"Taking this as a question, I think Eddie Izzard is an extremely intelligent humanitarian and though I have not seen what you are talking about..."
I'd not heard of the man before yesterday and in fact thought I'd stumbled upon an episode of some churlish panel game which often seem to feature people dressed as circus clowns instead of QT. If you had seen him, AP, your opinion may have changed. He did not display any intelligence whatsoever but only an almost rabid hatred for anybody who did not share his views. He spent the first 30 minutes of the programme (and possibly more - I wouldn't know as I went to bed) berating Nigel Farage. The basis of his insolence was that Mr Farage could not possibly be against immigration as he was married to a foreigner. Mr Farage tried to exlain many times (as he has throughout his "racist" political career) that he does not oppose immigration, only that he believes the UK should control who settles here and who does not.
Mr Izzard was the epitome of blinkered luvvies. No argument was sufficient to sway his belief that the EU (and in particular the uncontrolled masses that our membership allows to settle here) can be nothing but good for the world. His debating skills consisted of shouting down anybody with whom he disagreed or who disagreed with him. He went so far ast to say at one point that the "debate" had not degenerated into fisticuffs and we had the EU to thank for that! By contrast, Mr Benn, who holds the same views and with whom I equally disagree, was lucid and controlled and did more for the Remain camp than a thousand Eddie Izzards could ever hope to do.
Probably the BBC's greatest QT invitation mistake since Russel Brand.