h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No mention of Edward II or his Improv tours (or the role of Improv in the development of his matirial), or his album with Mark Thomas.

Great entry though.

And that educational series on French for kids that he did, or the >>Je suis une stand up<< documentary.

The only video from french that I remember had him in, something ahout a bakery in france and asking for 'un something', and having pronunciation corrected repeatedly. Then you were told that this didn't matter, if you were actually in france then as long as you made sense no-one cared.
The equivalent in english was:
(french man walks into bakery)
'I would like bun.'
(baker)
'Oh, you'd like bun would you? Not A bun, not SOME buns, just bun. Well, okay then, if you want bun you can have bun. You can have all the bun I've got. I'll go into the back room and get out all my bun. And then I'll be bunless. is that what you want? I'll have to put a sign up, saying "no bun", I'll have to tell them some french geezer's been in and had all my bun.'

Thatprobably isn't right, but you get the idea.

Yeah. it was great wasn't it! The programme was hosted by Antione DeCoune (sp?) from Rapido - another hero. Can't remember the name of it though.

Things you might add / alter in a revision of this include:

Improv:

Eddie has always used improvisation, a skill which grew from his street theatre work in the 1980's and it remains the way in which he writes his current matirial. Taking his established matirial and improvising new bit from it on stage. It was this process of adding to old matirial through improvising (until an entirely new set emerges) that got him into trouble on the Watchdog program at the begining of the Circle Tour. And which controversy led to much of the new matirial on the UK leg of that tour (though sadly not the video).
The One Word Improv team (for he was not alone) did several tours the last one i think was 1997. His partners included Mark Arden and Stephen Frost. He has also apeared on Radio 4 improv show Just a Minute.

Edinburgh Fringe:
Eddie went with a university troupe in the early '80's and continued to appear in his own right and with others. His Perrier nomination came in 1991 (the winner was Frank Skinner). He has continued to appear their (He did one show in 2001) and will perform at the Guilded Balloon benefit in January - supporting the Festival venue destroyed in the recent cowgate fire.

"It was this process of adding to old matirial through improvising (until an entirely new set emerges) that got him into trouble on the Watchdog program at the begining of the Circle Tour"

How could you get in trouble for that?

People complained at the begining of the tour that al lot of the matirial was the same as that at the end of the previous tour. They wanted a whole new show. Ms Robinson and co claimed that he was ripping people off by doing jokes that appeared on his video of the previous tour.

Depends on if they're v good jokes, I think.

I've never heard people come back from a Rolling Stone concert and complain that they played songs they'd previously released on records.

I saw him at the time and he was great.

Anyone who would complain about that doesn't deserve Eddie - I've seen him a few times live, but never twice on the same tour - something I intend to change.

You always get a bit of preview of his set on chat shows, and seeing how that changes when he gets to the stage and again on the video release is rarely a disappointment - the gags usually improve. It's even better when you see him live and realise that he's just thought of something entirely fresh and completely loses where he was in the rehearsed set.

I fully intend to catch one of the very first and last shows of his next tour just to see what's changed

So the bits on the viedo where he goes 'where am I?' or 'emergency filler joke' aren't on purpose, he really did just go off on a tangent and forget what was next.

I'd be stunned if they weren't - it just seems to be a natural bit of dithering as he tries to pick up where he diverged from the rehearsed set

BUt it is funny in itself (it reminds us that the rest is all scripted beforehand, etc).