Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens, by Eddie Izzard
You can tell right from the title that this is not going to be your standard celebrity autobiography.
If you know Eddie Izzard, you may know him in one of his many different roles – but maybe not all of them. He is a comedian, with many big televised performances: Dressed to Kill, Circle, Force Majeure, and more. He is an actor, staring in the TV series “The Riches,” and appearing in many other movies and TV shows, including the Hannibal TV series, Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen, and The Lego Batman Movie. He is open about being transgender, describing himself as an “Executive Transvestite,” saying that women dress how they want to and so does he. He runs marathons for charity. He ran 43 marathons in 51 days, across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. He ran 27 marathons across South Africa in 27 days, to commemorate the number of years Nelson Mandela spent in jail, raising more than $1 million pounds for charity. (Because he spent one day in the hospital, he had to run two consecutive marathons on the last day!)
I listened to this book, and definitely recommend you do so. He reads it himself, and has a constant series of footnotes that are usually so funny! And in the audio book, sometimes he talks to the producer and has them look things up as he’s talking – so you are getting bonus content.
It is not all funny, of course. His mother died when he was six, and he and his brother then spent most of their childhoods in boarding schools. He wrestled with his identity as transsexual, and his identity as a performer.
But he is clearly a very intelligent, very motivated person; and talks in detail about the effort he has put in over the last twenty-plus years to achieve his success.
It is inspirational, and funny, and a very enjoyable book from a guy who claims to be basically boring!
And when do the jazz chickens enter the story? Nowhere. On a podcast I heard him interviewed about the book, and he said he just needed a funny line for the title. No jazz chickens, but plenty of other good stuff!!
Just a correction Eddie Izzard identifies as transgender not as a transsexual. The words and labels are important in this respect. -Lydia
Agreed! I took this word from his book, but found several online videos where he is identifying as transgender, so changed it here. I liked his discussion throughout the book on changing views and vocabulary externally (from society’s changes) and internally as his view of himself evolved. His continuing journey of identification really resonates in many areas! (I’m very enthusiastic about this book! Everyone: go read it!)