Almost a year after closing last year's dreary Edinburgh International Film Festival, the remake of Whisky Galore! arrives in Scottish cinemas with relatively little fanfare. That's hardly surprising. It's a pretty pointless retread, gentle to the point of being soporific, and a waste of a wonderful cast. Revolving around the efforts of a group of wily Scottish islanders to liberate crates of whisky from a shipwrecked trawler during a wartime drought, the 1949 original - directed by Alexander Mackendrick and based on the novel by Compton Mackenzie - has become a fascinating snapshot of the period, something that elevates its appeal beyond simple nostalgia. Thats something that could have liberated this Eddie Izzard-starring remake; but instead it feels like a parody of its inspiration. Director Gillies MacKinnon may have resisted the urge to turn it into a straight-up caper film, but whatever merits veteran Scottish screenwriter Peter McDougall's script might have had on the page it has become wearisome and whimsical on screen, dulled by characters grappling with low-stakes personal dilemmas that seem hopelessly old-fashioned when viewed from a contemporary perspective.

Izzard currently feels more like a fundraiser-activist than an actual, working standup. In fact, this hypnotic ramble was his last complete work before charity marathon running and pro-EU campaigning took over. Filmed in 2013, it finds the man John Cleese once called "the Lost Python" in masterful form. It prompts the thought that as admirable as his extracurricular activities are, Izzard should consider going back to the day job for a bit.

Why don't the Olivier Awards have a stand-up category?

I was very honoured to be nominated for The Oliviers, and I'm absolutely sure The Red Shoes is a worthy winner of that category. But the reason I think my show was crowbarred into that category is: The Olivier Awards don't have a category for comedy. Well. They do. But it's comedy plays. There is no category for stand-up. Or, if you want to make that broader, one man/woman shows. So that means, for example, no category for Dawn French's beautiful Thirty Million Minutes, which played at The Vaudeville Theatre for ages.

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A masterclass in surrealist hilarity and lesson in poignant humanity.

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Eddie Izzard calls me from Madrid, where he's working up to performing his whole show in Spanish.

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The venue is closing because of skyrocketing rents - meaning the comedy stars of tomorrow have one less place to cut their teeth.

Eddie Izzard's attacker given suspended sentence

A man who hurled homophobic abuse at comedian Eddie Izzard has been given a 20-week suspended prison sentence.

Eddie Izzard 'stood up to transgender attacks'

Eddie Izzard was making a stand against "transgender people being aggressively attacked" when he swore at a man who threatened him, a court has heard.