Suddenly, Izzard did a bit about learning French then put together an absurd situation using all these random school French phrases during a trip to France, most memorably trying to bring the words cat (le chat), mouse (la souris) and monkey (le singe) up in conversation. I loved it. It spoke to an experience of the language that I understood. Then, as part of the encore, Izzard redid a whole section of the show in French. I found I could actually understand it. There was one line in particular, “le singe a disparu” (the monkey has disappeared) where a whole verb table suddenly clicked into place. And another sequence about getting out of an awkward conversation by saying “Je dois partir parce que ma grand-mère est flambée” (My grandmother is on fire). Being able to follow had not only let me in on the joke, it made it funnier. All those dry verb tables, conjugations and vocabulary lists finally made sense and I realised languages can be funny – and fun. Unexpectedly, Dress to Kill gave French a purpose.