Ross Noble

Ross Noble (born 6 June 1976) is an English stand-up comedian and actor. Born Ross Markham Noble in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was brought up in Cramlington, Northumberland, where both of his parents were teachers, and was taught at Cramlington Learning Village. At the age of 11 he was diagnosed as dyslexic, which led him to pursue a career that did not rely on academic skills. He had a brief stint as a street juggler, joined a clown troupe and sold balloons as a stilt-walker, and studied performing arts at Newcastle College before becoming a comedian. He appeared at his local comedy club at the age of 15, despite licensing laws that forced him to leave through the kitchen.

Noble's stand-up routine is a largely improvised and surreal performance with a stream of consciousness delivery, and he is often referred to as a randomist. A large percentage of his set frequently becomes based around heckles and conversations with members of the audience, and he describes the planning for an entire show as "about four words on a piece of scrap paper." He often mimes actions on-stage to help the audience visualise his surreal ideas, drifting between tangents and concluding unfinished stories at the end of his shows.

Noble rose to mainstream popularity through appearances on British television, particularly panel shows such as Have I Got News for You. In 2007 he was voted the 10th-greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, and came 11th in the updated 2010 list. He won a Time Out award in 2000 for his Edinburgh Fringe show Chickenmaster and received a Perrier Award nomination in 1999 for Laser Boy. His 2003 show Unrealtime was the best-selling show at the Edinburgh Fringe before transferring to London's West End. He made his film debut in the 2012 horror comedy Stitches, his musical-theatre debut in The Producers in 2015, and was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Young Frankenstein in 2018.