Ross Noble's Offensive Comedy

By June Ramli

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to watch Ross Noble, a British comedian, perform at the Sydney Comedy Festival. However, my experience was not entirely positive.
Firstly, I arrived late to the show due to a previous experience of receiving a parking fine at a one-hour parking spot.
I was determined not to make the same mistake and searched for a parking space with at least a two-hour limit.
As a result, I missed the opening act and walked into the show 15 minutes late.
Upon entering, I was immediately struck by the elaborate stage set-up.
It resembled a monkey temple and looked like something out of a Broadway show.
However, once Ross started his act, it became clear that he had not rehearsed his material.
His show, titled “Jibber Jabber Jamboree,” was entirely spontaneous.
While the audience laughed throughout the show, I must confess that as a Southeast Asian, I struggled with some of the jokes.
They were often just too ordinary for me to even muster a laughter.
Nonetheless, I could tell that Ross had a distinctive Scottish or Irish accent, which added to his charm.
However, things took a turn when Ross mentioned Muslims and the LGBT community.
He noticed the change in the audience’s demeanor when he brought up the topic of Muslims and assured them that he would not make jokes targeting this group.
Unfortunately, he did make a few subtle jokes about Saudi Arabians that I found racist and not amusing.
He also attempted to talk about the LGBT community but stopped short when he realized that the audience was indifferent.
In contrast, he continued with his jokes about Muslims, even though it was clear that some of the audience members were uncomfortable.
If a comedian chooses to make jokes about a particular group, they should be fair and balanced. However, Ross did not do this.
Instead, he only targeted Muslims, which was not acceptable.
Furthermore, I was disappointed when Ross chided an audience member for correcting him on a mistake.
Instead of taking it in stride, he embarrassed the individual, which was completely out of line.
It made me feel uncomfortable and showed a lack of professionalism on Ross’ part.
In conclusion, while some members of the audience may have found Ross’ show amusing, I personally did not enjoy it.
His inappropriate jokes and lack of professionalism made me feel uncomfortable throughout the show.
As someone who paid for a ticket to see him perform, I must say that I had expected better.