Zany Comedian Keeps it Low-Key

Rick Bentley - Fresno Bee

Zany Comedian Keeps it Low-Key in 'Riches'

LOS ANGELES -- If everything you know about Eddie Izzard you learned from his comedy specials, then "The Riches" is going to provide a few surprises.

The flamboyant comedian makes a 180-degree turn to play a Southern grifter who, with his family, steals the lives of a couple killed in a car wreck. The FX network series follows the efforts of the con artist and his family to adjust to this world that is so alien to the life they have been living.

The first season of "The Riches" hits the DVD market Tuesday.

Izzard's efforts to research the grifter subculture took him to several brick walls.

"They're very insular. They're closed down. We had conversations that have gone dead," Izzard says in an interview to promote the launch of the series on the cable channel.

Izzard took what information he could collect and began to shape the character. Although Izzard has appeared in such feature films as "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and "Ocean's Thirteen," he has not done a lot of series television.

Getting to play the same character week after week was the reason the stand-up comedian agreed to star in the series. But it took some adjustments.

"My stand-up thing is very fluid. No structure in it. I knew I had to get a sense of structure, even just to be able to read scripts better to sense what was a good story because I wanted to make my own stuff," Izzard says.

To learn the structure, Izzard watched hours of American television drama.

The logical movie for Izzard would have been to star in a comedy. That format is certainly closer to his stand-up life. But it was, in his opinion, the high quality of American and British drama that led him in a different direction.

That direction could have been taken in England, where Izzard lives. But he opted for an American television drama.

"I grew up with a lot of wonder and joy about America. If you make something work here, it will flow around the world. If you hit big in the U.K., then it hits big in the U.K.," Izzard says.

A second season of "The Riches" is scheduled to launch March 10 on FX.

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