This was my fourth time of having the pleasure of seeing the master of 'stream of consciousness' tomfoolery on stage, and i have to admit, it was my most pleasurable to date. I had been in a bit of a slump for the last day or so and was in dire need of a good belly laugh or two, and so, knowing that laughter is indeed the best medicine, I was hugely receptive to Noble's tangential brain diversions.
Unlike many other stand-ups who do the rounds, Noble takes great care with his stage set, and creates the mood, ambiance, etc for his show's title with skill. In this instance we were met with a large stage full of inflatable Ross Noble freaks and curiosities as if from a Victorian Circus or Barnum's Greatest Show On Earth. Not only that but appropriate auditorium music was selected to add to this, and his grand entrance to flashing lights and glaring eyes was nothing short of theatrical genius. My one disappointment in all of this was that Noble chose to wear modern day black sports shirt and trousers with black trainers with an annoyingly focus-pulling bright red sole. I admit that stand-up comedians do tend to 'dress down' in our modern times, but, considering the stage setting and the theatricality of everything else, this was not just underwhelming but disappointing.
Noble's humour however was on top form this evening. Interspersed with set routines, he allowed his mind to wander far from his planned gig, quite obviously amusing himself just as much as us along the way. Where he excels is his unabashed admittance that there is no hidden meaning, no message, no agenda to his routine or jokes, he just wants to make people laugh. As he said last night, "Be funny and f*** off!". This leads me swiftly on to another point. Noble's use of profanity was never excessive unlike many, and again I admire and congratulate him for this. However I did feel last night there were a couple of unwarranted uncalled for expletives.
Noble took us through items of current affairs with his his typical disdain; and we even had the 'ghosts' of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Jeffrey Epstein, Greg Wallace and others on stage with us! - although I did have to Google the word 'nonce' before writing this review. It was term new to me. His funniest material though came from his chatting with members of the front row, and we had an advert for Tena Ladies, Duolingual sex robots, and a 'Hips Or Piles' Gameshow.
A superb evening of non-stop laughter in the company of a master of cerebral mayhem and misdirection.
"Hip hip, Piles!"
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
On - 1.3.26
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