Eddie Izzard is the Emma Peel of British comedy. A high-heel-wearing, mascara-lashed funny guy who, in his new book Dress To Kill, spews forth on all manner of subjects from his SAS stepmother to the space race.

If Izzard's 'pop-culture stand-up' routine has you hooting your head off then this book's for you. Partly autobiographical, it reads like a transcript from one of his shows. He's the human search engine, jumping willy-nilly from topic to topic, from Steve McQueen to bomb craters on the South Downs.

By his own admission Eddie 'talks a lot of crap'. But Dress To Kill manages to give you an insight into the man who changed from army cadet drummer and accountancy student to leather-clad comedian who manages to pull off stand-up shows in French. Formidable.

Reading Dress To Kill is like being held captive by an over-excited child who wants to tell you everything he did at school that day. Eddie Izzard wants to tell you how comedy works, taking it apart and paying his respects to those who influenced him, in particular Monty Python.

Yet his heroes aren't just confined to the world of comedy as Steve McQueen, Sean Connery and Oliver Reed were also big figures in the life of the young Izzard.

Primarily the book is about him trying to break into America. But apart from a few snapshots of Eddie on the road what you really get is a whole lot of musings on a whole lot of everything.

— Claire Doherty 12.07.00