Locations: Touring around UK and rest of world
Ross Noble performing live is quite something. Unlike other comedians like Eddie Izzard or Bill Bailey who have a pretty strict script/sketch to follow, Ross' show seems a lot more improvisatory than anything else. He spends a lot of time interacting with the audience, mocking the ones he can hear and see, and inviting hecklers to join in and contribute to the performance. This adds a lot of excitment as you never know what you'll get, but it's quite a risky thing too, as Ross also likes going on tangents and just say whatever he can think of. And he thinks of pretty random things. From stories about his 'human child' to milking cows. From mocking a phelgmatic man to doing a song and dance about demons and The Exorcist. And from responding to the heckler to Schrödinger's cat.
They're all great, but right near the beginning, he started poking fun at a man with a crutch, which ... led to jokes about the Paralympics, and when he tried to apologise if he offended anyone in any way, a lady at the back of the theatre shouted really loudly that it was really extremely offensive to make fun of disabled people. It got the room quite tense for a long time after that. I knew that he would get in trouble right when he went off on a tangent about the games, even if he was doing it in good humour.
My friend didn't enjoy it after that, which was a shame, but I thought there were still a lot of brilliant moments. Some of his jokes were clearly planned in advance, like on the au courant topics of Fifty Shades and Jimmy Savile (the Savile sketch he did had a fantastic impersonation of Eddie Izzard. It was possible my favourite part of the show). He did a really interesting time-space continuum trick as well as his finale (which I won`t reveal here, but suffice to say, it had something to do with the mind of a jelly). Also his impersonation of the whispering Batman and the muffled Baine was absolutely spot on.
Although he`s not always so PC, I still love his humour: it's really quirky and unusual, and so for that, I'd recommend this tour.
PS: I just read this review, and it turns out I was wrong. Schrödinger's cat is a pre-planned joke!
Ross Noble has no respect for disabled people and thinks it is okay to insult people because of their disability.
ReplyDeleteWhy not stick to taking the piss out of people because of who they are and what they say rather than home in on their disabilities? It's a low sort of 'fun', fun for people who have given up on thinking - like sheep!