Ross Noble
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| Ross Noble | |
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 Ross Noble performing his show Noodlemeister at the Edinburgh Fringe
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| Born | 1976-06-06 Cramlington, England. |
| Occupation | Stand-up comedian |
Ross Noble, born 6 June 1976 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.[1] He has also released DVDs of several of his tours, which furthered his popularity through word of mouth. Although he has had success, he is still considered a cult figure.
In a poll for Channel 4, Noble was voted the 10th on a list of the 100 Greatest Stand Ups.[2]
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[edit] Stand-up performance
[edit] Noble's style
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.[1] [3] 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".[4]
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. [5]
Noble has commented on how his shows are similar to 24. The fact that Noble juggles many topics and unfinished stories throughout the show, due to Noble's random performance style, interruptions from hecklers or Noble 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. At the finale of a show in Norwich, one audience member quizzed him about something he had mentioned in a show the previous year. Noble successfully replied.
Noble has commented on his Regent Park show that he does "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," then he forgot what he was talking about.
[edit] Noble's clothing
Noble has a distinctive onstage presence, freely moving around the stage with his long curly hair and his smart but baggy clothing. For the Randomist tour, Ross was dressed in all black but with a red stripe going down each of his sides. At one show (in Carlisle), Noble had just stepped out onto the stage and without saying a word yet, a heckler shouted "How, Ross! Have you come dressed as The A-Team van?"[6]
[edit] Career
[edit] Early years
Coming from Cramlington, a new town, "the ultimate in dullness" helped him with his career, he said. "There was nothing to do so I used my imagination a lot, otherwise I would have started climbing the wall."[7]
At the age of 11, it was realised that he suffers from dyslexia. Because of this, Noble decided to work within a career which didn't 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 stiltwalker, before deciding to become a comedian after winning tickets to a comedy show.[8] 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.[3]
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 isn't important in being a good performer.[9]
[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[10], 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. He continued the tour 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. Ross performed his shows over the following weeks with his arm in a sling.[11]
Whilst performing at 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. [12] 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, which can be seen here. 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".
Noble will be taking the Fizzy Logic tour to Australia in February 2007, during which he intends to film a documentary about his travels around the country. He has recently announced dates for his 2007 Nobleism tour in the UK.[1]
[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.[4] 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. Noble has also made seven appearances on BBC 1's Have I Got News for You including the first show guest presented by Paul Merton. His most recent appearance on the show saw him and Paul Merton answer all their questions wrong, and getting no points in the entire show. He makes regular contributions to BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute and has also appeared on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and presented 4 At The Store. [2]
In Australia, he has guested on such TV and radio shows as Network Ten's Rove (Live), The Panel, and the ABC's The Glasshouse, Spicks and Specks, 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 on Mike Yarwood on one page, which he cut out and wore as a mask for a portion of the interview.
[edit] Hosted series
Besides making various guest appearances, Ross 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. Although the show was intended as a "filler" over the ratings-free summer period, the response on their website was more enthusiastic than expected.
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. Unfortunately, Noble will not be returning to Triple J in 2007, however Terri Psiakis will continue in the evening slot of 6pm - 10pm, with the pair's 2006 producer Amy Blackmur.
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. [3]
[edit] Tours
Dates apply to UK tours[3]
- 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. Noble demands that his shows are not edited to let the DVD viewer see everything and have the theatre audience experience, even though the DVD viewer doesn't have the ability to heckle, throw cheese or get asked questions by Noble.
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.
[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 Ross on tour backstage footage and a quiz to unlock extra footage.
[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.
[edit] Randomist
- 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 hours worth of randomised live performance clips from York, Manchester, Liverpool. Commentary is included for three of the shows.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Wilf Guyatt. "Noble is wafflely versatile", BBC. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- ^ Channel 4 - 100 Greatest Stand Ups - Results
- ^ a b c Ross Noble. Biography. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
- ^ a b Ross Noble interview, Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1 (2006-11-06)
- ^
- ^ Ross Noble. (2006). Randomist, Live in Stoke [DVD].
- ^ The Noble art of stand-up. BBC. Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- ^ Luke Benedictus. "Here's one I didn't prepare earlier", The Age, 2005-03-20. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
- ^ BBC - South Yorkshire Stage - Ross Noble interview. BBC. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- ^ Fringe passes million tickets mark. BBC News (2003-08-25). Retrieved on 2006-11-06.
- ^ Ross Noble interview. Rove Live [TV series].
- ^ Ross Noble interview, Nemone on BBC 6 Music (2006-09-27)
[edit] External links
- Ross Noble official website
- Ross Noble on MySpace
- Ross Noble Goes Global on bbc.co.uk – listen to the first two series again.
- Review of Ross Noble Goes Global - Series 2 CD collection at www.sci-fi-online.com
- Review of Ross Noble On CD collection at www.sci-fi-online.com
- Ross Noble talking about Just a Minute (RealPlayer video)
- Ross Noble Fansite
