Ross Noble – Stand-Up DVD Reviews – Part 2

Welcome to the second part in my trilogy of Ross Noble reviews. I’ve been rewatching his stand-up DVDs again, since I saw him live in March, so in my previous post I looked through the first batch of those releases, and now here I’ll be reviewing the rest. Then I’ll move on to some online bits and pieces in my next and final post about him.

As I explained last time, his improvised comedy means that every single show is completely different, resulting in multiple performances on each of his DVDs alongside a myriad of extra features. So once again there’s plenty to go through here, none of which is sponsored. On Youtube there some clips on his current and older channels, along with a few audio versions of his shows that are also available on Audible, and I’ve also compiled a huge playlist of clips featuring Ross from his stand-up shows and many other things. So let’s go through his remaining stand-up DVDs, and I hope you enjoy!

Contents

• Nobleism
• Things
• Headspace Cowboy
• Nonsensory Overload
• Mindblender

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Nobleism

DVD / Apple TV / Audible / Youtube Audio

This is Ross Noble’s 5th stand-up DVD, although technically it’s his 6th release connected with his stand-up tours when you count the Australian Trip documentary I reviewed in my previous post. This set contains a complete show, including the encore and a commentary, plus a variety of extras as usual. To go through it all takes nearly 6 hours.

As with most of his previous DVDs, this one opens with a spoof copyright notice, after the real one from Universal, outlining lots of surreal things that you’re prohibited from doing with it. You’re then taken to a menu with an animated face in between two outstretched arms and when you play the show this morphs into the stage set.

Main Show (Disc 1)

The main feature, lasting for 2 hours, was filmed at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool on 21 October 2007. It was also the first stand-up show to be broadcast live to cinemas across the country, being screened at over 40 Vue locations. It begins with the animated face on stage giving some amusing pre-show announcements, before Ross then emerges to deliver another very funny performance.

There’s plenty of audience interaction, as he talks to a surfer dude and his partner who’s dressed in camouflage gear, the daughter of a lady who has to leave early due to feeling unwell, and a loud woman who had previously been at a Manchester gig where it was revealed she had weed in a bin (the original clip to put that in context is in the bonus footage on the other disc). There are also lots of gifts for him on stage at the start of the show and after the interval, including a frizzy wig and glass eye that particularly grab his attention. And there’s also talk about the cinema broadcasts, including particular reference to the people watching in Birkenhead nearby as his wife is amongst them.

Apart from that he also talks about the local Duckmarine bus-boat tours (since replaced by Splash Tours), Madame Tussauds in Blackpool, an intimate problem around his groin, his ultimate superpower, Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant, women not allowed in the Royal Marines (a policy that has since changed so that they can now join), funerals, chavs, getting angry about an offer in a supermarket, the music in his hotel’s restaurant, something he does to his wife while making love to make her laugh, a cure for erectile dysfunction, religious celebrations for Easter, and his addiction to Kinder Surprise eggs.

Main Show Extras (Disc 1)

The disc also includes the encore as a separate feature, lasting for around 20 minutes. It mainly involves Ross borrowing a guy’s phone from the audience and announcing the number (bleeped out for privacy on the DVD, obviously) so that people watching in the cinemas can ring him. Suffice to say there’s a lot of calls, and in the credits for the main show there’s an apology to the man for having to change his number! The rest of the time is spent on a Q&A with an array of daft questions, a bit of talk about muffins at Starbucks, and a couple of impressions to finish with.

There’s also a typically random and entertaining audio commentary from Ross on the main show (but not the encore). He didn’t get much sleep the night before, and the soft walls and heating in his soundproof booth make dozing a tempting option, but thankfully he stays awake the whole time. He does talk a little bit about some aspects of the show, including the broadcasting to cinemas, his shirt, the set, some of the gifts (especially the glass eye), and a few of the jokes and audience members. But as ever he deviates onto a myriad of other subjects for the most part, including people who listen to his commentaries, newsreaders, bulls, bouncy castles, Jehovah’s Witnesses, velvet rope, tropical diseases, Genghis Khan, porcelain, people with very small tongues, a hypnotic commentary for lovers, people’s fascination with his hair, seafood, Captain Birdseye and Thora Hird, among other things.

Extras (Disc 2)

There are several extras on the second disc:

• Cinema Trailer – A 1-minute trailer promoting the cinema screenings of the main show, announcing that it’s the first ever stand-up comedy simulcast and making clear that he’s not a man fighting evil.
• Oliver Double Interview – A 54-minute feature in which Ross is interviewed by Dr Oliver Double at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury. This is a really interesting, comprehensive and fun chat, where Ross talks about growing up, how he got into comedy and why he developed his improvisational style, a story about a couple of guys and a corpse, the advantages of bigger venues, making jokes without causing offence, his monkey obsession, and his pre-show ritual. There is then an open Q&A, where members of the audience ask him about topics you can and can’t joke about, dealing with emotional issues on stage (in reference to his house burning down in the Australian wildfires), attention-seeking audience members, gifts being left on stage, the dangers of over-analysing his comedy, film offers, and his love of performing live.
• Australian Trip: Episode 1 – The opening 42-minute episode of the documentary about the Australian leg of his Fizzy Logic tour. The full series was released as a separate 2-disc set, which I reviewed in my previous post.
• Gifted – A half-hour feature where Ross explains the increasing prevalence of gifts being left on stage during his shows, because by this point it’s been getting out of hand and he needs to set some basic ground rules. He enjoys looking through them, but it’s much better to put them on stage during the interval rather than at the start of the show, and certain types of gifts are just rubbish. It’s all illustrated by extensive clips from the Nobleism tour, where he looks through items including shoes, vegetables, a rubber truncheon, a doll of him with a body made of hummus, a thick book, a broken mobile phone, a stuffed owl, a letter that leads to a routine about Douglas Bader, and some Staffordshire oatcakes.
• Bonus Footage – Clips of varying lengths from 6 other shows on the tour, lasting 1 hour 10 minutes, during which he talks about The Kids From Fame, biblical characters, pound shops, Chinese kids, asthmatics, a self-acclaimed fat girl who loves him, feminists, an Al-Qaeda pantomime, Power Rangers, a stuffed owl hiding a surprise gift, charity shops, Horncastle, Grimsby, badminton, friendly audience members, the Jorvik Viking Centre, bladders that play TV theme tunes, Japanese tourists, the Mannequin film, a boastful taxi driver and the lady who weed in a bin who featured in the main show.

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Things

DVD / Apple TV / Audible / Youtube Audio

The Things tour took place after Headspace Cowboy, but was released first on DVD. This set contains 2 discs, with the main feature and commentary on the first one, and the extra features on the other disc, all of which will take you about 8 hours to go through.

As is traditional, there’s a spoof copyright notice nestled within the loading screens, this time comparing DVD piracy to dressing up as the Archbishop of Canterbury and using churches for swingers nights, to establish which is the worst crime. The main menu then has a catchy bit of theme music accompanying an animation of the turtle-bodied, dinosaur-legged, lobster-clawed, tentacle-waving, wing-flapping, 4-headed Ross Beast creature that’s the signature image of this particular tour.

Main Show (Disc 1)

The main show, filmed at the Manchester Opera House, is 2 hours 15 minutes long – including the short 10-minute encore, which isn’t a separate feature on this occasion as there isn’t anything special about it.

Pineapples and pigs become central topics throughout the show, along with strokes in more than one sense after a surprise he arranges for a couple of latecomers, and the fact that he recently became a father. But he also talks about lots of other things too – getting full value out of the show’s title – including hairballs, making Manchester tropical, an aircraft operator, a banker, Jade Goody, self-service checkouts, news articles reviewing a past show and reporting an unusual incident involving a zebra, a clockwork monkey, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Beyoncé and her song Single Ladies, walking and talking in his sleep, profiteroles, Star Wars, having a metal wrist implant after a motorbike accident, and a flat pack cross for Jesus. He then finishes the show with a typically random Q&A for the short encore, and at the end of the credits there’s a nice dedication to his father Malcolm, who passed away in 2010.

There’s also a surprise Easter Egg during the second half of the show. When Ross is looking at a newspaper review of the previous night’s gig, he talks about a guy who brought in a suit that he’d made out of bubble wrap. And you can see it for yourself by hitting Enter when a pineapple icon appears in the top left corner of the screen, shortly after 1:04:35 in Chapter 4. This hilarious bonus clip is 11 minutes long, and sees Ross having fun as he squeezes into the suit and tries to move around in it, before struggling to get it off again.

Main Show Commentary (Disc 1)

The disc contains an optional commentary for the show as usual. His talk about the actual show is somewhat limited, as per tradition, but he does talk about the set, the shirt and trousers he’s wearing, the poster artwork by Derek Riggs (who designed the Eddie mascot for heavy metal band Iron Maiden), other venues he visited on the tour, and the impact of losing all of his possessions in the Australian wildfires. And as with the previous DVD, his cosy padded recording booth means he has to resist the temptation for a nap. Thankfully he doesn’t doze off, but he does yawn a few times, and also remarks on the occasional noises made by his rumbling stomach.

Apart from that, the myriad of other randomness he talks about includes soap powder, crabs, Morris dancers and one-man bands, jazz musicians Johnny Dankworth & Cleo Laine, singer Anastacia with milk goggles, opticians Dollond & Aitchison, checking his testicles, Cirque Du Soleil, genies and mermaids, Lilt, epidemics like swine flu and trying to predict the next one (little did he know…), the Man from Del Monte, how talking about Jay-Z’s song 99 Problems earned him and the crew a tasty gift, being bitten by a pig, doing a photo shoot with a pig, Nick Knowles on DIY SOS, being punched in the nose, breaking a bone in his hand, and replacing a car alarm with a figure of Jesus.

He also talks about the different ways that people listen to his commentaries, and records some stock comments that can be used by lonely people, people answering questions, and people who want a Ross Noble sat-nav. And at the end he gives a secret phrase you can say to prove you’ve listened to the whole thing, because he’s always surprised that there are people who stick around to the end!

Australian Shows (Disc 2)

The second disc has nearly 3 hours of edited footage from a few shows in Australia:

• Brisbane – Here we see Ross performing in the round at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for just over an hour. This gives us a clearer view of the audience for a change, especially when Ross is talking to people as the cameras can get close to them, and he’s able to look at the big screen above him to see what the cameras are looking at too. There are also a couple of security guards standing on opposite sides of the stage, facing towards the audience, which Ross feels is overkill, so he gently teases them and gets them to sit down. And beyond that he talks about Simon & Garfunkel, Barry White, his impression of Stephen Hawking, a piece of glitter falling on to the stage, a heckler calling him a homo, Middle Earth, an impressive mullet, a ladies magazine, a specially made t-shirt with his face on, a child protection services card, a tiny old lady talking in the cinema, talent shows, a barista, Axl Rose, a giant Kinder Egg, other gifts, and how to annoy old people on a talent show.

• Canberra – This lasts for about an hour and begins with Ross making bird noises in response to someone in the audience, before talking about lights going out for Earth Hour, the concept of time, Stephen Hawking, Mariachi bands, the Seven Dwarfs, sex with the ghost of Patrick Swayze, Scooby Doo, the boyfriend of a lady in the audience, predictive text on iPhones, penguins, the unexpected consequences of trying to fly a radio-controlled helicopter in a hotel room, Bob Dylan, and his dad’s electric wheelchair.
• Melbourne – In this 45-minute show, Ross is taken aback to see a mother with a 6-month-old baby in the audience early on, which immediately gives him plenty of inspiration, leading to great sequences about giving birth and his own daughter, among other things. He also lightly interrogates a guy in the front row who’s reluctant to say which TV station he works for, only for the eventual reveal to baffle Ross even more as to why he kept it quiet. And there’s also a very funny routine about doing a big poo, which sounds gross and childish, but Ross makes it work in a way that only he can.

Interview (Disc 2)

Finally, there are also a couple of fun interviews with Ross as well, both of which he’s since posted online for free.

• Carpool – This is a fun 12-minute extract from the Dave show Carpool, based on the internet series of the same name, where Robert Llewellyn chats to various guests as he drives them around in a car. So here Ross talks to him about owning a pizza bike in the past, having a wife who he met in Australia, losing his home in the Australian wildfires, U2 singer Bono, buying a stuffed otter, Circus Oz, and Yakety Sax by Boots Randolph (known to millions as the Benny Hill music).

• Friday Night With Jonathan Ross – This is a very funny 18-minute interview from the final series of Jonathan’s BBC chat show, broadcast on 21 May 2010. Well, I say ‘interview’… Ross Noble is just there to have a laugh, so to begin with he teases Jonathan about the show ending by talking about trashing the set, asks if he can take the house band 4 Poofs & A Piano home with him, and then gets into a fight with the host by trying to take his seat, breaking it in the process! Once they calm down from that though, Ross then talks about his memorable Latitude Festival performance that resulted in a conga line stampeding to a vegan stall to demand sausage rolls, having to move back to the UK after losing everything in the Australian bushfires, and his Australian Trip DVD. Jonathan then ends by passing on a compliment to Ross made by the legendary Barry Cryer, though it’s Ross that truly brings the interview to a close by darting back out to chase Jonathan around the set for a final scrap!

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Headspace Cowboy

DVD / Apple TV / Youtube Clips (most are also on his new channel)

The Headspace Cowboy tour was exclusive to Australia and took place before Things, but the DVDs of those tours were released in the opposite order. And this DVD set is unusual because it doesn’t contain any full-length shows. Instead it presents us with cut-down versions of 6 gigs (one of which has a commentary available), along with many shorter clips from other shows and a documentary (which also has a commentary). There were also 2-disc and 3-disc versions of the set produced, with the latter including a bonus disc packed with even more clips, and that’s the version I own. To go through everything it contains, including commentaries, requires over 11½ hours, so even without complete shows it’s amazing how it all adds up. And if that isn’t enough, there’s a further 4 hours of clips provided online!

The DVD opens with another spoof copyright notice, which is consistent with previous releases, and this time Ross considers whether you were doing something else that prevented you from noticing the notice, in which case he promises in future to give you notice that there is a notice so that you can notice the notice.

The menu then shows Ross on stage, which has a very simple set design for this tour, with just a blue explosion covering the back wall and stage floor. And the theme tune is a somewhat catchy but very short rock instrumental. Submenus then whisk you off to some kind of satellite, with the theme tune playing quietly in the distance behind the engine noise. So there’s a relative simplicity to the design of the whole release, although there was still clearly a lot of work that went into gathering and editing all the footage it contains.

The Shows

Discs 1 & 2 contain edited versions of 6 shows, lasting between 40 & 50 minutes each, and about 4½ hours in total. It’s a pity none of the shows are presented in full, but what we do get here is still very funny regardless.

• Show 1 – Here Ross talks about internal organs, podiatry, betting your ass, albino babies, posh potatoes, software support, Andrew Lloyd Webber, a miserable looking woman in the audience, a print designer, testing heckles with the sound guy at a previous show, and a sweaty old man sweeping. There’s also an entertaining audio commentary available (sadly only for this show out of the 6), where Ross reacts to a few of the topics above, talks a bit about the tour and the set, overdubs himself talking about a town planning meeting for a bypass, and also rambles about Smurfs, audio commentaries on porn films, his favourite line from a movie, and an idea for his autobiography.
• Show 2 – Glitter is the central theme of this show, as pieces of it float down from the ceiling at regular intervals, left over from the previous act in the venue. The audience take delight in Ross collecting it as it comes, and he promises to throw it over someone in the front row to treat them like they’re in showbusiness, though we don’t see that happen. He’s caught off guard by a moth flying past him too. But apart from that, he also chats to a man who works in education policy, latecomers who had been at a dinner, a man who laughs so hard that he has to blow his nose, a hospitality student and a couple of happy goths. And he talks about wolves being unable to whistle, a Jesus showbiz extravaganza, and an embarrassing moment he had when giving a sperm deposit.
• Show 3 – Pigs come up with some regularity this time, as Ross even makes himself laugh when he talks about having a special pig for distraction purposes, as well as mentioning The Three Little Pigs and guinea pigs. He’s also impressed by a group in the audience wearing t-shirts spelling out his name, with each letter representing an adjective about him, which leads to some discussion about whether it’s an acronym or acrostic. Beyond that he also imagines what it might be like to have audio description on his show or what Harry Potter’s friend Hagrid would be like in Reservoir Dogs, plus he talks about wolves, The Phantom Of The Opera, late night radio, bananas, the word “yes” in different languages, Brazilians, national anthems, and the Queen.

• Show 4 – The stars of this show are an incredibly well-organised man in the front row (who makes Ross break down in laughter when he has something available that he’s joking about), a lady who’s reviewing the show in a notebook, and a group of people who gift Ross a personalised version of Monopoly that references lots of jokes from his old DVDs. Other topics that come up include pigeons, arse confetti, Egyptians, Jamiroquai, atomic signals, Christians, Michael Jackson, and whale song.
• Show 5 – There’s quite a loud man who tries to get Ross’ attention a few times early on in this show, but his shouting is incoherent and soon becomes a bit irritating. Thankfully Ross does a good job of reining him in, but it’s a distinguished man in the front row who has the last word, to Ross’ surprise and delight. And even though he can’t understand the heckler, Ross still uses his interpretation of their outbursts as a springboard for his imagination, leading to ramblings about Bermuda shorts, Daisy Duke shorts, jazz, a man who had an epileptic fit at a previous show, strange laughs, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, political correctness (particularly the words ‘special’ and ‘queer’), a jelly nana, and how he reacted when his wheelchair-using dad encountered a blind man.
• Show 6 – This time Ross talks to a woman with yellow shoes that he imagines as being canaries, a man who’s moved to Kingston, and a man with a large group of friends of which two are missing. There’s also quite a lot of material about martial arts, including chat about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, ninjas and random fighting styles suggested by the audience. Plus he talks about different ways of saying hello, conjoined twins, and how he embarrassed himself in a taxi with a pair of new trousers.

Sit Down Tour

This 46-minute bonus documentary on Disc 1 sees Ross travelling around Britain on the half-a-millionth Speed Triple motorbike to come off Triumph’s production line, guided by his Twitter followers as to where he should go over the course of a week in May 2011.

Along the way he meets some other motorbike enthusiasts and gets to ride around a couple of circuits, and at the end he summons a huge convoy of motorbikes to join him on a ride back to Newcastle. But he also has a bite to eat at Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe in Melton Mowbray, pops in to what was claimed to be Britain’s smallest pub at the time called The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds, gets to fly in a Wales Air Ambulance (for which they paid for the fuel and made a donation to the charity), explores a Wild West style street that’s been built in Edinburgh, and meets the legendary Bob Carolgees with his puppet Spit The Dog in the star’s candle shop in Chester (from which Bob has since retired).

So it’s fun to watch, and Ross also wrote about the trip in an article for the Guardian. The 2011 Triumph 1050cc Speed Triple was then auctioned off at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed on 1 July in aid of Riders For Health, where it was sold by Bonhams for $9,200, exceeding its estimate of $5,000 – $7,000.

You can also hear an interesting audio commentary for the feature on the DVD, where Ross talks about the people who were travelling with him and some of the people he met. Unlike the commentaries on his stand-up shows, this one is more focused without random tangents, as there’s plenty for him to talk about with all the new locations and people that appear.

in 2013 & 2015, Ross embarked on similar Twitter-led tours for his TV series Freewheeling on Dave, for which Series 2 is on UKTV Play at the time of writing, and some older episodes can be found on Dailymotion. I probably saw the show at the time, but obviously I don’t remember it clearly a decade later, so I do plan to watch it again for the final part of this trilogy of posts.

Extra Clips

A whopping 9 hours of additional clips from other shows, lasting 4-15 minutes each, were also posted on Ross’ old Youtube channel, most of which have since been re-uploaded to his newer channel with different names in some cases, the title sequences trimmed out and end screens added on.

32 of those 57 clips were also included as bonus material in the DVD set, although there isn’t a Play All option so you have to select them individually. The titles refer to a particular incident, observation or theme in each case, but other random things naturally creep in as well, and they’re all very amusing.

Disc 2 contains 10 clips ranging from 6-10 minutes each, lasting approximately 1½ hours:

1. Beach Ball – The audience are playing with a ball before the show starts, and Ross then gets to play with it too.
2. Lemons – A lady in a bright yellow top inspires a routine on this theme.
3. Duck Lord – This refers to a misspoken reference to the Dark Lord Satan.
4. Ladysmith Black Mambazo – This was part of Ross’ response to a man shouting incoherently at the start.
5. Space Bag – Ross notices someone’s tinfoil style bag in this clip.
6. Very South – This is where some latecomers tell Ross that they’re from.
7. Thunderdome – Here Ross imagines babies fighting in cages rather than playpens.
8. Chocolate Nobles – A member of the audience has brought in this confectionery by Coles for him.
9. Discerning Gentlemen – Ross is reading an advert for an adult service that includes this phrase.
10. MacGyver The Musical – He makes up a song while trying to fix his mic pack that he managed to break.

Disc 3 in the expanded set then contains a further 3½ hours of material, consisting of 22 scenes lasting between 4-12 minutes each:

1. Neck Vents – Talking about a scarf that a lady is wearing.
2. Running – Ross sees a woman running out of the auditorium to get her husband.
3. The No Gnome – Responding to a lady’s outfit in the audience.
4. Arse Slappy Bongo Man – This strange phrase is a result of talking about lambs being born.
5. Highlander – Ross imagines being given a severed head, before a very funny mime sequence where he pretends he’s lost his voice like a lady in the audience.
6. Pointy Man – A routine inspired by a man gesturing in the audience.
7. Puppet Theft – In response to someone waving excitedly at him with both hands.
8. Jazz Marching – Ross talks to an ex-military man in the audience.
9. When Beards Attack – Imagining a vicar high on LSD being chased by Jesus’ beard.
10. Slow Motion Man – Talking to a couple who arrive late, with the woman blaming her partner.
11. Rabbit Boy – Ross acknowledges his bad impression of Batman in response to a woman’s screeching laugh.
12. Drinking And TV – This is a latecomer’s excuse.
13. Tuna Fish – Ross refers to a random note left on the stage, then his attention is drawn to a couple of pieces of paper hanging in the wings.
14. Testicular Jamming – He responds to enthusiastic screams from a few people when he comes on stage, then plays with a miniature smoke machine.
15. Lulu</a? – This relates to a man who makes a noise reminiscent of the intro to Shout, plus Ross talks to a woman trying to sneakily film despite the rules.
16. Ska Lumberjack – This relates to a brief mention of a guy wearing a chequered shirt and a pork pie hat, but most of the clip sees Ross dealing with latecomers, even helping one to find his seat while their partner disappears for a long time.
17. Astral Travel – Ross imagines two people at opposite ends of a row getting held up away from the show, then does a routine about trumpet euphemisms.
18. Bras – A routine inspired by a woman wearing a short top.
19. Milk – This relates to a lady from a place called Tatura, and before that Ross enjoys talking to someone with a guide dog.
20. Smooth Lady – Ross imagines people taping themselves to the upper balcony so as not to fall off.
21. Sock Assistant – Ross is given a sock puppet with his face on, which he places on stage and voices from the wings to try and confuse latecomers.
22. Lavender Ghost – Ross briefly refers to a lady wearing chiffon, but he’s also kept the woman’s note about her lost voice from the Highlander clip, filmed at a previous show, explaining that he can use it when weird people approach him and say stupid things.

The remaining 25 Youtube clips that aren’t on the DVD, lasting 4 hours in total, are therefore:

1. Arse Department – A lady’s raised hands inspire a routine involving anal probing.
2. Bad – Relates to one person’s opinion of the interval and a Michael Jackson impression, plus random tangents about halal and clicking noises.
3. Beach Ball: The Sequel – A continuation from the earlier video, where Ross talks to the guy who brought the ball.
4. The Brothers Michael – Ross talks to two siblings in the audience, one of whom is a disability support worker, plus he muses about mutes and musicians.
5. Chewie – Routines about conjoined twins and Star Wars.
6. Coypu – Empty seats next to a woman inspire a tangent about this rodent.
7. Crusty Communion – Ross talks about teabagging, Mogwai and a guy he sees with impressive dreadlocks, then misspeaks “crusty hippy community”.
8. Danger! – He imagines how people could plummet to their death during the show.
9. Electrician – While Ross is talking to a man who has that job, the lighting guy in the venue does some improvisation of his own, which a delighted Ross has a bit of fun with. Someone also brings Ross a drink, and he talks about crazy taxi drivers, repeating his story about wearing new trousers from Show 6 on Disc 1.
10. The Finger – Ross looks through a variety of items left on the stage, including a milliner’s business card, and a lady gives him the finger when he points out her squeaky laugh.
11. Future Ninjas – Ross chats to some people in fancy dress, one of whom gives him a jacket to try on, and there’s a tangent about The Matrix.
12. Kyneton – Ross talks about the unusual qualities of the venue, chats to a couple who import and sell women’s clothes, and does a routine about anorexics.
13. Matchstick – A man playing with a matchstick in the front row gets Ross’ attention, as does a lady trying to hold back her laughter because she doesn’t want to embarrass herself by snorting.
14. Overly Feral – A lady gives Ross some cookies with a note that amuses him.
15. Park – A person is late because they had to find somewhere to park, while there’s also talk about pulling fingers for farts, macaws and Jethro Tull.
16. Pez – There are gifts of a novelty hat and a pez dispenser for Ross here.
17. Potato – A fallen piece of glitter makes Ross imagine the lighting technician eating a baked potato, then talks to a man with an impressively long beard.
18. Shoes – A lady compliments his footwear, and he imagines her having elephantiasis, while another person irritates him by doing long loud whistles.
19. More Shoes – Features a woman laughing uncontrollably, a request for him to trade shoes and a story about him accidentally kicking a bloke in the face.
20. Soluble Face – This is a sequel to the Electrician clip, as the lighting guy improvises again after Ross is given two pre-filled water pistols to play with.
21. Toowoomba – Ross takes great interest in a woman’s bag that doubles up as a cuddly polar bear, and observes how the Toowoomba place name could be sung to the tune of Tequila.
22. Toucan Bastards – A tiny egg on the stage sends Ross on another flight of fancy, plus he’s given some flip-flops and a t-shirt, while a lady makes a very quick trip to the toilet.
23. Upgrade – Ross notices that a couple in the front row have left and is relieved when they eventually return. He then makes himself crack up with laughter after impersonating a limp, and offers an upgrade to people at the back to a couple of other seats that have been empty since the start of the gig.
24. Ushers – Ross finds spare seats for a few of the ushers standing by the doors and pleads with them to sit down, but they’re very reluctant to leave their posts.
25. Wine – Ross is convinced someone shouted an incoherent greeting, though the audience don’t admit to it. And even when he does figure out who it is, he struggles to have a conversation as they don’t reply to his questions properly.

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Nonsensory Overload

DVD / Apple TV / Audible / Youtube Audio

We return to the usual style of Ross’ DVDs with this release, which once again opens with a spoof legal notice, this time cautioning about the views and opinions that are expressed. The menu then displays the colourful cover art with some of the random elements floating around, while a catchy piece of music plays. The set on stage for each show is also full of colourful random items as well.

As ever, the 3 discs in the set are packed with stand-up material from various gigs, a couple of which are presented in their entirety. If you watch all of it, and listen to the commentary on the main show from Canberra as well, you’ll be busy for 9½ hours!

Canberra Show (Disc 1)

The main show in this set runs for an impressive 2½ hours and doesn’t get boring despite the long running time. Topics along the way include arse hairs and time travelling wormholes, bears, public servants who work with statistics and therapeutic goods, Family Feud (aka Family Fortunes), what he’d like to do to Delta Goodrem on The Voice, how he’d like to stop someone kicking his aeroplane seat, anecdotes from previous shows where he allegedly mocked a disabled teenager’s laugh and went too far with some processed meat, antique dildos, bizarre sexual fantasies, lap dancing, teabagging, why people tilt their heads when confused, Stephen Hawking, organising a library, guide dogs for blind people, an idea of ponies for wheelchair users, unusual Paralympic sports, and the mad behaviour of his 3-year-old daughter. Then finally for the encore he does a brief Q&A, including how he met his wife, and finishes with a brilliant routine about Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

Canberra Show Commentary (Disc 1)

This commentary follows the tradition of Ross gradually losing his mind as it progresses. He doesn’t bother talking about the show either, apart from pointing out that the set on stage contains references to some of the things he’s said in shows on his older DVDs. Instead, he fills the time by answering questions that people have sent him on Twitter and asking his followers what is happening in general, interspersed with lots of other random musings. So it’s still entertaining as he has lots of funny and crazy ideas as usual.

Along the way he talks about tigers in the afterlife, helium balloon hats, an animatronic Jesus, church mice, the warmth of his recording room, gravy, seagulls, meerkats, pensioners high on drugs, carnivals, being attacked by a gorilla at a zoo, cheetahs vs giraffes, flying cats, lobsters, singing to coma patients, animals taking over the world, someone angry about putting socks on, a poo ATM, fellow comic Dave Johns, vegetables and impersonating HAL. He also makes some random noises and comments to give people the impression he’s watching them (making himself laugh at how wrong it is), and reads out some commands that could be used for a GPS app with his voice. Plus he invites viewers to tweet him a particular phrase to prove they’ve heard the commentary.

Hay Festival (Disc 2)

The first feature on the second disc is a 50-minute set from the Hay Festival, where Ross jokes about luminous lingerie, bedknob injuries, biologist Richard Dawkins, the stage set, someone taking a sneaky photo, music in a nearby bank-sponsored pavilion, a latecomer looking for a seat, salamanders, a group of friendly neighbours, lilos in cupboards, author C.S. Lewis, a pregnant woman, singing silly songs for his daughter, farming insurance, Combine Harvester by The Wurzels, penguins, and stories from a trip to entertain the troops in Afghanistan including his mate being chased by an attack dog and his embarrassing reaction to a rocket going off.

Tour Highlights (Disc 2)

This compilation presents just under 1½ hours of material from other shows on the tour, including:

• A half-hour clip from Toowoomba, where he talks about knees being blown off by snipers, local steak house Hog’s Breath, beating the Devil, weak skulls, accounting for the Catholic church, skimming in bed, an unemployed man, and a fairly new couple living together.
• A 25-minute extract from Adelaide, with routines about pills for baby echidnas, SAS counsellors, healing arses, late audience members due to vanity and the wrong venue, getting a flight time wrong in Egypt, and an Egyptian musician.
• 17 minutes of material from Cairns about a camouflage hat, levitating caterpillars, an upmarket goth, low-flying bats, actor Steven Seagal, a couple in the front row who have bought a 6-week-old baby to the show (which Ross finds very odd).
• 9 minutes of material from a show where he gives an audience member some gaffer tape to secure their chair, before miming being hit by a car, then talking about turning a cat into a blue Smurf monkey and the Na’vi in the film Avatar.
• A 4-minute routine about how he got into trouble whilst motorbiking in Africa.

Hammersmith Show (Disc 3)

On the final disc we get another complete show, with a 2-hour gig from Hammersmith. Ross is having to contend with a chest infection here, but doesn’t let it get in the way, as he covers another huge spectrum of subjects including Islam, Lassie, Satan, horny goths, famous people with the surname Rogers, squirrels, Johnny Ball, mandrills, X Factor voiceover man Peter Dickson, dipping testicles, Susan Boyle, a stage door keeper, Peppa Pig, the Pope, peeing when it’s freezing cold, Lady Gaga, an IT worker, a nonchalant giraffe, the Flumps, killing the octopus on stage then bringing it back to life, Cheryl Cole, Pudsey Bear from Children In Need, combinations of Toblerones and Rolos (one of which is thrown at him by his backstage crew) and other random gifts, Africa by Toto, African tribeswomen with long boobs, playing a prank during a safari in Africa, iPhone vs Android phones, and how getting his Twitter followers to bombard certain accounts for a laugh angered Duncan Bannatyne from Dragons’ Den.

Laughs In The Park (Disc 3)

The set is wrapped up with a brief 16-minute feature of Ross’ stage appearances at Laughs In The Park 2011, filmed at the Verulamium Park in St Albans. He first comes on stage and does a routine about peeing on a squirrel, before introducing some of the other acts. He then returns later when it’s darker and has an amusing rant about Bono from U2.

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Mindblender

DVD / Apple TV

Ross Noble’s final DVD continues his winning formula, opening with another spoof copyright notice that talks about the piracy warnings of 80s VHS tapes vs today’s DVDs. The menu places the options over a static image of Ross’ head and a metal hand, the same as on the cover, while an electrical hum can be heard with occasional audio and visual spark effects. To watch and listen to everything on the two discs will take 7 hours altogether.

Brisbane Show (Disc 1)

Before watching the show, it’s worth clicking on Theatre Code Man first, which is another amusing way of reminding the audience about theatre etiquette. Edited to look like an old public information film, the 2-minute clip shows the man in question, played by Philip Delancey, educating two children in the audience, one of whom has a bomb strapped to her chest, about not using a mobile phone or filming the show.

The show itself, filmed at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, lasts for approximately 2 hours 10 minutes, and two particular themes soon emerge, with Ross talking a lot about low-fat balls early on, before he gets obsessed with the phrase “sweet, sweet piggy titties”, which he speaks and sings in a variety of ways during the second half.

All of which is very funny, as are his many other topics and tangents, including an electric fence, two identically dressed latecomers with drinks, dressage, sob stories on The Voice, Bruce Willis, Patrick Swayze, Erwin Schrödinger, parallel universes, clairvoyants like John Edward, shaving balls, seeing himself on the Jumbotron screen, tearing out arse hairs, his reaction to a man laughing hysterically at a previous gig, throwing cakes at a camera, One Direction, talking guide dogs, a family newsletter, a note from a 16-year-old, a woman who has a squealing laugh like a pig, women reading Fifty Shades Of Grey, vehicle reversing announcements, Shakespearean Daleks, a woman who had an embarrassing accident from laughing at a previous show, pelvic floor clenching (this is a very funny extended routine where he tries in vain to get everyone to stay quiet), a joke that his pregnant wife didn’t appreciate, peeing while standing on one leg, My Little Pony, milking a cow into your mouth, Tom Jones, Batman and Bane, and a cheeky question his daughter asked. He then does a short Q&A for the encore, which is as random as the rest of the show.

Brisbane Show Commentary (Disc 1)

Once again Ross subjects himself to a couple of hours alone in a room, knowing full well that he’ll lose his mind during that time. To be fair though, he does actually talk a bit about the show to begin with, including the title, his shirt and shoes, and the steampunk style disused robot factory that serves as the set on stage. He soon moves on to other things though, naturally.

Following on from his use of Twitter during the commentary on the previous DVD, he tweeted an invite for people to leave questions and comments just before he started recording this new one. So he reads and responds to lots of those throughout the entire session, and also offers to give shoutouts towards the end. Plus he exchanges a few tweets with the owner of the iPad he’s borrowed (here, here and here) after an intriguing message pops up on it. And he gives people a special phrase to tweet him to prove that they’ve listened to the whole commentary.

He also comes up with a strange but potentially fun idea for the commentary on his next DVD – which indicates that he was still considering releasing one at that stage. But this ended up being his final DVD, with subsequent shows being online (which I’ll be posting reviews of as well), so sadly he never got to try that out.

Apart from that, some of the other main topics, distractions and answers to questions during the commentary include the noise made by a drawer in the desk he’s recording at, Darth Vader and the Cantina Band from Star Wars, a message for people in a coma, police identity parades, Cowboys & Ninjas vs Indians & Pirates, goblins, a tip for chatting someone up, why he hasn’t gone back to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, his favourite set designs from his tours, and how to catch a unicorn.

Hammersmith Show (Disc 2)

This is an edited version of the show that Ross performed at the Hammersmith Apollo on the last night of the UK leg of his tour, lasting just over 75 minutes. There are a couple of guys in the front row who are a bit over-excited and probably a bit drunk, but Ross ensures they’re not disruptive and he doesn’t encourage them too much. One likes jumping up exuberantly when he’s mentioned, while the other makes Ross crack up with laughter when he pours his drink all over himself. Ross also talks to some latecomers from Kent, and a couple of people who he sees chatting to each other.

Apart from that, his other topics and tangents include the Oompah Brass band who played covers of rock songs like Bohemian Rhapsody before he came on, cheerleaders fighting, dangling eyes, rugby, putting hecklers on hold, peeing on people, having sex on swings and roundabouts, a plastic duck, Deal Or No Deal, strange gifts, a shop in Tasmania called Chickenfeed with a memorable jingle, Tom Jones, Aled Jones and Jimmy Saville.

A Quiet Word (Disc 2)

Now available for free on his Youtube channel, this is a light-hearted and very interesting interview with Ross, conducted by Tony Martin for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, lasting just over 25 minutes. Here Ross talks about the impact of losing his Australian house in the bushfires (including his ‘dungeon’ of comedy rarities and what happened to the animals), growing up in Cramlington, how he got into collecting comedy, how he developed his comedy style, doing TV show warm-ups, an early gig that included a game with criminals and a policeman on the stage, journalists who go to two or more shows in a row to see if he repeats things, putting blankets over owls, Twitter bombardment pranks (particularly one involving Labour’s “Twitter Tsar”), where else he would like to tour in the world, and what he thinks of Frankie Howard’s record Up Je T’aime.

Bonus Clips (Disc 2)

The DVD set is rounded off with nearly 40 minutes of additional clips from Ross’ tour, which have since been made available on his Youtube channel as well:

• Clip 1 – Another show in Hammersmith, including a present from a latecomer, people literally laughing their faces off, eating around a poo that’s been done on a dinner, and a man making friends with a German woman in the front row.
• Clip 2 – Different styles of clapping in the front row, Lucozade cocks, a father sitting with his daughter until her late friend can take his place, another couple chatting in the front row, and the game show Take Me Out.
• Clip 3 – A routine where he has a shopping bag over his head, including references to Guantanamo Bay and ventriloquism. The audio quality isn’t quite as good for this one compared to the others, but it’s still a lot of fun.
• Clip 4 – A woman who likes men in waders and making love in the country.

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Conclusion

And that’s it. We finally made it to the end of his DVDs, all of which I’ve really enjoyed because they’re bursting with such a huge variety of material, so it’s a great shame he hasn’t released any more like that since. But there is more to look into, as I’ve already started going through bits and pieces online that feature Ross, so I’ll wrap up this trilogy with that stuff soon as well.