Ross Noble interview ahead of his Jibber Jabber Jamboree tour at Harrogate's Royal Hall

We caught up with him ahead of his date at the Royal Hall on Thursday October 26.

How do you think the Ross Noble with 20 tours under his belt differs from the Ross Noble on his first tour?

I've got significantly better hotel accommodation. That’s the main thing. Also, there are people coming to see me now who came with their parents when they were kids. That messes with your head a little bit. I still think of myself as being like 22 or 23 years old, and now I've got grown men going, ‘I saw you when I was 15. And now I'm a professional comedian.’ Not even people going, ‘I want to be a comedian’ – like actual, established performers.

You once said that the planning for your show was “about four words on a piece of scrap paper”. Has that changed at all?

That was actually taken slightly out of context. What I would do is go on and improvise, and then afterwards, I would write down things I could do again. I didn’t sit down to plan, think of four things and write them down. It’s the same today, really. Except I just don’t write them down – I feel like I should be able to remember four things.

You’re known for your lengthy shows. As you get older, do you ever wish you’d gotten yourself known for sets that are less demanding?

Not really. During Covid I was doing an hour and half straight through, and I really liked it. The thing that gets me is comics who sit down. Whenever I see a comic with a chair on stage, I just think ‘If you need that chair, do a shorter show! Get up and put some effort in!’

Given that your show has the words “Jibber Jabber” in the title, presumably it doesn’t mark a radical departure from your usual freewheeling stream-of-consciousness approach?

No, it doesn’t. For a second there, I thought you were going to ask if it’s a tribute to Mr BA Baracus, given it’s one of his famous sayings.

Is it?

It can be! That would be great, wouldn't it? Imagine if it was just a very in depth, one-man show about the life of Mr. T. That would be brilliant: a real black box type theatre show, just with a single spotlight. I start off as the young Mr. T – like when he was ‘Master T’ – and he's just got one single, small gold chain. And then as the show progresses you put on more and more gold until he's at the height of his fame and he’s covered in chains. That’s the show (laughs).

him.

Your reason for going into stand-up was your dyslexia making you think you should avoid a more academic career. But in 2020, you came second in The Celebrity Apprentice Australia. Did it make you wonder you could’ve been a top businessman?

In the final, Lord Sugar actually said in the boardroom that he’d love to give me a job. But that it would be really entertaining for a fortnight and then he’d be out of business. I thought: ‘Fair enough.’

I just couldn’t get fired. There was one week where they gave us this big pile of sand and I had the idea to sell it by pretending it was cursed sand from the tomb of Tutankhamun, that you could sprinkle onto your enemies. Afterwards, parents kept coming up to me in the street asking where they could buy it, so I made up these cursed sand envelopes and started selling them after gigs. I ended up making more money for the Red Cross than the TV show was giving away as prize money.