Ross Noble – El Hablador: Serious Comedy Done Brilliantly – Adelaide Fringe Review

Thebarton Theatre, Thu 9 Mar. [COMEDY – UK] In his aptly named new show, El Hablador (the ‘talkative one’ or, the ‘storyteller’), Ross Noble continues to do exactly what he does best – present close to 2.5 hours of utterly sensational bollocks. An impressive collection of gigantic neon lit Calaveras (Mexican-style skulls) dominates the stage, until Noble arrives at least. There’s no pinning this guy down as he wanders back and forth across the stage, arms waving madly as he unleashes what was to become a seriously mind bending experience at the hands of a real comic genius. The thing about Noble’s comedy is that it relies on great skill to work – his mind goes at about a hundred miles an hour in seemingly random directions for the entire time he's onstage. It would be exhausting if he wasn't able to return, pick up and redirect those threads with great consistency and to great effect. He’s also fantastic with the audience, able to immediately find the funny in just about anything. Overhead planes became crop dusters dropping off latecomers to the show and finding a Romanian lady in the front row was comedy gold that he returned to many times throughout the show. The silliness masks an intelligent wit that is relentless – there really is no respite where you can rest and recover, at least until the “piss-break”, a welcome island of relief that gave a chance to take a breath and massage those aching jowls. Endlessly hilarious, even when you've no idea what he's banging on about, Noble delivers (in his words) “flat pack comedy” – he provides the pieces but you gotta put it together yourself. Serious comedy done brilliantly – no allen key required! 5 stars Rosie van Heerde Ross Noble – El Hablador continues at Thebarton Theatre, at various times, until Sun 11 Mar. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 and adelaidefringe.com.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets. #ADLfringe