My take: Eddie Izzard "Stripped" in Austin

AUSTIN, TEXAS – From French giraffes and African tigers to Spartan sheep and rocks with GPS, British comic Eddie Izzard covered a wide array of bizarre topics in his trademark rambling fashion Saturday night at the Paramount Theatre.

The sold-out crowd laughed, clapped and howled through most of the two-hour show, titled “Stripped.” The audience rewarded Izzard with standing ovations after the main show and brief encore.

Izzard took the stage bowing, bouncing and dancing, though he said a hurt foot limited the amount of frantic footwork in his routine. But he recommended dancing as a great public speaking tool, claiming that even if you don’t know what you’re talking about, you at least exude confidence when you’re dancing.

As he dispensed advice and factoids, the comic/actor told audience members they could say an “off-duty transvestite told me that.” Instead of dressing in women’s clothing, as in his stand-up DVD performances, he wore very appropriate cowboy boots, jeans, a red and white striped shirt, a tuxedo jacket and a neat goatee.

In his typical fashion, Izzard fleetly jumped from topic to topic throughout his show, often with no segue, and then winding back around to an earlier subject. He sometimes wrapped up bits with his signature lines “so, yeah” or “all this is true,” to the delight of fans.

In one of the show’s highlights, Izzard mused at length about how giraffes communicate since they have no vocal cords, theorizing that they talked through coughing or even used charades. The giraffes in question were being stalked by a tiger - which he acknowledged didn’t really belong in Africa – and one was trying to get a warning to the other. In Izzard’s oddball world, these herbivores decide to hide from the predator by posing as the Eiffel Tower. It all made sense – sort of – if you were there.

As usual, the self-described techno-junkie waxed at length about computers, singing the praises of “Mr. and Mrs. Wikipedia” and the ability to instantly learn about virtually any topic on the Internet. He even pulled out his iPhone to look up how to make jam, which led to ramblings on the jam-making process, the difference between jam and preserves and an accidental link to the Wikipedia page for the band The Jam.

He followed it up with some spot-on jokes about the software service agreements, which force people to lie because no one reads them but everyone clicks “yes,” and software update letdown, when you accept an upgrade but can’t notice the difference after installation.