Ross Noble

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Ross Noble
Ross Noble performing his show Noodlemeister at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Birth name	Ross Markham Noble
Born	5 June 1976 (1976-06-05) (age 31) Cramlington, Northumberland, England
Medium	Stand-up
Genres	Improvisation/Surrealism
Spouse	Fran Noble
Notable works and roles	Unrealtime Sonic Waffle Randomist Fizzy Logic
Website	Official Website

Ross Markham Noble^[1] (born 5 June 1976) is an English stand-up comedian, raised in Cramlington, Northumberland. He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife, Fran.

Noble rose to mainstream popularity through making appearances on British and Australian television, particularly interviews and on celebrity quiz shows such as Have I Got News For You.^[2] He has also released DVDs of several of his tours.

In a poll for Channel 4, Noble was voted the 10th on a list of the 100 Greatest Stand Ups.^[3]

Contents 1 Stand-up performance 2 Career 2.1 Early years 2.2 Stand-up career 2.3 TV and radio 2.3.1 Guest appearances 2.3.2 Hosted series 3 Tours 4 DVD releases 4.1 Unrealtime 4.2 Sonic Waffle 4.3 Randomist 4.4 Fizzy Logic 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Stand-up performance

Noble's stand-up routine is a largely improvised and surreal performance with a stream of consciousness delivery. Often, a large percentage of his set becomes based around heckles and conversations with members of the audience.^[2][4] Although he does often have a few set topics which he performs throughout a tour, he describes the planning for the entire show as, "about four words on a piece of scrap paper".^[5]

Noble often mimes actions on-stage to help the audience visualise his surreal ideas, for example, showing the audience how to serve ice cream properly after considering his own made-up plot of 24 in which Jack Bauer escapes a cell using a greasy goose.^[6]

Noble has commented on how his shows are similar to 24. The fact that he juggles many topics and unfinished stories throughout the show, due to his unpredictable performance style, interruptions from hecklers or because he has drifted off into another surreal conversation. Thus the audience pesters Noble to tell the ending of his unfinished stories, which are usually eventually concluded at the end of his shows. His most famous example is in his Randomist tour, where he started to tell a story about him being interviewed after Live 8 near the beginning of a show in Newcastle, which he did not finish until the end of the performance, around two hours later.^[7] This relates to an earlier comment he made in his Regent's Park show, saying that his mind, "Tends to wander off [the point] slightly," and later added that, "[he] can open up too many tangents at once… it's a never-ending expanding spiral of possibilities." At which point, he forgot what he was talking about.^[8]

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

Noble is originally from Cramlington, Northumberland. "The ultimate in dullness" helped him with his career - he found little to do in his home town so he became particularly imaginative.^[9] At the age of 11, it was discovered that he suffered from dyslexia. Because of this, Noble decided to work within a career which did not rely on academic skills. He had a brief stint as a street juggler with a friend, and aspired to join a circus. He joined a clown troupe and sold balloons as a stilt-walker, before deciding to become a comedian after winning tickets to a comedy show.^[10]

Noble has been performing stand-up since this decision, and appeared in his local comedy club at the age of 15, despite licensing laws that prohibited him working there and forced him to leave through the kitchen.^[4] Noble studied performing arts at Newcastle college, after he told his careers adviser at school he wanted to be a comedian. He later stated that this had no effect on his stand-up ability, as he believes that the information taught is not important in being a good performer.^[11]

[edit] Stand-up career

Since starting as a stand-up comedian, Noble has won many awards, including a Time Out award winner in 2000 for his Edinburgh show Chickenmaster, and a Perrier Award nomination in 1999 for another Edinburgh Festival show Laser Boy. He has since achieved great popularity in both the UK and Australia, where he has toured extensively every year since 2001. Noble's 2003 show Unrealtime was the best-selling show at the Edinburgh Fringe^[12], before transferring to London's West End for a month long season at the Garrick Theatre where it played to packed houses. A recording of this tour was shown on BBC Two in 2004, and a double DVD set was released later that year.

During 2004, Noble performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and other venues with his show Noodlemeister. His 2005 UK tour, Randomist, ran from September to December, of which he continued in Australia during 2006. In April 2006, Noble was involved in a motorbike accident, and both fractured and dislocated his collarbone. Conveniently he crashed right outside a hospital. Noble performed his shows over the following weeks with his arm in a sling.^[13]

Whilst performing in Edinburgh in September 2006 for his Fizzy Logic tour, a fight broke out during the gig, caused by a drunk member of the audience arguing with another. Also, in his Edinburgh gig, some one kindly gave him a basket of mini-muffins with faces printed on them; this is related to a sketch from Noble's DVD 'Sonic Waffle', in which he mentions his hobby of finding faces in muffins.^[14] At another gig, he found someone filming the show on their mobile phone and confiscated the phone. He then recorded a video on it himself.^[15] After finding that several people recorded his finale skit, "The falling owl stunt", Noble encouraged the entire audience to record the stunt simultaneously and post them on YouTube, in an attempt to achieve, "The largest number of videos showing exactly the same thing."^[16] He then took his tour to Australia in February 2007, during which he filmed a yet-to-be-released documentary about his travels around the country.^[17]

Noble has recently finished his 2007 Nobleism tour in the UK.^[18] His show in Liverpool on 21 October 2007 was screened live to 43 Vue cinemas. If the event had sold out, he would have played to over 10,000 people.^[19] It was the first time such a thing had been undertaken, a point brought up through out the show- at one point to the audience (who had been acting extraordinarily bizarrely throughout the night (leaving presents on the stage, three way conversations from the upper circle, lower circle and stage etc) Noble claimed to have been asked by the Liverpool Echo why he would perform this show in Liverpool for the first time, to which he replied "because they're really on the ball".

Noble also likes to indulge in the audience giving him gifts during shows, and keeps them. During a recent show however, a person left their shoe on stage, and asked for it back. Ross was hesitant, but eventually gave the shoe back to much applause. Similarly, at a gig at the Edinburgh Playhouse during Noble's 2005 Randomist tour, a member of the audience put his feet up on the stage, and later removed his shoes and put them on the stage instead. It is now traditional for the entire front row of an Edinburgh audience to place their shoes upon the stage during the interval, which causes Noble much amusement when he returns.^[20] During a show in Cardiff on the Fizzy Logic Tour, a member of the audience presented Ross with a pair of sunglasses which he had remarked on while at a show in birmingham. The audience member had purchased them, travelled to the next available show and gave them to Ross as a gift.^{[citation needed]}

It is common for Noble to have a new and elaborate set for each tour. Some of these include - trees disguised as trees, an enchanted forest (complete with an entirely imaginary elven carriage) and a giant inflatable representation of himself, which was used in the introduction animation.

[edit] TV and radio

[edit] Guest appearances

Noble has not done any acting work on TV or radio, as he prefers stand-up for giving him the freedom to say what he wants without being influenced by a crew.^[5] Nevertheless, he has made many TV appearances, which mainly take the form of interviews and panel game participation. In the UK, he has appeared on BBC's Johnny Vaughan Tonight and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.^[21] Noble has also made eight appearances on BBC 1's Have I Got News for You^[22] including the first show guest presented by Paul Merton. His most memorable appearance on the show saw him and Paul Merton answer all their questions wrong, and getting no points in the entire show.^[23] He makes regular contributions to BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute^[24] and has also appeared on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue^[25] and presented 4 At The Store.^[26] In August 2007 Noble appeared on Steve Wright in the Afternoon on BBC Radio 2.^[22]

In Australia, he has guested on such TV and radio shows as Network Ten's Rove (Live)^[21], The Panel^[21], Good News Week and Thank God You're Here^[27], as well as the ABC's The Glasshouse^[21], Spicks and Specks, Good News Week, Triple M radio show Get This, and can be heard regularly on Triple J.

In Ireland, he appeared on the first series of Tubridy Tonight, where he went over to a prop bookcase to inspect if the books were real. Upon reading one book, he found a photo of Mike Yarwood on one page, which he cut out and wore as a mask for a portion of the interview.^[28]

[edit] Hosted series

Besides making various guest appearances, Noble has been the host of an Australian radio show, and the subject of two BBC radio series. Noble's worldwide travels as a stand-up were the subject of his own BBC Radio 4 series Ross Noble Goes Global, produced by Danny Wallace. This series, recorded between April and May 2001, saw him recording his observations as he travelled around various countries. In January 2005, Noble joined Australian comedian Terri Psiakis in co-hosting Ross and Terri, the weekday lunch shift on national radio station Triple J. Following on from Ross Noble Goes Global, Radio 4 broadcasted a new series called Ross Noble On… during January to February 2007. The 4-episode series followed his 2006 UK tour, featuring performances in Brighton, York, Manchester and Newcastle.^[29]

Noble once again teamed up with Terri Psiakis on Triple J for two weeks of Ross and Terri in January 2006. This second period on Triple J also saw Ross and Terri founding "Pants Across Australia", during which, 4 pairs of trousers were sent to the north, south, east and west extremities of Australia and then back to Melbourne.^[30] Unfortunately, Ross and Terri did not return to this slot in 2007, however Terri Psiakis and Amy Blackmur (the pair's producer from their 2006 show) did present a limited run of shows during a similar time frame earlier in the year, under the working title "T 'n' A" ("Terri and Amy"). As well as this, Terri and Amy decided to continue in the evening slot of 6pm - 10pm.^[30]

[edit] Tours

These dates apply to Noble's UK tours^[4]

• Laser Boy – 1999
• Chickenmaster – 2000
• Slackers Playtime – 2001
• Sonic Waffle – 2002
• Unrealtime – 2003
• Noodlemeister – 2004
• Randomist – 2005
• Fizzy Logic – 2006
• Nobleism – 2007

[edit] DVD releases

Several recorded performances of Ross Noble are available on DVD, notable for the large amount of extras that appear on them.^[31] With Noble's recorded shows, they are mostly dominated by Noble with just a few moments of audience participation. Although throughout the rest of his tour, Noble is more relaxed with the audience joining in, even though sometimes the audience can dominate a show, as seen on the extra "Live in Birmingham" gig on the Randomist DVD.^[32] All of Ross' DVDs are region free, with the exception of Unrealtime.^[33]

[edit] Unrealtime

• Released October 2004

A Double DVD set which includes a performance of Noble's Unrealtime show at the Garrick Theatre, as well as a performance at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Also Noble on tour backstage footage and a quiz to unlock extra footage. Also contains a 'Trivia Track' which contains spoof "facts" relating to the show's content.^[32]

[edit] Sonic Waffle

• Released October 2005

The single DVD contains the uncut last night performance from London's Vaudeville Theatre, complete with commentary and, "commentary on the commentary," audio tracks. It also includes his 'meat on the face' performance from the BBC television series Jack Dee Live at the Apollo, which has an audio commentary opinion where Noble is joined by a Cantonese Interpreter. The DVD also offers the viewer to play a game of celebrity muffins.^[32]

[edit] Randomist

• Released November 2006

A 4-disc set which contains unedited performances from the City Hall in Newcastle, the Victoria Hall in Stoke, the Alexandra in Birmingham and the Town Hall in Melbourne, Australia. The extras include the documentaries Ross' Highland Fling and Ross' Australia Tour, and an interactive quiz. The fourth disc contains The Randomiser, and an hour's worth of randomised live performance clips from York, Manchester, Liverpool. Commentary is included for three of the shows.^[32]

[edit] Fizzy Logic

• Released November 2007

Fizzy Logic is Noble's 4th DVD set, consisting of two discs. The first contains a full performance recorded in Canberra during 2007, and a documentary charting his New Zealand circuit. The second contains six shows from his UK tour and special seventh from Southend, which is unlocked by being able to find out where the previous six shows were performed.^[31]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ross Noble Fan Site
• Ross Noble Goes Global on bbc.co.uk
• Ross Noble Official MySpace profile
• Ross Noble Official YouTube channel
• Ross Noble Official Website

Persondata
NAME	Noble, Ross
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Noble, Ross Markham
SHORT DESCRIPTION	English Comedian
DATE OF BIRTH	1976-6-5
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cramlington, Northumberland, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH