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Frank wins Noble prize for comedy
Paul R Taylor13/10/2006
GEORDIE comic Ross Noble will spend more than 17 hours on stage
at the Manchester Comedy Festival next week. He's not sure what
he's going to talk about yet.
It's a situation that would leave most stand-ups in a cold sweat -
those who have painstakingly pieced together their acts over the
years and rely on tried and tested material to guarantee the
laughs.
But not Ross. Almost unbelievably the majority of his
side-splitting surreal ramblings are made up on the spot. As he
said at a gig last year: "I'm like this all the time, you just
happen to have caught the two hours when there are lights on
me."
The boundlessly energetic 30-year-old, who now lives near
Melbourne, in Australia, with wife Fran, first took to the stage as
a 15-year-old after being smuggled into a comedy club in his home
town of Cramlington, in Northumberland.
Since then he's established a reputation as one of Britain's most
exciting and natural comedians, touring the world with a fresh act
every year for the last eight years.
He brings his latest show, Fizzy Logic, to the Opera House from
Monday, heralding the start of this year's Manchester Comedy
Festival.
"Fizzy Logic, it's not a theme, it's more a mood or a feeling if
that makes sense. I just say the stuff that's in my head," he
said.
"It's all fairly loose, not really scripted in a traditional way -
it's just what happens to be interesting me and in my mind at the
time, so it's not really about anything."
Improvised free-form routines have long entertained British
audiences, with the likes of Eddy Izzard and Billy Connolly. But
Ross is in a league of his own - even if he admits he finds it easy
and doesn't worry about freezing up.
"I suppose I'm a bit like Billy Connolly but different, as his
stuff tends to stay within the realms of reality whereas mine
disappears off on a nice little fairy dance. A big part of the show
is just talking to the audience.
"I look at it as like riding a motorbike round twisty country road.
I'm enjoying the wind in my face and the feeling, the excitement
and thinking how nice everything is, I'm not thinking if I mess
things up I'm going to smash into a wall.
"Another way of describing it is some people on rollercoasters
vomit and want to get off while others are saying `can we go faster
and is it okay if I just loosen this seatbelt a bit?'"
Crashing motorbikes is something he can talk about with some
authority. Earlier this year he fractured and dislocated his
collarbone after coming off one in Sydney.
"I'd done about 10,000km around Australia without so much as a slip
of the back wheel. Then as I was coming into Sydney, well,
basically I had a slight tiff with a car but luckily I landed next
to a hospital.
"I can remember thinking as I flew through the air that I was going
to land on the car. I thought: `I'll make that easy', but then the
car pulled away. It's become part of my show and there's a
documentary about it on the DVD."
Now in its sixth year, Manchester Comedy Festival will welcome some
of the biggest names in British comedy to venues across the
city.
It is officially launched on Thursday and runs until October 30.
Other big names at the festival include Russell Brand, with his big
mouth, big hair and tight trousers; the irreverent Jimmy Carr;
Perrier winner Tim Minchin and nominees Phil Nichol and Rhod
Gilbert, as well as Timperley's own Frank Sidebottom.
"Six nights - I can't wait to be based in the city for a week, just
hanging around and getting a feel for it," says Ross. "I'll try to
go and see Frank Sidebottom - he changed my life.
"He was the first live comic I saw. I won tickets because I was the
only one who knew he supported Timperley. The gig had him, Chris
Lynam, Jack Dee and Jo Brand - what a bill that is.
"The first record I ever bought was by Frank Sidebottom as well -
full vinyl like. It was, Oh Blimey It's Christmas. I think I've
been quite influenced by him."
Ross was nominated for a Perrier Award in 1999 for his Edinburgh
Festival show Laser Boy and was a Time Out award winner for
Chickenmaster. His third DVD Randomist is out this month and he's
enjoying life now he has turned 30.
"I didn't have a problem with it. Everyone was like "Oooh 30"
but I looked back on 20 and I'd never want to go back. I was skint
and on a train from Basingstoke to London after a horrible gig. Now
I've the best job in the world. I get to travel the world and get a
round of applause before I start work each night."
Ross Noble plays the Opera House from Monday until Saturday.
Tickets, at £18.50, can be bought by ringing the box office on 0870
160 2874. For more information on the festival, visit
www.manchestercomedy festival.co.uk
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