THE word "tangent" is synonymous with comedian Ross Noble. His scatty, 100mph Brain Dump show proved a massive hit with a full house audience at The Forum last Thursday.

Noble thrives on crowd interaction and well-humoured patter – the majority of which contributed to a laugh-a-minute first half.

Despite suffering from a chest infection, Noble’s tremendous energy on stage and ability to "take an idea as far as it will go" didn’t wane throughout. The traditional local humorous observations, and suggestions for the borough council, warmed the audience nicely into his non-stop brand of comedy.

A more laugh-filled 60 minutes I’m yet to experience at The Forum - the only time the laughter subsided was the interval. As well as making light of potentially controversial topics, he engaged with the audience spectacularly, often the root of his legendary tangents.

The second half of the show saw a return to the off-the-wall anecdotes he is so famous for. In classic Noble style, the jokes often evolved way beyond the original premise – leading to a rousing audience rendition of fictional hymn number 577, Here Comes Jesus in a Land Rover, at one point. The breathless pace of the show seemed to slow a little towards the second hour mark, with Noble switching to more prepared anecdotes and routines over his seemingly spontaneous observations.

The comedy was still spectacular and was well appreciated by the captivated audience.

Such is his popularity, Noble received a ‘gift’ from an audience member – a homemade tribute to one of the comedian’s previous shows. However, such is the nature of his humour he needed reminding of the joke which had inspired it – testament to how unique each of his performances are. Not only safe in the knowledge we had witnessed completely one-off comedy musings, it was an excellent touch that Noble and his team decorated the stage and produced a big gig feel to the show.

A seemingly small gesture, but as he himself pointed out, it was great to see someone of his calibre making the effort where many of his predecessors might have seen a gig in Barrow as a financially-rewarding inconvenience.

Noble is truly in a field of his own and has surely cemented his Furness fanbase with this original, hilarious show.

Review by IAN DUNSTAN