Comedian Ross Noble is performing at the Ipswich Regent this Thursday, with his new tour Humournoid.

The QI and Have I Got News for You regular will begin his tour in Suffolk on October 14 before performing in theatres around the UK this winter.

%image(15117870, type="article-full", alt="Ross is starting his first UK tour in three years at the Ipswich Regent")

Ross said: “People used to say, ‘What’s your show about?’. And it’s only in the last few months that I’ve realised it’s basically an invitation to see the world through my eyes. It took me years to realise that. I always thought ‘My shows aren’t really about anything’ but they sort of are. They’re about what I think about things."

The pandemic has seen the comic's tour postponed twice, making it three years since he last toured the UK.

“I’m looking forward to getting back in front of a British audience,” he says. “I’m just interested to see where everybody’s head is at.”

%image(15117871, type="article-full", alt="Ross Noble says he weathered the pandemic better than most, as it "was the same as my life normally is... except I just didn’t do a gig in the evening.")

However, Noble has been able to tour in Australia, with a show called The 2021 Comeback Special: “I thought it would be funny to do a comeback special when everyone in the world has been away!"

He did, however, have to self isolate upon arrival: “Two weeks locked in a hotel was exactly the same as doing a tour…but at the end of the night, you go, ‘Oh, I’ll just have some dinner."

Still, the pandemic gave him pause for thought.

“Not only did every theatre in the world close…it was against the law to do the thing that I’ve devoted 30 years of my life doing! I was literally going, ‘What am I going to do?’."

He’s hardly the only comic who felt the pinch. “It’ll be interesting to see, this Christmas, how many comedians release books!” he chuckles.

“There’s going to be so many children’s stories and autobiographies. An embarrassment of riches!”

Rather than this, Noble decided to try his hand at screenwriting. “I love doing stand-up. I’ve always loved doing stand-up. But I’ve always had 50 ideas in my head at once.” Turning those into script ideas, Noble now has a couple of projects in development.

“Creatively,” he says, “it’s been the best time of my career.”