Comedy review: Ross Noble

A quick scan of the springtime Australian reviews of Ross Noble's Brain Dump raises an intriguing question: is this freewheeling Geordie comic really making as much of it up on the spot as we think he does? Akin to those Antipodean shows, tonight's Festival Theatre gig features routines about his recent vasectomy, the brutal vengeance he enacted upon a boy who had bullied his youngest daughter, an extended Brexit rant and the bizarre lengths he'll go to in order to let fellow cinema-goers know that he disapproves of their selfish smartphone-using ways.

Ross Noble: Brain Dump ****

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Thankfully all of his prepared material is excellent and the moments when Noble is genuinely riffing on events occurring in the room (from inevitable latecomers to someone heading to the toilet after ten minutes, and from the man who was in Switzerland earlier that day to anyone with a weird laugh/sneeze/hairdo) renders more hits than misses as he allows his febrile imagination to unfurl.

The only real off-note in over two hours of semi-improvised fun is when Noble takes exception to those who have concluded he is playing to type as a jolly onstage clown while being a privately miserable soul. Despite recent media campaigns and a plethora of Fringe comedy hours dedicated to lifting the lid on depression being an equal opportunities illness prone to striking anyone, he delivers a diatribe that his comfortable lifestyle means he has ‘nothing to be depressed about’. It would be interesting to see the reaction were he to perform that bit at the next Robin Williams benefit gig.