Ross Noble

Ross Noble

Ross Noble is a British stand-up comedian from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He starts performing stand-up as a teenager, appearing at a local comedy club at the age of 15.

Style and performance

Noble becomes known for an improvised and surreal style of stand-up. His shows often develop from conversation with the audience and a stream-of-consciousness approach, with material shaped in the moment rather than delivered as a fixed routine.

Broadcast work

He appears on television in Australia on Network Ten’s Rove (Live) and The Panel, and on the ABC’s The Glasshouse and Spicks and Specks. In the UK he appears on BBC programmes including Johnny Vaughan Tonight and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. He also makes six appearances on Have I Got News for You and contributes regularly to BBC Radio 4’s Just a Minute.

Radio and other work

Noble hosts BBC Radio 4’s stand-up show 4 At The Store. In January 2006 he works with Terri Psiakis on Triple J in a lunchtime radio slot, and during that period they also found Pants Across Australia, a project that sends pairs of trousers to the northern, southern, eastern and western extremities of Australia and then back to Melbourne. Noble also begins a myth on air that George Foreman has missing fingerprints, which then spreads more widely.

Personal life and later events

He marries an Australian named Fran, short for Francine, and lives in Melbourne. In April 2006 he is involved in a motorbike accident that fractures and dislocates his collarbone; he continues performing in the following weeks with his arm in a sling.

Touring

Noble’s UK tour titles include Laser Boy (1999), Chickenmaster (2000), Slackers Playtime (2001), Sonic Waffle (2002), Unrealtime (2003), Noodlemeister (2004), Randomist (2005) and Fizzy Logic (2006).