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Unusually for Eddie Izzard (47), he was dressed in sober jeans and shirt, only his silk lined, tailed dinner jacket and understated make-up giving indications of his eccentricity.
But it is these quirks which make Izzard stand out and his theme for the night was world history. Jazz chickens, medieval weavers, Wikipedia and tales of his five years as a child in Bangor, Co Down, jump wildly off on tangents which seemingly make no sense, but with Izzard's coaxing all becomes clear.
Other comics do surreal, conversational comedy, but no-one does it quite this good. Izzard's quirky world view seems partially influenced by his nomadic childhood which saw the family flit from Yemen, where he was born, to Bangor, Wales and Yorkshire.
Along the way he developed a penchant for big girls' blouses.
And this is perhaps Izzard's greatest achievement. Single handedly he makes the outsider acceptable.
To the Odyssey crowd, Izzard can do no wrong.
Conor O’Neill
