-or-less heterosexual transvestite marathon runner. Wednesday night, Eddie Izzard will add yet another breakthrough to his resume: He will become -- with "Eddie Izzard: Stripped to the Bowl" -- the first comedian to headline the storied Hollywood Bowl. "I think I'm the first stand-up to do a solo show there," Izzard says, by phone, with some pride. "I'm not just gonna leave this to the rock 'n' roll guys. It's time for the comedians -- it's time for us to take over.

MUSIC Jessica Lea Mayfield At 21 years of age, the singer-songwriter is already a veteran of the stage and the studio, having grown up as part of a family bluegrass group and often collaborating with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. Mayfield's sophomore album, the Auerbach-produced "Tell Me," is a warm, unvarnished blend of country and soul. Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa. 9 p.m. $14 (21 and older). (949) 642-0600. http://www.detroitbar.com . COMEDY Trampoline Hall Actors Ezra Buzzington ("Fight Club" and "Me, Myself & Irene")

MUSIC Jessica Lea Mayfield At 21 years of age, the singer-songwriter is already a veteran of the stage and the studio, having grown up as part of a family bluegrass group and often collaborating with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. Mayfield's sophomore album, the Auerbach-produced "Tell Me," is a warm, unvarnished blend of country and soul. Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa. 9 p.m. $14 (21 and older). (949) 642-0600. http://www.detroitbar.com . COMEDY Trampoline Hall Actors Ezra Buzzington ("Fight Club" and "Me, Myself & Irene")

He may be the world's first French-speaking more-or-less heterosexual transvestite marathon runner. Wednesday night, Eddie Izzard will add yet another breakthrough to his resume: He will become -- with "Eddie Izzard: Stripped to the Bowl" -- the first comedian to headline the storied Hollywood Bowl. "I think I'm the first stand-up to do a solo show there," Izzard says, by phone, with some pride. "I'm not just gonna leave this to the rock 'n' roll guys. It's time for the comedians -- it's time for us to take over.

He walks onstage to the roaring tumult usually reserved for rock stars and soon has the audience busting a gut about the Spanish Inquisition and chaos theory. Such is the phenomenon of Eddie Izzard, funniest man in, well, pretty much all of the known universe. If you didn't catch him during his last pass through town in "Dress to Kill" or its subsequent HBO presentation, you'll have to try to imagine an English/Irish-sounding Robin Williams in semi-drag--not the "Mrs.

The line to see British comedian and actor Eddie Izzard at Virgin Megastore on Sunset began forming at 3 p.m. and didn't disappear until almost midnight. An emergency supply of DVDs had to be rushed in from the warehouse. As the two-hour event lapsed easily into five, one Virgin staffer declared this the biggest in-store signing in the last eight years.

Eddie Izzard, the bloke with the roving wit and the heavy eyeliner, pranced his irreverent way into the laugh-track life of an appreciative industry-heavy Los Angeles crowd Tuesday night. And for more than two hours, he was glorious. Or rather, fabulous. No, absolutely fabulous! (Oh wait, wrong Brit import. So sorry.) Actually, "Glorious" was the popular stand-up's previous show. This one, presented by Robin Williams at the Tiffany Theater, marks his L.A. debut.

Eddie Izzard was talking about his comedy and his cultish fame and his upstart movie career. This was around midnight in a downtown Seattle restaurant. Izzard was drinking wine and cutting into a wood-smoked piece of chicken, but he would not touch the bread. Izzard puts on weight if he's not careful, and on his current comedy tour, which is called "Circle," he is working out daily with a woman named Helen Murphy.

He's calling it "Sexie," but Eddie Izzard says his latest performance piece might just as well be named "Elbow." "I like the one-word thing," Izzard elaborates. "I once did a show called 'Glorious,' but it wasn't me glorious, it could have been fall-of-the-Roman-Empire glorious, or glorious before the fall. 'Sexie' might be the state of sexy or the mental attitude of something sexy. At the moment, in Britain we've got this thing about documents that are being sexed up."

Wearing jeans, a bomber jacket and a Nike baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, Eddie Izzard slips unnoticed past the crowd milling about outside the Cable Car Theater. It's 20 minutes before show time and Izzard has to change into his stage outfit: a Jean-Paul Gaultier "mandarin smock" and black polyvinyl pants, high-heeled shoes and makeup--lipstick, eyeliner, eye shadow, midnight-blue nail polish. He's sold out another show, this one on a Wednesday night.

Eddie Izzard: Stripped Too tour Where: Nokia Theatre, 777 Chick Hearn Court, Los Angeles When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday Price: $50 to $75 Contact: (213) 763-6030, www.nokiatheatrelalive.com

Fans of Eddie Izzard and his over-the-top-fabulousness beware: His attire on stage at the Nokia Theatre this weekend will be a decided departure from his earlier flamboyance. Wrapping up lunch at a Lower East Side bistro, Izzard warns that on this current tour he's in "boy mode" and will be wearing just "a certain amount of makeup -- but no more than Keith Richards." Sure enough, for his debut at Madison Square Garden, Izzard is au naturel: jeans, boots and a jacket with tails, but the only hint of the fabulous is his jacket's red lining.

Sarah Townsend's "Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story" illuminates the life and career of the protean, gender-bending comedian-actor through an astonishing collection of footage. Beginning with home movies from Izzard's childhood, the film moves through years of performances on the street and in small clubs to a triumphant West End debut, at which time he declared himself a transvestite, to his international acclaim as a stand-up comic and as a stage and screen actor. This fine documentary, understandably years in the making, commences with Izzard's humiliating experience in being accused of using old material in a new show and unfolds as he launches a British workshop tour of his 2003 comeback, "Sexie," as a prelude to a world tour that culminated later that year in London's vast Wembley Arena, where he played before 44,000 fans over four days.

St. Patty's Day came early for the cast of "The Riches," which celebrated Season 2 of the FX show with an Irish-themed bash last Sunday. 8. Minnie Driver turned her attentions to costar Eddie Izzard before heading into the Pacific Design Center, where FX execs and costars delighted in their chemistry on screen too.

SO, yeah. Eddie Izzard, the British actor-comedian known as much for his cerebral stream-of-consciousness as his frequent cross-dressing, has been quietly gigging at the Coronet Theatre, ad-libbing a show called "Work in Progress" between shoots for the FX series "The Riches." The run has been so low-key that, largely, only clued-in British expats or fans belonging to Izzard's online mailing list have been aware he's at the 284-seat venue.

When Britain's Eddie Izzard made his Broadway debut this year in "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg," he surprised many with his dramatic turn in the Peter Nichols play about a couple coping with a severely disabled child. He also received strong reviews and a Tony nomination for the role, which he earlier played in London. Not bad for a man who made a name for himself as a cross-dressing stand-up comic.

St. Patty's Day came early for the cast of "The Riches," which celebrated Season 2 of the FX show with an Irish-themed bash last Sunday. 8. Minnie Driver turned her attentions to costar Eddie Izzard before heading into the Pacific Design Center, where FX execs and costars delighted in their chemistry on screen too.

I can understand why Robin Williams likes Eddie Izzard so much ("Allow Him to Digress," by Paul Brownfield, Sept. 6). Izzard's Engelbert Humperdinck bit is straight out of Lenny Bruce's routine about two agents watching a guy painting their office and wondering if they could make him a star. His name is Adolf Schickelgruber and Lenny, doing all of the voices with a German accent, riffs on making the name more acceptable for show business: "Adolf Schickel, Adolf Gruber, Adolf Hittel, Adolf Hit . . . Hit . . . Hitler.

What's a comedian to do, when an audience's excitement at the mere fact of him, standing onstage, supersedes what he's trying to say? "I haven't said anything yet," Eddie Izzard said, more than once, during opening night of his six-show, sold-out run at the Wiltern Theatre on Monday night. The British comedian's latest one-man show, "Sexie," is not as strong as two previous shows that have come through Los Angeles in recent years, "Dress to Kill" and "Circle."

He's calling it "Sexie," but Eddie Izzard says his latest performance piece might just as well be named "Elbow." "I like the one-word thing," Izzard elaborates. "I once did a show called 'Glorious,' but it wasn't me glorious, it could have been fall-of-the-Roman-Empire glorious, or glorious before the fall. 'Sexie' might be the state of sexy or the mental attitude of something sexy. At the moment, in Britain we've got this thing about documents that are being sexed up."