Ross Noble is rewarded by badgering fans

COMEDIAN Ross Noble’s mind is like a pinball machine.

His shows are largely unscripted. Each one is freewheeling whimsy, observation and pop-culture reference. Ten minutes could be eaten up playacting with the stage’s curtain or jabbering about pirates. Anything goes. His inventiveness merits his inclusion in the Top 10 of Channel 4’s list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.

Noble got his start in live comedy at 15 years of age at an open spot night in Newcastle. “The club was called Chirpy Chappies Comedy Café. I had visions of it being like a greasy spoon – a café with a stage in the corner, but there was a bar with a stage. I had no idea what to expect. The act that was on before me was this Australian woman who made all these jokes about teenage boys. I couldn’t repeat it for polite company, but it was filth. When I walked on, the whole room went, ‘Oh, my God, he’s a teenage boy’. I made reference to it, and it went well.”