These days, as many people may know Eddie Izzard from his hit TV series, "The Riches," as from his stand-up comedy. And that's just fine with Izzard, who admits that he started out wanting to be an actor and continues to seek more challenging dramatic roles.

That's probably not a surprise to fans of Izzard's comedy, which he describes as "conversational." During the course of a performance, Izzard channels any number of characters -- God, for instance, using the voice of James Mason, or a historical figure or an animal. He seems to free-associate on stage, and bits from the beginning may find their way back in later in the show.

His new U.S. tour, "Stripped," opened in Boston last month and comes to the Benedum Center tomorrow. His two nights in Pittsburgh are his first since he sold out the Byham with "SEXIE" in 2003.

The new title comes from a paring back of production elements. "It's all stripped as in unplugged," says Izzard. "It's just a leaner production. Also, I'm doing it in boy mode as opposed to girly mode." People who know Izzard's comedy know that he refers to himself as an "action transvestite" and often wears a dress, makeup and heels. But Izzard says a lot of people in America came to think the makeup was part of the stand-up routine. He doesn't want to be boxed into wearing a dress any more than he wants to be boxed into wearing a suit.

"Then the next tour I can go back to that or not, or wear whatever I want," he says.

Izzard does come to shows equipped with his iPhone and looks up topics of interest on stage. The subject matter? "Anything and everything," he says. "In the old days, and by the old days I mean two years ago, we'd think of something. How do people make jam? How do people make wine? Something you wanted to know and you'd just ask your friends and if your friends didn't know or anyone standing next to you didn't know, then you just gave up. But now, you pull out this thing, press a button, put in 'winemaking Wikipedia' and up comes how they make wine or jam or bread or the history of the Chaplin family or the history of the world or the Romans or the Greeks or the Etruscans.

"Or Cincinnati," he adds.

Izzard's talking on the phone from Cincinnati, and he's recently found out how Cincinnati got its name. He gives an abbreviated version of how George Washington modeled his generalship of the Revolutionary War on Cincinnatus, a farmer/general who led the Romans in fighting off the Etruscans. Given the opportunity to lead after the war, Cincinnatus chose to go back to his harvest. "The English went away and then [Washington] handed back the power, just like Cincinnatus," Izzard concludes.

When he's told that's a more interesting story than being named after William Pitt, Izzard immediately has to know if Pittsburgh is named after Pitt the Elder or Pitt the Younger. His trusty iPhone and Wikipedia inform him that it's Pitt the Elder. "Now you can drop that in at a dinner party," he says, and in his most professorial voice, he pontificates, "Actually, it's Pitt the Elder, the father of Pitt the younger."

It seems that you never know where a conversation with Eddie Izzard is going to go, much like his stand-up comedy. If he could, he says, he'd talk about "the entire history of the universe and civilization and everything that's ever been."

Besides seeing Izzard in "Stripped," you can look for him in Tom Cruise's upcoming World War II film, "Valkyrie," and the just-opened "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" as the voice of Reepicheep, among other projects. As for "The Riches," there's still no official word if a third season is coming. But Izzard says he's in for seven seasons "if anyone likes it or not. I told everyone, including FX, I'm just going to keep going and doing it."