A BIG ROOM FOR POO: EDDIE IZZARD’S BIBLE AND THE LITERACY OF LAUGHTER
Christopher Meredith
ABSTRACT
We are frequently told by the tweedy denizens of biblical academe, often with mournful cries and much handwringing, that biblical literacy is in terminal decline. This article looks at the interplay between biblical narratives and Eddie Izzard’s 1997 stand-up tour, Glorious, to contend that audiences in the global North are on the contrary so familiar with biblical texts, and so disquieted by this familiarity, that they needs strategies to cope, laughter chief among them. Critically engaging with Eddie Izzard’s rendition of Genesis 6-9 and Julia Kristeva’s work on abjection, this article calls into question the paternalistic metaphors that have underwritten discussion on the Bible’s role in popular culture and posits new avenues (and attitudes) of approach.
KEYWORDS
Eddie Izzard; comedy; Genesis 6-9; Julia Kristeva; abject
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