A HIGHLIGHT of this year’s Vodafone Comedy Carnival will be Ross Noble at the Black Box Theatre, where he will treat Galway to his trademark preposterous musings on life, the universe, and everything.
An unparalleled improviser, Noble's show are almost totally unscripted. There is no beginning, rarely a middle, and quite often, several ends. He may depart on a tangential flight of fantasy at the start and only return to it an hour later. He also positively welcomes hecklers, as the smallest comment or action can spark a merry dance of his imagination.
It is this freewheeling approach, elevating unpredictable ridiculousness and tomfoolery to high art, that led him to be voted the 10th-greatest stand-up on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in the 2000s, and in the updated 2010 list as the 11th-greatest. He has won multiple awards for his works and was nominated for a Perrier in 1999.
'Audiences tend to leave Noble's show aching in all the right places'
Strange things also happen in Ross’s company. Appearing on the first series of Tubridy Tonight, whe went over to a prop bookcase to inspect if the books were real. In one book, he found a photo of comedian Mike Yarwood, which he cut out and wore as a mask for a portion of the interview. At a gig at the Edinburgh Playhouse in 2005, a member of the audience put his feet up on the stage, later removing his shoes and putting 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 at a Noble gig.
We understand audiences tend to leave Noble's show aching in all the right places while aware that what they just witnessed could only have ever happened there and then. Do not miss it.
Ross Noble: Humournoid is at the Black Box on Saturday October 26. Doors are at 7pm. Tickets are via www.vodafonecomedycarnival.com
