Tuesday, December 16, 2003
On Eddie and Gregorian chanting
posted by John Davies at 12:14 AM
 Just back from an evening with Eddie Izzard in Manchester. He's inimitable; not the sort of stand-up which depends on quick jokes with punchlines, but an unstoppable stream of surreal free-association which creates a gurgle of audience laughter which just keeps building through the set.
Somehow tonight Eddie linked monkeys with monks and went into a routine about Gregorian chanting, a theme which kept recurring through the set. Eddie likes Gregorian chanting, for its very soothing qualities, and I shall never forget his diatribe against the common house fly nor its climax in the suggestion that it's the noise they make which is the really annoying thing about them.
(I paraphrase): "Imagine if instead of that annoying 'zzzzzzz', flies could do Gregorian chanting (demonstrates sound, as flies might make it) ... if that could happen then instead of trying to get rid of them you'd be saying, 'are we having friends over for dinner tonight? Lets get a couple of flies in, to create a nice ambience in the dining room....'"
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john davies
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