Paul Keaveny

THE unique comedy musings of Ross Noble came to Parr Hall last week and some of Warrington's most popular 'attractions' were the first to come under the comic's distorted microscope.

Firstly he told us how impressed he was to be in the 'cultural quarter' of the town and said that he imagined the streets are usually awash with mime artists, jugglers, musicians and poets.

Then he embarked on a surreal flight of fancy that pondered the deep questions like, what possessed somebody to name a shopping centre Cockhedge?

But even more perplexing for Noble was the thought of calling a nightclub Mr Smith's.

His confusion was matched by some of us in the audience who sometimes found it difficult to keep up with the comedians utterly ridiculous and unpredictable train-of-thought.

He's a bit like Eddie Izzard on speed.

But his style is deceiving because although I am sure that many parts of the show were improvised, like his banter with the audience, I think much of it is meticulously planned nonsense.

Often he would start a story then go off on a tangent about monkeys that would lead to numerous other tangents about magpies and glass collectors.

Then he would finally give you the punch line to the joke that you had almost forgotten.

Some of his extended nonsensical anecdotes lasted a little bit too long and all you really wanted him to do was get back to the point.

So perhaps he's more like Ronnie Corbett on acid? Now that would be worth watching.