The dull Christmas inessentials have just begun to stack up on the supermarket shelves. Those who really want to make merry and enjoy genuine yuletide cheer during the seasonal slump into alcohol-soaked excess, will have to wait until NOVEMBER 26TH to get their supplies in.

A good Christmas requires one item, and one item only, and it's very SEXIE. SEXIE is the new EDDIE IZZARD video, which will be shot in that famously surreal centre of off-beat comedy (Eastbourne) in November.

SEXIE has just sold out in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and America. Tickets are no longer available through orthodox outlets. The only hope for UK audiences is a trip to e-bay (where tickets are currently changing hands at £500 plus) or approaching shady geezers in shell suits outside any of the arenas that will host SEXIE during December.

Over 400,000 people have seen the show so far, which (if statistics are of any concern) is more than four times the population of Eastbourne, although obviously (being Eastbourne) up to 10% of the 89,667 inhabitants (official government statistics, 2001 census) will have died since then.

Tasteless gags apart, Eastbourne is a video homecoming for EDDIE. His last video (CIRCLE) was shot in New York, and the one previous to that (DRESSED TO KILL) was made in San Francisco.

As for what to expect? Well, the cliché ("expect the unexpected") really never meant anything until EDDIE IZZARD arrived on the comedy scene. CIRCLE established EDDIE as "the funniest man in, well, pretty much all of the known universe" according to an understatement from the Los Angeles Times. SEXIE makes similar demands on critical superlatives.

The Sydney Morning Herald described the show as "a helter-skelter ride: secure at its core yet risky at the edges. Izzard is a master of the verbal free fall, where logic is suspended, meandering side trips are taken and distorted images of people and events are conjured with abandon". It concluded that SEXIE is "exciting … clever, semi-surreal and fetchingly off-beat". In Adelaide, The Advertiser opted for a simpler description: "EDDIE is a true comic genius".

If celebrity interest is any recommendation, it's worth noting that the front row at one gig in LA recently comprised Jim Carrey, Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Matthew Perry, Keifer Sutherland, Eric Idle, Rebecca de Mornay and Sharon Stone. Other EDDIE audience members have included Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Bob Newhart, Barbara Sinatra, Elvis Costello, Harry Dean Stanton, Dick Martin, Larry Gelbart, Angie Dickinson and Robin Williams. How they managed to get tickets, no one knows.

So back to the supermarket: ignore the crackers, advent calendars, fairy lights, streamers, mince-pies, wrapping paper, and inflatable reindeer. Just buy SEXIE, then head to the drinks aisle, buy a bottle of champagne, lock up the mother in law and prepare to celebrate a truly entertaining Christmas.

EDDIE IZZARD SEXIE LIVE will be available on VIDEO and DVD from Wendesday 26th NOVEMBER 2003.  A review will follow on Funny.co.uk shortly.

You can pre-order your copy of the DVD from the Funny.co.uk Comedy Shop now for the special price of £14.98 . To order now CLICK HERE.

Click Here for a downloadable clip in Windows Media Player format!

Courtesy of Way To Blue Ltd.