Preview: Ross Noble: Brighton Comedy Festival, Dome, Brighton

Noble's comedy snowballs

Noble, 29, began performing in his local comedy club in Cramlington, near Newcastle, when he was 15. His live following has been growing steadily since his appearance in 2000 at the Edinburgh Festival and Melbourne's International Comedy Festival. His shows since 2003 - Sonic Waffle, Unrealtime and Noodlemeister - have successfully transferred to the West End, and his travels as a stand-up have been the subject of his own BBC Radio 4 series, Ross Noble Goes Global.

Noble's voice sounds gruff after two gigs in York. "I have been talking about the Scottish Highlands a lot - and miniature cowboys, wallpaper removal and bogus doctors," he says. "New Orleans, speed bumps - one idea snowballs into another." How does he come up with funny material? "I used to try and think about it, but these days I just get on with my day. Once I get on stage, what I have seen during the day, bubbles to the surface."

He recalls being an impoverished stand-up. "A few year's ago I was sharing a crappy room in the West Country with Dylan Moran and hanging out backstage in comedy clubs with Jo Brand," he recalls.

Things are very different now for Noble: the audiences are won over and the Sonic Waffle routine is out on DVD. "But it's not like TV or the music business," he protests, "where you can be an overnight success and all of a sudden you are at loads of parties meeting other celebrities. We have all been in the trenches."

Brighton Comedy Festival, Dome, Brighton (01273 709709; www.brightoncomedyfestival.com), 7 to 22 October