Glorious

The aptly titled Glorious is the culmination of Eddie Izzard's four standup specials of the '90s, and although 1998's Dress to Kill is tough competition, it's the best of the lot. At least it's the best to hear on CD, since it's less reliant on body language than the more physical Dress to Kill. Glorious kicks right off with the Big Topics, starting with God's creation of the world and moving on to a story of Noah and the ark that beats Bill Cosby's better-known version by a country mile (not least because it points out that it was kind of silly for Noah to bring two of any animal that could, y'know, swim) before continuing on into a lengthy and hilarious retelling of the Trojan War culminating in the brilliant "A Huge F**k-Off Horse." Consistently side-splitting and just about the smartest standup comedy ever performed (a working knowledge of European history and culture is required to catch some of the more subtle jokes), Glorious is Izzard's masterpiece.