Eddie Izzard tells Jimmy Fallon the challenges of turning 'Hamlet' into a one-woman show

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: During her appearance on 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon' on January 16, Eddie Izzard shared insights about her forthcoming one-woman rendition of Hamlet.

Expressing her unwavering determination and relentless pursuit of goals, she also emphasized her ongoing commitment to advocating for a career in politics.

Izzard reveals liking 'great challenges'

Celebrating Izzard's remarkable interpretation of Hamlet, the show's X channel expressed their admiration, tweeting, "@eddieizzard explains how she turned Hamlet into a one-woman show! #FallonTonight".

Talking to Fallon, Izzard talked about starting her career as a street performer and using tea cozies as props to attract an audience before the host said, "So I think probably only maybe an insane person would want to do Hamlet."

The British stand-up comedian said, "Well, coming from a comedy background, yes, it is an unusual thing. So, I just -- I like great challenges. I've done a lot of great dramas."

"We did -- here in New York, we did 'Great Expectations' last year, playing all the Charles Dickens characters. That was 19 characters. This is 23 characters," she continued. 

Eddie Izzard talks about developing 'multiple characters from 35 years of stand-up' 

Izzard and fallon conversation then reeled on to her dramatic procedure as the latter asked a question about how to perform a certain skill or task. The actor and activist discussed her comedic technique, which involved adopting different physicalities and voices for characters in her stand-up.

"And it comes out of Richard Pryor's stand-up, because I came from sketch comedy like Monty Python, which was very much playing a character in a sketch, and then you go into stand-up, and there's only one of you there. I noticed that Richard Pryor had done this, multiple characters. He occasionally had people talking to each other. So I thought, 'I'll do that'", said Izzard. 

Continuing, she revealed, "So I've developed that from 35 years of stand-up, and I thought I could use that in drama, as well. So 'Great Expectations' happened here last year, rave reviews in New York, rave reviews in London. And so we thought, 'Let's go for 'Hamlet'".

At the end of their conversation, Fallon and Izzard discussed the success of Izzard's play, revealing that it's already sold out before its opening.

Fallon congratulated Izzard on the extension of the play, which is announced to be happening on "January 25th at New York's Greenwich House Theater".

As an ending note, they encouraged the audience to get tickets online because of the high demand and express excitement about the play's run.