Ross Noble: Sonic Waffle

Stand-up shows are often more entertaining when the comedian has some sort of angle, and Ross Noble's angle is that he waffles. He'll take a subject (usually something to do with the audience) and then simply go off on one, and the way that he improvises to get from one place to another shows great imagination, and Ross Noble shows his penchant for comedy by the way that he keeps several threads hanging the air at a time, meaning he can go back to one and usually garner a laugh. It has to be said that, at times, he goes a bit too far and it can be exhausting to watch. More often that not, though, Noble's comedy shows originality and great humour and things such as ideas for Billy Elliot 2 and a puppet show using hands his hands are funnier than they probably should be. This comedy show also benefits from a title that very aptly sums what the show is all about. Going into a show called 'Sonic Waffle' ensures that you know what kind of show it's going to be. Noble's relaxed persona and the fluent way that the show flows makes this a winner, and I'll definitely see another of his shows if given the chance.

Have you ever wanted to see stand up comedy at his best? Well this is the stand up for you. Ross Noble has released his second stand up, Sonic Waffle. This man does not get enough air time, the time hes does is on the special features of the DVD and once again his comedy doesn't help but make you laugh. He is comic genius, his quick witted and always funny on the spot comedy is brilliant.

The intro to the stand up starts by spoofing superhero films as Ross Noble becomes "Radioactive Kung-Fu Fridge boy and Monkey Slayer," you bound to laugh, once the intro is over the stand-up starts, classics like BT phone calls and muffin faces are created here. I recommend it to any one who likes comedy or hates comedy, the people who don't like comedy will find it hard to resist his top notch comedy, which lats all the way through to the and of the stand up

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10/10 - Definitely deserves it

Opening with a rambling discussion with one supposedly "posh" woman near the front of his audience this show continues with a lot of material that seems like it has been made up on the spot with some later sequences which are closer to the traditional stand up show. Working with his audience a lot he seems to let the specifics of people he talks to direct what he does because he tends to go off on flights of fancy with anything that is handed to him. Obviously he has prepared anything he "makes up" but the effect is still good even if it does produce a rather uneven show that didn't make a lasting impression on me.

His material tends to be funny when he is doing it but the second he has finished going along an imaginative thread in a frenzied fashion, it doesn't seem as funny looking back. However as he is doing it it is easy to go with him and be amused by his ideas. At times he seems to lose the audience and he more caught up in the ideas he has (sometimes lingering on them longer than he should have done) but generally his energy works. It will appeal to student audiences more than more mature viewers because it is very much that type of humour but I quite liked it anyway. Noble himself dances on a line between being a really good showman and being an annoying student who tries too hard. He spends most of his show on the former side of the line but at times he does come over to latter side and gets tiresome.

It is worth taking a look but the show does have a lot of energy, problem is that as soon as it dips for even a second the lack of substance tends to shine through. This is evident several times but no more so than the ending where Noble delivers a story that lacks imagination and energy and isn't that good. As he leaves stage my memory immediately was that the show was OK, but during it I thought it was better than that. Funny but relies too much on energy and noise rather than real substance.