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| Ross Noble | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ross Noble performing his showNoodlemeister at the 2004Edinburgh Fringe | |
| Birth name | Ross Markham Noble |
| Born | (1976-06-06)6 June 1976 (age 48) Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
| Medium | Stand-up, television |
| Genres |
|
| Spouse | Fran Noble |
| Notable works and roles |
|
| Website | www |
Ross Markham Noble[1] (born 6 June 1976) is an English stand-up comedian and actor. Noble rose to mainstream popularity through making appearances on British television, particularly interviews and on panel shows such asHave I Got News for You.[2] He has also released DVDs of several of his tours.
In 2007, he was voted the 10th-greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's100 Greatest Stand-Ups[3] and again in the updated 2010 list as the 11th-greatest stand-up comic.
In 2012, Noble made his film debut in the fantasy comedy horror movieStitches. In 2015, he made his musical theatre debut inThe Producers and in 2018 was nominated for aLaurence Olivier Award for his performance inYoung Frankenstein in theWest End.
Noble was born in 1976 inNewcastle upon Tyne[4][5] and brought up inCramlington,Northumberland. He was taught atCramlington Learning Village. Both of his parents were teachers.[6]
Noble's stand-up routine is a largely improvised and surreal performance with astream of consciousness delivery. He is often referred to as a randomist. Often, a large percentage of his set becomes based aroundheckles and conversations with members of the audience.[2][7] 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".[8]
Noble oftenmimes actions on-stage to help the audience visualise his surreal ideas, for example, telling the audience to never put a blanket over an owl, and exactly what an owl neck detection device is ("just a stick with a pointy bit on it") or showing the audience how to serve double header ice creams properly after considering his own made-up plot of24 in whichJack Bauer escapes a cell using a greasygoose.[9]
Noble's style is recognised as spontaneous, due to his unpredictable performance style, interruptions from hecklers or because he has drifted off into another surreal tangent. During his shows he is known to dabble onto one topic, ask a member of the audience something about him or herself and use that as material, and carry on with that, and later on seems to forget about the routine, digressing into another topic. Thus the audience pesters Noble to tell the ending of his unfinished stories, which are usually eventually concluded at the end of his shows. His most famous example is in hisRandomist tour, where he started to tell a story about him being interviewed afterLive 8 near the beginning of a show inNewcastle, which he did not finish until the end of the performance, around two hours later.[10] This relates to an earlier comment he made in hisRegent's Park show, saying that his mind "Tends to 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."[11]
Noble is originally fromCramlington,Northumberland, England. "The ultimate place to live" helped him with his career—he found little to do in his hometown so he became particularly imaginative.[12] At the age of 11, it was discovered that he wasdyslexic. Because of this, Noble decided to work within a career which did not 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 stilt-walker, before deciding to become a comedian after winning tickets to a comedy show.[13] As a teenager, Ross was a member of the youth theatre at thePeople's Theatre inHeaton, Newcastle. In 1997, he was doing warm-ups at the BBC forFriday Night Armistice. One of his earliest on-screen appearances was onRichard Whiteley's regional chatshow forYorkshire Television in 1996.
Noble has been performing stand-up since the dyslexia diagnosis, 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.[7] Noble studiedperforming arts atNewcastle College, after he told his careers adviser at school he wanted to be acomedian. He later stated that this had no effect on his stand-up ability, as he believes that the information taught is not important in being a good performer.[14]
Since starting as a stand-up comedian, Noble has won many awards, including aTime Out award winner in 2000 for hisEdinburgh Fringe Festival showChickenmaster, and aPerrier Award nomination in 1999 for another Edinburgh showLaser 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 showUnrealtime was the best-selling show at the Edinburgh Fringe,[15] before transferring to London'sWest End for a monthlong season at theGarrick Theatre where it played to packed houses. A recording of this tour was shown onBBC Two in 2004, and a double-DVD set was released later that year.
During 2004, Noble performed at theEdinburgh Fringe and theMelbourne International Comedy Festival and other venues with his showNoodlemeister. His 2005 UK tour,Randomist, ran from September to December, of which he continued in Australia during 2006. In April 2006, Noble was involved in amotorbike accident, and both fractured and dislocated his collarbone. Conveniently, he crashed right outside a hospital. Noble performed his shows over the following weeks with his arm in a sling.[16] During his 'Things' tour, inBristol on 1 March 2009, he claimed that before the ambulance officers would help him, he was forced to do hisStephen Hawking impression.
While performing in Edinburgh in September 2006 for hisFizzy Logic tour, a fight broke out during the gig, caused by a drunken member of the audience arguing with another. Also, in his Edinburgh gig, some one gave him a basket of mini-muffins with faces printed on them; this is related to a sketch from Noble's DVDSonic Waffle, in which he mentions his hobby of finding faces in muffins.[17] At another gig, he found someone filming the show on theirmobile phone and confiscated the phone. He then recorded a video on it himself.[18] 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 onYouTube, in an attempt to achieve, "The largest number of videos showing exactly the same thing."[19] He then took his tour to Australia in February 2007, during which he filmed a documentary about his travels around the country.[20]
In 2007, Noble finished hisNobleism tour in the UK[21] with a show inLiverpool on 21 October 2007 which was screened live to 43Vue cinemas. If the event had sold out, he would have played to over 10,000 people.[22] Upon walking offstage, Noble enquired if the broadcast had succeeded and was informed by a technician that "it worked perfectly... but we lost Aberdeen". To this day, Noble maintains that this is the "coolest thing anyone has ever said" to him.[23]
Noble likes to have spontaneous material related to each specific show, and therefore encouragesheckling and has increasingly indulged in the audience giving him gifts during shows. At a gig at theEdinburgh Playhouse during Noble's 2005Randomist tour, a member of the audience put his feet up on the stage, and later removed his shoes and put 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 during the interval, which causes Noble much amusement when he returns.[24]
Noble performed at the 2008Latitude Festival and rounded off his set by leading everyone in the tent in a hugeconga line (which quickly turned into a stampede) to avegan food stand so they could all ask for pies and sausage rolls.[25][26]
The DVD of his showNobleism was released in November 2009.
In 2012, Noble made his film debut in the fantasy comedy horror movieStitches playing the titular character, an undead birthday clown out for revenge.
Noble had not done any acting work on TV until the summer of 2013 when he appeared oppositeIan Smith as a gay lover in the Australian TV series "It's a date",[27] or radio, as he prefers stand-up for giving him the freedom to say what he wants without being influenced by a script or crew.[8] Nevertheless, he has made many TV appearances, which mainly take the form of interviews andpanel game participation. In the UK, he has appeared onBBC'sJohnny Vaughan Tonight andFriday Night with Jonathan Ross.[28] Noble has also made 16 appearances, the highest number of appearances of any guest, on BBC One'sHave I Got News for You[29] including the first show guest presented byPaul Merton. His most memorable appearance on the show saw him andPaul Merton answer all their questions wrong, and getting no points in the entire show.[30] He was Paul Merton's guest onRoom 101, where he wanted to consign to history the likes ofCraig David, cartoon animals who wear clothes, people who look like cats,clipboards andChristian rock music. He makes regular contributions toBBC Radio 4'sJust a Minute[31] and has also appeared onI'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue[32] and presented4 At The Store.[33] In July 2007, Ross featured, as part of his "In The Company Of...", on theColin Murray show onBBC Radio 1, and in August 2007 Noble appeared onSteve Wright in the Afternoon onBBC Radio 2.[29]
In Australia, he has guested on such TV and radio shows asNetwork 10'sRove (Live),[28]The Panel,[28]Good News Week,Thank God You're Here,Studio 10,The Project,Would I Lie to You? Australia andHughesy, We Have a Problem,[34] theABC'sThe Glasshouse,[28]Spicks and Specks, andA Quiet Word With ...,[35] as well asTriple M radio showGet This, regular appearances onTriple J.
In Ireland, he appeared on the first series ofTubridy Tonight, where he went over to a prop bookcase to inspect if the books were real. Upon reading one book, he found a photo ofMike Yarwood on one page, which he cut out and wore as a mask for a portion of the interview.[36]
Since 2010, he has made eighteen guest appearances on British comedy panel showQI.
In July 2011, Ross appeared in the second episode of the17th series ofTop Gear. On the show, he revealed that he currently owns earth moving machines as well as anAbbott 433self-propelled gun, which he calls his "Tank". He did a lap around the Top Gear track in 1.43.5, beatingTom Cruise and placing him in second place behindJohn Bishop.
In 2012, he was a regular panelist onThat Sunday Night Show onITV.
In April 2012, he featured on Triple J for a day where he co-hosted some shows, and played an imaginative game ofCluedo, where they found people from around Melbourne that matched the Cluedo characters names to come into the studio and play.
Appears briefly inTT3D: Closer to the Edge in conversation with Richard 'Milky' Quayle.
Besides making various guest appearances, Noble 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 seriesRoss Noble Goes Global, produced byDanny 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 AustraliancomedianTerri Psiakis in co-hostingRoss and Terri, the weekday lunch shift on national radio stationTriple J. Following on fromRoss Noble Goes Global, Radio 4 broadcast a new series calledRoss Noble On... during January to February 2007. The 4-episode series followed his 2006 UK tour, featuring performances inBrighton,York,Manchester andNewcastle.[37] All of the Radio 4 programmes have since been released as BBC audio CDs.
Noble once again teamed up with Terri Psiakis on Triple J for two weeks ofRoss 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.[38]Ross and Terri did not return to this slot in 2007, however Terri Psiakis and Amy Blackmur (the pair's producer from their 2006 show) did present a limited run of shows during a similar time frame earlier in the year, under the working title "T 'n' A" ("Terri and Amy"). As well as this, Terri and Amy decided to continue in the evening slot of 6pm – 10pm.[38]
In 2007, Stunt Baby Productions filmed a documentary about Ross Noble's 95-day Fizzy Logic tour of Australia. Ross Noble travels by motorbike when touring, which for this tour travelled on aBMW R1150GS Adventure (as mentioned during the encore of one of hisCanberra gigs), covering a distance of approximately 26,000 km around Australia clockwise fromBrisbane. The show was broadcast as "Ross Noble's Australian Trip" on UK TVchannel 5 from Monday 28 September 2009 at 10pm for 6 weeks, repeating at the same time onFiver on the following Thursdays. The show aired in Australia on Channel 10 on Mondays at 10:00 pm.
In 2013-15 Noble hosted his own show onDave titledFreewheeling. Described as an anti-travelogue around Britain, in the show Noble took the freestyle philosophy he embraces in his live shows and utilised his trademark audience participation gimmick and transferred it to television as he rode around the UK on his motorbike taking live requests on Twitter instructing him on where he should go next, making the road trip entirely unpredictable.
In October 2020, Noble was announced as a competing celebrity contestant on thefifth season ofThe Celebrity Apprentice Australia in 2021.[39] He finished as the runner-up of the series, raising over $100,000 for his charity, theAustralian Red Cross - Disaster Response and Recovery Fund.[40]
Noble made his musical theatre debut asFranz Liebkind in the 2015 UK tour ofMel Brooks'The Producers from May to July 2015.
In September 2017, he playedIgor in another Mel Brooks musicalYoung Frankenstein at theGarrick Theatre inLondon's West End (following a tryout at theTheatre Royal, Newcastle) before leaving in February 2018 due to his Australian stand-up tour. Noble received aWhatsOnStage Award for his performance and was nominated for theLaurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical. During his time in the show, he and co-starHadley Fraser did a recording called "Poddin' On The Ritz" to discuss behind-the-scenes at the show andmusical theatre.
Noble has two daughters,[41] with his Australian wife. He lived on a farm inSt Andrews, a semi-rural town on the northern outskirts ofMelbourne, Australia, until it was destroyed by2009 Victorian bushfires along with all his material possessions. Noble and his family were not harmed in the fire.[42][43] The family returned to the UK in 2010.[44] In February 2017, Noble and his family moved back to Australia, purchasing a house inMount Eliza, Victoria. In September 2019, they sold this property for $2.725 millionAUD[45] and moved to theMornington Peninsula south ofMelbourne.[46]
A keen biker and off-road rider, Noble is also a fan of MotoGP, WSBK, and The Isle of Man TT. He has created an off-road track in the paddock at his home, and has a number of vehicles to use on it, including anFV433 Abbot SPG self-propelled gun. He has competed in many races—notably, The Romaniacs and the 24-hour Dusk to Dawn. He attended several track days in 2011, including Brands Hatch on the GP circuit as a guest of MSV aboard his Triumph Daytona 675R.
Following the2009 Victoria bushfires, Noble has used the event in his act and donates profits from the sale of the show's programme/poster (or "postergram" as it is called) to a charitable fund to help those similarly affected.
Noble supports British charityRiders for Health and donated money earned from limited edition signed posters together with bucket collections after each gig from his Nonsensory Overload tour to Riders for Health. This raised £42,000 for Riders. He has attended their fundraising event Day of Champions on a number of occasions, most recently at Silverstone in 2010. He also voiced the Riders for Health BBC Radio 4 appeal aired just before Christmas 2010.[47]
In May 2011, to celebrate his 20th anniversary of stand-up, Noble teamed up with Triumph Motorcycles which were also celebrating a milestone, having just produced their 500,000th bike (since the company was relaunched 20 years earlier) and did the "Sit Down" tour. Using only Twitter as a guide, Noble travelled around the UK on the unique Triumph Speed Triple guided by his Twitter followers and accompanied by a film crew. The Triumph Speed Triple was auctioned byBonhams at the Goodwood festival of speed on 1 July 2011, with all the proceeds (£8,000) going to Noble's charity of choice, Riders for Health.[48]
In July 2011, Noble competed in theRed Bull Romaniacs, which is "one of the toughest extreme motorcycle events on the planet".[49] as part of the Desert Rose Racing Team with fellow rider Clive "Zippy" Town (Dakar 2006) with both riders on 350 Exc-F KTMs.[50]
These dates apply to Noble's tours.[51]
Several recorded performances of Noble are available onDVD, notable for the large number of extras that appear on them.[52] Noble's recorded shows are mostly dominated by Noble with just a few moments of audience participation. Throughout the rest of his tour Noble is more relaxed, with the audience joining in. However, the audience can sometimes dominate a show, as seen on the extra "Live in Birmingham" gig on theRandomist DVD.[53] Although on the official website it states that all of Noble's DVDs areregion-free, with the exception ofUnrealtime,[54] his latest two DVDs have only been released in Region 2 format so far.
Ross: So you've moved back to the UK? Noble: Yes, just moved back.