This Is How Ross Noble’s Brain Works

"I really enjoy disappearing into my head and just seeing where the thought spiral takes me."

More and more, people are leaning on comedians for political commentary. But Ross Noble has a warning for those wanting him to be their own personal Fox News and only source of current affair updates.

"I think if I was providing people with their news information, they would… have a very limited idea of what was happening," he tells Student Edge.

"But it would be delightfully magical."

Australia’s adopted son of inspired improvised nonsense is back in the country for his latest stand-up tour, El Hablador, which sees Noble return to his freewheeling best after an acclaimed and Olivier Award-nominated—though scripted—turn as Igor in the West End’s Young Frankenstein musical.

Just don’t expect him to dig into the day’s events (or, at least without him enlivening them in giddy flights-of-fancy).

"The problem with topical stuff is that something happens in the morning, by the time you get onstage it’s already—especially with technology the way that it is—already out of date," he says.

"All the Barnaby Joyce stuff, when I got here three weeks ago, that was rich picking.

"Now it just seems like you might as well be doing jokes about stuff that happened in the '80s."

I ask if the El Hablador tour gives Ross a chance to unshackle himself from scripted drama, yet he insists he wasn’t feeling antsy with his eight-month theatrical engagement.

"Because the show is so much about getting the laughs, you’re always going, 'Right, are they a quieter audience? Do we need to work to get them?'" he says.

"It’s surprising how exciting it is, even eight shows a week for months and months and months. The joy of singing with a nine-piece band, that never wears off."

So, why do El Hablador? Easy.

"Stand-up’s what I do," he says.

"What some people will do is the second they get some tele work or some film—a bit of acting or whatever—they’ll instantly just stop doing stand-up immediately. Whereas that’s my main thing. That’s what I’ve worked towards. That’s what I love doing. I can’t let the stand-up slip. It’s like a muscle as well; you’ve got to keep on it, or you’re not match-fit anymore."

Our conversation gets interrupted when Ross’ taxi suddenly goes down the wrong street. Concerned, he pauses the chat to jump out of the cab, and I check he’s not bailing in an unsafe neighbourhood.

"I wasn’t just going like, 'This is too dangerous,'" he reassures us.

It’s fitting for a Ross Noble conversation to take an unexpected right turn, given how his comedy stylings involve heavy improvisation (and access to seemingly loosey-goosey parts of the brain the rest of us haven’t quite unlocked).

"The way that I work is I go on and I improvise off the crowd [and] off what’s in my head," he explains.

"You might do 20 minutes that only works on that night; it literally wouldn’t work on any other night, because the elements that got you to where you are only exist in that room.

"What I do is I use that idea that might have come from 20 minutes of unique on-the-night stuff [and] the next night go, 'I’ve got that idea, I’ll talk about that tonight,' and how I get to that then sparks off another load of improv stuff that sparks another idea. Then I’ll take those two ideas and smash those together.

"Rather than writing a list, it’s like drawing a big picture and rubbing things out; things morphing into other things. Does that make sense?"

It… does. I think. Still, I have to ask: Does his brain just work that way, or does he employ some mental gymnastics to get in the right headspace? I say I can’t imagine him doing his taxes right before walking onstage.

"That’s exactly what I do," he laughs.

"I can be literally in the dressing room, five minutes before I go on, reading a magazine or looking at the paper, or mid-conversation. That’s sort-of how my head works. Offstage, it’s exactly the same.

"If I walk down the street, and I’ve got all these ideas and things popping into my head, or I’m having a conversation with somebody, I’ll let them speak, because if I said everything that was going through my brain, it would just be tiring for the other people.

"I really enjoy disappearing into my head and just seeing where the thought spiral takes me."

He describes his shows as being like "daydreaming out loud," and it’s driven by a beautiful trait that, in his early days, saw him shoehorned into categories that didn’t quite capture his talent or identity.

"When I first started, people used to come along and go, 'Woah, this guy’s on drugs,' or, 'Woah, this guy's craazy,' or, 'He’s an alien'.

"Whereas over time, people have come along and gone, 'Oh, that’s just Ross.'"

Ross Noble’s El Hablador tour kicks off in Adelaide tonight, continuing around the country between March and April. Get full dates for his tour here.

Photo: Supplied