Ross Noble, BBC 1Xtra's Comedy Gala, Late Night with Terry Wogan - Mark Muldoon's Comedy Diary

Written by: Mark Muldoon
Published: Wednesday 20th March 2024

"In case you've not seen me before, it's not going to be the most linear show" says Ross Noble near the start of Jibber Jabber Jamboree. Newcomers can consider themselves offered fair warning. This train of thought continues: "there's some people who worry about their jobs being taken by AI. If anything I consider myself the last line of defence".

Joining Noble as he wanders off down his many random tangents can be exhilarating, and he virtually always manages to maintain a high enough quality to stave off the threat of it almost becoming tiring keeping up with him, despite the fair old pace things rattle along at. Which, over the course of two hours of stand-up, is certainly not to be sniffed at. When he does eventually alight on something that appears to be prepared material - take, for example, his story that's (sort of) about a bag of dildos, it's invariably a pleasure.

Anybody looking for additions to the No Context UK Comedy book of quotes will have a field day here, but special mention must go to "Yusuf Islam hit in the head by a flying AIDS ferret". After two hours of dense stand-up, tonight the climax of the gig is, of all things, Chris Moyles and his newsreader sidekick coming out to do plate spinning, which thankfully only lasts a couple of minutes. As an audience we were, it's fair to say, already satisfied with what we'd been given.

BBC Radio 1Xtra's Comedy Gala, now, which showcased established and upcoming comedians of black heritage. Which you could reasonably argue is quite a significant moment, as - although you might see some of the names here pop up on, say, Live At The Apollo - you don't ever really see black comedy clubs represented anywhere in mainstream media. UK comedy remains a white-centred environment.

You may consider it a dereliction of critical duties to refuse to name favourites, but all nine acts (Slim, Babátúndé Aléshé, Gbemi Oladipo, Kane Brown, Kyrah Gray, Michael Odewale, Ola Labib and Thanyia Moore, with Eddie Kadi on hosting duties) deliver in the fairly short amount of stage time they have. That helps build a raucous atmosphere at the Hackney Empire, which creates the kind of virtuous cycle that is a pretty rare occurrence amongst typically reserved London comedy audiences, and contributes to the feeling in the room that there's something a little bit special about the event. There's been a bit of a media storm in recent weeks about 'Black Out' nights - theatre performances aimed specifically at providing a space for the black community to see a show together. This is the kind of night that helps you see their worth - a largely black audience able to relax in each other's company and enjoy the show as a community. It'll apparently be on BBC One and iPlayer on 1st April. Then, hopefully, more will follow.

To return to the subject of Ross Noble for a moment. If he's your kind of comedy, then please accept a special little recommendation just for you: Late Night with Terry Wogan is a chaotic faux chat show hosted by the man himself (played by Benjamin Alborough), as he interviews (or attempts to interview) a rotating range of 'celebrities' (comedians in wigs). On our night, that included Nadine Dorries, David Guetta, Keir Starmer and Steve Irwin, amongst several others.

Chaotic is definitely the word, as Wogan fires off surreal interview questions, sings his theme tune (sample lyrics: "I come back from the dead, I eat and drink and fuck and fight") and generally fails to keep a handle on the madness. Sometimes it feels maybe 15% too frenzied, like, say, on the odd occasion performers talk over each other. But that's part of the brand, and you could also easily argue part of the charm. The show kicks off with the audience encouraged to shout out TV theme tunes, which then get recreated via the medium of beatboxing. It's sporadically impressive but far too incongruous with the rest of the show to work. The joyful silliness that follows, though, is an undeniable treat.

Read previous editions of this column (featuring Phil Wang, Sarah Keyworth, Bill Bailey, Jessica Fostekew and Sam Campbell).

Mark Muldoon is also available on Instagram and Twitter. He must get round to setting up that No Context UK Comedy account one day.