Ross Noble Interview

We catch up with legendary British comedian Ross Noble on the eve of his mammoth Australian tour to find out what he’s been up to in 2015 and what we’ve got in store at his upcoming ‘Brain Dump’ tour.

Hi Ross, how are you doing? You’ve recently jetted off to Oz for your upcoming tour?
Yep that’s right, I’m in Sydney at the moment. I’ve only been here for a couple of days so I’ve been focusing on relaxing and getting over the jet lag before the first show!

It’s pretty hot there at the moment, how are your Jesus-like locks of hair dealing with the humidity?!
Well funny you say that, I arrived and I just couldn’t work out what was going on! In the cold weather it had got really long, but this heat has literally just added to the curls. As for my beauty regime I tend to go in the shower and pull it as straight as possible and I just slowly let it curl up over the day. When somebody comes up to me and asks me if I’m Diana Ross, it’s time to get back in the shower!

So what did get up to in your time off?
I’ve been teaching my children what my face looks like which has been a bit of fun for them. I’m now able to walk around the house without my kids screaming for Mummy and thinking there’s an intruder in the house!

After a much needed break are big things are on the horizon for 2016?
Oh yeah I’ve been doing a film! I’ve been working in Ireland shooting a horror film so I’ve been keeping busy – it’s due to come out around Halloween time.

Exciting! So you’ve got a mammoth Australia tour coming up, what have you got in store?
Well the show changes all the time, it’s not about anything in particular it’s mainly just about what’s in my head but what we have got are some new props. I’ve got like a giant pile of giant lightbulbs which are all glass so that’s something fun to look at!

How do you tend to prepare for your shows when you go on, when your sets seem to be an unprepared stream of consciousness?
Well what I do is follow an idea and I see where that takes me. It depends on what’s going on in my head, who I’m talking to in the room, something might have happened that day, I just follow the stream! It’s all about playing around with ideas and seeing what comes up. What I tend to do when I’m getting ready for a tour is book a small theatre and just go on and see what happens. And that usually gets me match fit – same as a boxer! It’s all about sharpening everything up by the time I get to the big theatres I’m firing on all cylinders!

Well I suppose you have to get match-fit physically as well because your sets involve a lot of running around on stage!
Yeah it is such a work out – funny how as soon as I start a tour I usually drop a stone pretty much straight away! And then as soon as I finish it’s like someone has injected my face with pizza.

You’ve been doing this from a really young age, I read somewhere that you were almost smuggled into your first show?
Yeah that’s right, I started when I was 15, so coming up to 25 years this year! I’ve started feeling old because people turn around and go ‘I wasn’t even born when you started doing comedy!’

Cheers and good luck with year 25 Ross!

Find out more about Ross Noble’s tour dates at www.rossnoble.co.uk

By Oonagh Turner

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