OVER-worked, partied out and shattered after a week of sadistic scheduling conflicts, this reviewer knew that only the energies of one man would go any stretch to holding my attention on a lazy Sunday evening.

Ross Noble is that man, the man whose whimsy and mania have seemed to only increase over the years, and whose beautifully absurd tangents know no bounds. It’s been nice to see him progress through the city’s venues, and last night Noble played his biggest show here yet on his Nobleism tour – albeit through the power of satellite.

The show was being beamed from the Empire to every Vue cinema in the country for paying customers to see as a live audience – an endeavour with the potential to reach about 10,000 people. Reluctant to resort to stadium shows (good on him), Noble thought he’d give this a try instead.

The stage backdrop – an inflatable giant caricatured head and outstretched arms of the comic – drew laughs from the off. And although the nature of Noble’s act means that audience participation is encouraged, he gave far too much time away in the first half bantering with a woman in the circle with a crass tale to tell – which by and large annoyed everyone else.

It wasn’t until halfway through the second half he even began to resort to structured material, and seeing him in full flow – rather than his mindbogglingly awesome ad libbing – was, as per usual, top class.

Tales about an encounter with a chav, or his addiction to Kinder eggs, were played out to near comedy perfection. As time ticked on and the show neared the three hour mark, he danced, hopped, yelled, and hurled himself around ever inch of the stage with as much vigour as when he began, if not even more so.

To see how he remains so absurdist and yet so razor sharp with his improvised material was a joy as ever but a little more scripted material would have stopped this show from wandering off track a little too much.

That seems like a particularly stupid criticism to have of a Ross Noble show, I grant you that, but despite the continual stream of laughs there were times the more attention-seeking audience members could have been reined in.

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