Inside the cranium: Ross Noble thrives on the unexpected

ROSS Noble will bring his Cranium of Curiosities show to Lismore’s Star Court Theatre this month, delivering a performance built on improvisation rather than a fixed set.

“It’s basically just whatever’s going on in my head,” Noble said.

“It’s a bit like those cabinets of curiosities you used to get in Victorian times.”

That image of a mind filled with odd ideas and strange tangents reflects a career that began in the pubs and working men’s clubs of Newcastle upon Tyne.

When Noble started performing in the early 1990s, the UK comedy scene was divided between London’s alternative movement and a rougher northern circuit.

“There was still a lot of working men’s club-type stuff, and there was still a divide between alternative and mainstream,” he said.

“It hadn’t really merged yet.”

Newcastle became something of an outpost, far enough from London that only the strongest acts made the trip.

The result was what Noble describes as “the Galápagos Islands of comedy”, a self-contained scene where styles evolved differently.

“You got the absolute best of the London circuit up in Newcastle, and yet there was a little ecosystem all of its own, where all of us lot started,” he said.

“We would also go up and play in Scotland, so it was kind of a Galápagos Islands of comedy, and it sort of developed its own thing.”

It could also be unforgiving.

“You were playing clubs where people didn’t necessarily know there was comedy on,” he said.

“Sometimes you were entertaining people against their will.”

Noble said the pub environment where he started was very different to the theatres he performs in today.

“There was a real drinking culture back then,” he said.

“Everything was just more rowdy and more combative.”

Crowds were louder and less restrained.

At one gig, he recalls a man who repeatedly shouted bizarre directions about “avoiding a city farm”.

“I was wondering if that was some kind of code or something,” he said.

Noble said rising alcohol costs have also changed audience behaviour.

“I think the main difference is that back then, people could actually afford to get absolutely smashed all the time,” he said.

“I think now they’ve brought in rules where if somebody is drunk, then they won’t get served, whereas back then, you could literally stagger into a bar and barely stand up, but if you had the money, they would give you the booze.”

Unlike many stand-ups who refine structured sets, Noble builds his shows in real time.

“I’ll go on and improvise, something will come up and I’ll run with an idea,” he said.

“You might get ten minutes out of that.”

“But it’s that feeling that it only really happened on that night.”

Some of those moments develop into future material, while others disappear entirely.

Noble said that unpredictability is what keeps the work engaging.

“It’s the joy of it,” he said.

“That’s the great thing about stand-up it can be whatever you want it to be.”

While he avoids fixed themes, Noble admits to a recurring fascination.

“I’ve got a thing about monkeys and ghosts,” he said.

“But apart from that I just try and see what’s new and exciting.”

“I love the freedom of it.”

Each performance becomes a one-off, shaped by the room and whatever ideas emerge on the night.

After more than three decades on stage, it is an approach that still feels fresh.

Ross Noble will present Cranium of Curiosities at Lismore’s Star Court Theatre on April 28 at 8pm.

Tickets are available through TryBooking.