British actor and comedian Eddie Izzard is widely known for his cross-dressing stand-up routines, which pack major venues from San Francisco to Sydney. But life has not been handed to this aspiring politician on a silver platter, with many trials and tribulations driving his hunger for humour.
Eddie Izzard kicked off the Australian leg of his worldwide Force Majeure tour at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt to a 5,000-strong crowd who braved the threat of rain to see the show.
As the gods would have it, fans were blessed with a break in the city's three-day downpour and were able to watch the finale of fireworks without a fizzle. But Izzard does not believe in gods.
Yet he is not without a fearless faith, an unwavering belief in both himself and others akin to a Force Majeure – or superior force.
It is this force that Izzard's genius harnesses, transforming pain into tangible gifts for the masses via comedy, acting, activism, and soon - politics.
"This is the gift of life I think, if you do something positive, the fates - I don't believe in a god - but humanity gives you this extra gift," Izzard told Jane Hutcheon on One Plus One.
"There is the Ying and Yang of this all – the dark side of this stuff - but if you have a good, positive heart you can develop stuff."
Boarding school 'helped me take quite a lot of grief'
Izzard describes himself as a "glass two-thirds full" person.
"If you get to a glass that's totally full, then you're not dealing with the real wicket because stuff happens that's very negative," he said.
No stranger to grief or challenges of the make-or-break variety, Izzard lost his mother at just six years of age.
He describes her untimely death from cancer as a "baseball bat to the head" that smashed his life apart.
Following her death, Izzard went to boarding school, which he said had a formative influence on his personality.
"I can take quite a lot of grief coming my way and push back on it," Izzard said.
"I came out 30 years ago as transgender and it was not cool in '85 to say you were transgender ... or in 2010. 2015 is getting OK - which is weird - sexuality catching up with the activists."
Izzard told One Plus One that honesty had been pivotal in his life.
"I mean coming out as a transvestite, I had to self-analyse myself ... I tried to see a psychiatrist but I didn't get an appointment," he said.
"And in the end I got to certain conclusions and I thought, well I can take that analysis and I can put it into the work.
"So I've analysed my way through the work, using strategy, tactics - a very military approach to it.
"It's just a work hunger because I couldn't get any work until I was 30, so I'm trying to catch up."
The award-winning comedian has played Wembley, Madison Square Garden and countless other venues in all corners of the world.
He has a long list of film credits including roles in Oceans Twelve and Oceans Thirteen, and has starred in television shows such as The Riches, Hannibal and United States of Tara.
He has acted in plays on Broadway and London, completed 43 marathons in 51 days for charity, and performed comedy in several languages including French and German.
Next challenge: becoming mayor of London
Izzard seemingly has no limits and will be running for mayor of London in 2020 – a role he feels past experience has tempered him for.
"Actually I was campaigning – because I've been a member of the Labour party in Britain since '95 – and I was walking around in some election being an activist and people were shouting really negative things.
"And I thought, actually this is not as bad as what people shout at me for being a transvestite, so I can do this political thing."
Ultimately Izzard believes Europe will have to learn to work together in some way.
"If we can't do it in Europe then how is any other continent going to do this? The world will not make it. If we don't do this, then the world will not make it," he said.
"Because despair is the fuel of terrorism and hope is the fuel of civilisation."
Izzard sees it as imperative to push back against extremists and "hateful people who try to stamp on others".
"You've got to push back against these disgusting people and say that we're [those in the transgender community] not disgusting because they've been saying that we're disgusting."
"I'm just a human being, and I have a right to exist, and the guilt and shame. I'm not having that."
Izzard reflects with a tone diametrically opposed to comedy. Freedom, both global and personal, is no joke.
His bright red lipstick and nails are to him, part of his nature, not part of his routine.
"I do predict it's genetic [being transgender] because I never chose this, and I'm so straight," he mused.
Despair is the fuel of terrorism and hope is the fuel of civilisation.Eddie Izzard
"I love football, I was going to be in the army, I was going to be in the special forces, this is what I wanted to do, and I've still got all that side to me.
"But there's also the girly side and I've just been honest and told people about it."
Izzard said he came out about as being transgender because it was true and right, despite the risk it posed to his comedy career, which was just getting off the ground at the time.
"I could feel my career was taking off and everyone thought 'hey you're funny with the comedy'," he said.
"But if they didn't laugh at me in the dress it might just kill my career that I'd spent a decade trying to get off the ground - or longer if you go back into the teenage years."
'One life, live it': bumper sticker rings true for Izzard
Born in Yemen in 1962 to British parents Dorothy Ella and Harold John Izzard, Izzard has taken a holistic view of the planet, with gigs lined up in Kathmandu and Arabic-speaking countries.
"I'm in Australia now which I see as a home gig. I don't see this as an away gig," he said.
"That's how I see the world... when they've got Mars going and people are on Mars living in big pods and stuff and they're saying 'what's home?' I'll be going 'Earth'. So that's how I feel about it.
Izzard sums up his life's philosophy with a message he once read on a bumper sticker.
"When I was training for the 43 marathons I ran in five years ago, there was a car bumper sticker saying 'one life, live it'," he said.
"I don't believe there's a god organising this, if there is he's a bit of a bastard cause you know, World War II.
"So I think, 'one life, live it' - try and be positive and hopefully some LGBT kid from somewhere up in the mountains will say 'well there's a transvestite guy and he's doing some stuff so I'm going to do stuff like that'.
"And that's my hope."
Izzard ends the Australian leg of Force Majeure in Melbourne on February 12 before heading to New Zealand.
For the full interview with Jane Hutcheon, watch One Plus One on Friday at 10:00am on ABC TV, on ABC iview, and on ABC News 24 on Friday at 8:30pm AEDT.
