Comedy / Reviews
Review: Ross Noble, Colston Hall
An evening with Ross Noble is less a standard comedy gig, more a whimsical journey through various surreal pathways as Noble ducks and dives out of his prepared material and more off-the-cuff sketches. There is no linear pathway to Noble’s shows – his diversions come thick and fast, to the point where he is often reminded by the audience what he first started talking about.
Noble’s ability to take a single idea and extend it to a full routine is unparalleled. Unlike some, he doesn’t stutter or stumble, just pours his whole imagination into an idea and lets it flow. Of course, most comedians do a little bit of audience interaction where they hover for a few minutes, depending on the strength of the answers. Noble takes this to another level. A simple comment can be turned into a 15-minute routine by his surrealist mind. One of his greatest abilities is to seamlessly segue into his prepared material – although, strangely, this material is often not his strongest.
It would be foolhardy to attempt to repeat the material that spans this evening’s 150 minutes. There’s no standing in the office on a Monday repeating a great joke you heard. Noble’s gigs are always ‘you had to be there’. The attraction to his army of fans is that no two shows are ever the same.
Noble remains a force to be reckoned with in British comedy. The term ‘unique’ is frequently bandied around among entertainers – but in Noble’s case it seems completely apt. Unique show: unique mind.
Ross Noble played the Colston Hall on Friday, November 5. For more Colston Hall and Lantern comedy lineups, visit www.colstonhall.org/whats-on/comedy
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