Artist: Ross Noble
Title: Fizzy Logic
Date: 16 March, 2007
Venue: The Enmore Theatre, Enmore
_____________________________________________________________
Ross Noble is easily one of the world’s greatest comedians. There, I’ve said it. Now you may be questioning why I am making such a bold statement to open a review so sit back and let me tell you more about this assertion. Fizzy Logic was the third time I have seen the man live and I have lost count of the number of times I have witnessed him appear on television, on radio or in print. Added to this is the fact that his comedy shows typically conclude at the three hour mark (including an interval) and yet I have never observed him repeat a joke; a large feat I must say, given I am at pains to name another comedian who rivals this level of originality and hilarity.
So it was with great pleasure that I entered the Enmore with a few minutes to go until show time. And the audience was greeted with Noble’s typical stage set paraphernalia, this time a series of large, metallic beach balls creating a wall (with a small opening) to cover the standard curtains. (If you have ever seen The Who’s Tommy movie, think of the final scene when Roger Daltrey is jumping amidst followers and silver “pinballs” singing We’re Not Gonna Take It, to get a better idea of the stage clobber.)
But I digress, as the houselights were dimmed and a cartoon, singsong short began to advise the crowd not to use mobiles, cameras and recording equipment during the evening. It looked like something that would have been at home during a concert by The Wiggles.
With the crowd warmed up and ready to be dazzled (by shiny balls and a charismatic comedian,) Ross entered the stage adorning a regal (or noble!) purple shirt. And Ross has this impeccable ability to immediately win over the audience thanks to his high-energy dashes around the stage and a quick mind to match his flailing limbs.
When discussing the show a week later with some friends, I told them that as an audience member, you would be crazy to leave at any point of the night, even if you are bursting to use the amenities, because I guarantee that you will miss too many of Noble’s brilliantly orchestrated tangents. And Noble deals with this potential problem by recruiting audience members to recall topics and stories that he begins and often ventures far away from, as he improvises, interacts with the audience or is distracted by shiny objects. And Gez, the beefy man seated front-row, centre did a fantastic job assisting Ross at a few points in the evening.
At one stage there were so many loose threads to be memorised that Noble felt he would need a “Remembrance Chart” to assist him. I think if anyone ever went to the trouble of making one it would look like a cross between a Pro Hart artwork, random words, the emptied contents of a toy box, a half-finished dot-to-dot picture and a plush monkey.
Noble finished the first half of the show which at times had jokes that were a little unsavoury and quite politically incorrect, but funny nonetheless. Yet many of Sydney’s latte-sipping audience members were judgmental and even had the audacity to respond to a few of Noble’s jokes with groans.
After a short break, Noble returned for another half that was much better received and hilarious as always. He was greeted with some gifts left on the stage by patrons during the break. He was most intrigued by the Fantail lolly because quote, “In England we don’t get confectionary with factual information on them.” Ross soon had the audience in hysterics by simply reading the contents of the trivia, “The music of Phil Collins.” The audience guffawed as they learnt that Collins had an “international hit” after collaborating with a man called Adam (and many questioned how Collins achieved this success.) Unfortunately there was no further information about this interesting subject, which lead Noble to improvise that God had sent Adam (the first man) and decided his fate was to produce a number one record with Phil. The only problem was that Noble missed an important opportunity for a joke as he acted and an audience member who yelled out, “Genesis” instead capitalised on this awesome pun. Although Noble admitted that he had planned to say the joke later, he was content to add James (the nineties band/disciple) as another worthy associate which the audience enjoyed, albeit if some were unaware of the musical and religious connotations.
Another fine music-related joke from Noble was about the questionable surroundings of the neighbouring inner city suburb as he noted that around here your attacker was likely to “stab you and then hand you a flyer to an acoustic music gig.”
Finally, he shared a story about problems with customs officials cajoling him to tell a joke and his subsequent strip search; his journey around Australia by motorcycle and one of his great loves, Star Wars. Another interesting observation by Noble was about the importance of headwear in religion as often, Muslim women wear the burka and Jewish men wear skullcaps. Ross said that God apparently has a fond interest in millinery and that he would like to see the top hat declared a religious hat, if only to see God with two strong devotees, Slash from Guns n Roses and Fred Astaire.
Furthermore, despite time quickly approaching the three-hour mark, Noble graciously answered many questions posed by the audience and was happy to finish the jokes he had failed to end earlier. In all, it was one absolutely hilarious night where I laughed so hard and so frequently I had a sore stomach that weekend! Forget the gym ladies and gentlemen; see Ross Noble to attain those highly desired, flat abs. And finally I will say that I am still waiting to hear Noble repeat a joke, but at this stage it will have to wait until his next Australian tour, presumably in 2008.
Title: Fizzy Logic
Date: 16 March, 2007
Venue: The Enmore Theatre, Enmore
_____________________________________________________________
Ross Noble is easily one of the world’s greatest comedians. There, I’ve said it. Now you may be questioning why I am making such a bold statement to open a review so sit back and let me tell you more about this assertion. Fizzy Logic was the third time I have seen the man live and I have lost count of the number of times I have witnessed him appear on television, on radio or in print. Added to this is the fact that his comedy shows typically conclude at the three hour mark (including an interval) and yet I have never observed him repeat a joke; a large feat I must say, given I am at pains to name another comedian who rivals this level of originality and hilarity.
So it was with great pleasure that I entered the Enmore with a few minutes to go until show time. And the audience was greeted with Noble’s typical stage set paraphernalia, this time a series of large, metallic beach balls creating a wall (with a small opening) to cover the standard curtains. (If you have ever seen The Who’s Tommy movie, think of the final scene when Roger Daltrey is jumping amidst followers and silver “pinballs” singing We’re Not Gonna Take It, to get a better idea of the stage clobber.)
But I digress, as the houselights were dimmed and a cartoon, singsong short began to advise the crowd not to use mobiles, cameras and recording equipment during the evening. It looked like something that would have been at home during a concert by The Wiggles.
With the crowd warmed up and ready to be dazzled (by shiny balls and a charismatic comedian,) Ross entered the stage adorning a regal (or noble!) purple shirt. And Ross has this impeccable ability to immediately win over the audience thanks to his high-energy dashes around the stage and a quick mind to match his flailing limbs.
When discussing the show a week later with some friends, I told them that as an audience member, you would be crazy to leave at any point of the night, even if you are bursting to use the amenities, because I guarantee that you will miss too many of Noble’s brilliantly orchestrated tangents. And Noble deals with this potential problem by recruiting audience members to recall topics and stories that he begins and often ventures far away from, as he improvises, interacts with the audience or is distracted by shiny objects. And Gez, the beefy man seated front-row, centre did a fantastic job assisting Ross at a few points in the evening.
At one stage there were so many loose threads to be memorised that Noble felt he would need a “Remembrance Chart” to assist him. I think if anyone ever went to the trouble of making one it would look like a cross between a Pro Hart artwork, random words, the emptied contents of a toy box, a half-finished dot-to-dot picture and a plush monkey.
Noble finished the first half of the show which at times had jokes that were a little unsavoury and quite politically incorrect, but funny nonetheless. Yet many of Sydney’s latte-sipping audience members were judgmental and even had the audacity to respond to a few of Noble’s jokes with groans.
After a short break, Noble returned for another half that was much better received and hilarious as always. He was greeted with some gifts left on the stage by patrons during the break. He was most intrigued by the Fantail lolly because quote, “In England we don’t get confectionary with factual information on them.” Ross soon had the audience in hysterics by simply reading the contents of the trivia, “The music of Phil Collins.” The audience guffawed as they learnt that Collins had an “international hit” after collaborating with a man called Adam (and many questioned how Collins achieved this success.) Unfortunately there was no further information about this interesting subject, which lead Noble to improvise that God had sent Adam (the first man) and decided his fate was to produce a number one record with Phil. The only problem was that Noble missed an important opportunity for a joke as he acted and an audience member who yelled out, “Genesis” instead capitalised on this awesome pun. Although Noble admitted that he had planned to say the joke later, he was content to add James (the nineties band/disciple) as another worthy associate which the audience enjoyed, albeit if some were unaware of the musical and religious connotations.
Another fine music-related joke from Noble was about the questionable surroundings of the neighbouring inner city suburb as he noted that around here your attacker was likely to “stab you and then hand you a flyer to an acoustic music gig.”
Finally, he shared a story about problems with customs officials cajoling him to tell a joke and his subsequent strip search; his journey around Australia by motorcycle and one of his great loves, Star Wars. Another interesting observation by Noble was about the importance of headwear in religion as often, Muslim women wear the burka and Jewish men wear skullcaps. Ross said that God apparently has a fond interest in millinery and that he would like to see the top hat declared a religious hat, if only to see God with two strong devotees, Slash from Guns n Roses and Fred Astaire.
Furthermore, despite time quickly approaching the three-hour mark, Noble graciously answered many questions posed by the audience and was happy to finish the jokes he had failed to end earlier. In all, it was one absolutely hilarious night where I laughed so hard and so frequently I had a sore stomach that weekend! Forget the gym ladies and gentlemen; see Ross Noble to attain those highly desired, flat abs. And finally I will say that I am still waiting to hear Noble repeat a joke, but at this stage it will have to wait until his next Australian tour, presumably in 2008.
