“I should have taken a notepad”
That was the first thing I said as I left Brighton Dome on February the 1st. After two hours of comedian Ross Noble darting around ideas in his brain like a bull out of a cage, I was lost for words – and for memories about what had just occurred.
Noble’s unfaltering formula of unscripted, hilarious comedy has garnered both praise and criticism alike. He relies heavily upon the crowd, picking out a select few and referring back to them throughout the night: “Jim, is there anything interesting about Human Geography?” and “I’m turning Lebanese” were particular highlights. Whilst perhaps he almost reverted back to these a bit too much, as he did with his impression of laughs and crowd reactions to gags, it is undoubtedly funny.
His brain seems to find humour in absolutely anything, and he carefully darted around the recent tragedy in France, both promoting freedom of speech in comedy and making a light-hearted joke about the prophet Muhammad. I doubt there was any scripted material, but maybe some ideas he had picked up from previous nights and expanded upon. He isn’t one for note taking.
Ross’ fascination with entertaining every comment from the audience is unwavering, and at times dull. But, in-between bringing out his deep-voiced production manager and commenting on panda-powered cars (screams of “I’d vote for you” then ensued), he thoroughly provided good value for money for those in attendance.
If you want to find out more tidbits like why owls sound constantly horny, then make sure you do not pass up on an opportunity to see Ross Noble live.
His latest DVD, ‘Mindblender’, is available from Amazon, and other retailers.
By Harry Barnes
