Entertainment Weekly - USA - Eddie Izzard (The Riches) told Newsweek that he is eyeing a possible career in European politics. ''We've got to make it work in Europe," the 46-year-old comedian told the magazine for its issue hitting newsstands on April 21. ''People are very worried about sovereignty and the loss of sovereignty. I think the stakes are if we don't make the European Union work, then the world is screwed. End of story.'' Izzard just finished shooting Valkyrie, which stars Tom Cruise, and he voices a character in the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. His Istandup comedy act, ''Stripped,'' will open on

Hartford Courant - United States - Tracey Ullman gets credit for putting her comedy mark on Sunday nights, if only because her old Fox variety show helped introduce " The Simpsons," still going strong in its 19th season.

But her profile rises even more with her marvelously realized new show. "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union," a series of only five episodes that starts tonight on Showtime, celebrates her skills as master impressionist and her recently acquired U.S. citizenship.

The British comedian has lived in the States for 25 years, so she has a lot to draw on for this deftly constructed series. Each episode is set up

Newsweek - USA - America is the land of optimism, and since becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen last year, Tracey Ullman, the British-born, shape-shifting comedian, is still a bit drunk on sunny-side spirit. That's the only possible explanation for why she thinks opportunistic television personality Rita Cosby won't spontaneously combust when she sees Ullman's impression of her. "I think she'll have a sense of humor about it," says Ullman, 48. Oh, really? It's hard to imagine she'll be laughing, in that hoarse, husky voice that Ullman mimics so perfectly, when Cosby sees her doppelgänger offering sex acts to prison guards in order to broadcast

SouthCoastToday.com - New Bedford, MA, USA - After the insane fame and wealth of "Friends," David Schwimmer is back to what he considers to be his essence — trying to make it as a working actor-writer-director, albeit one who never again has to worry about making it.

It's a nice life, if also an odd premise for a career: He is as famous for what he did as he is anonymous for what he's been doing.

He burns to work with his heroes, like filmmakers Mike Nichols and Sydney Pollack. He's back to auditioning, as he did in his early 20s, when he was a waiter in the L.A.

The Envelope - Los Angeles, CA, USA - This couldn't have come as a major surprise: "Year of the Dog," a movie about a woman who segues from pet-lover to animal rights activist, was named feature film of the year at the 22nd annual Genesis Awards, presented by the Humane Society of the United States to honor media presentations of animal protection issues.

The comedy, written and directed by Mike White, was praised for its "quirky yet ultimately compassionate portrait" of the activist (played by Molly Shannon), whose transformation provided audiences with what the Human Society called a primer on "key animal protection issues."

Perhaps more surprising was the Humane

Scripps News - Washington, DC, USA - British comic actress Tracey Ullman is known by Americans for her ability to conjure up just about any accent one can imagine on Fox's "Tracey Ullman Show" in the '80s and HBO's "Tracey Takes On" in the '90s. So when you call her house and someone with a foreign accent answers and asks to take a message, you can't help wonder if it's actually Ullman.

When Ullman calls back a few minutes later, offering apologies for being on the phone with her TV-producer husband in India, I mention that I wondered if it was her earlier. Ullman laughs and tells Blanca,