Interview: Ross Noble talks ahead of shows in Telford and Birmingham

Ross Noble's publicist passes the comedian the telephone after issuing me with strict instructions he should be off the phone at an appointed time so that he can be interviewed on radio. So when Ross picks up the phone, I make a joke of it.

"Ross Noble, you only have so many minutes to tell us all about Brain Dump and answer 13 other questions. Start."

He laughs. And so do I. And then he starts to explain his tour, which starts with warm-up shows at Telford's Oakengates Theatre on Thursday and September 23 before continuing to Birmingham for two nights at the New Alexandra Theatre on October 17 and 18.

The title is classic Noble. It's turning a negative into a positive through his surreal, stream-on-conscious, dyslexic brain.

"Brain Dump does exactly what it say on the tin. Whatever is in my head, I'm dumping it out there. It came about after somebody left a review on Amazon for one of my DVDs.

"There were loads of really good reviews and then there was one negative from a person who obviously didn't like my style. He would obviously have enjoyed a more linear style of comedy. He was incensed by my routine, which is fine, you know, not everyone's brain works in the same way and with my stuff you need to have a certain mindset for it to appeal.

"This person had basically expected something different and taken exception when it wasn't. I think they were hoping for a stream of well thought-out one-liners but that's not what I do.

"So they wrote on Amazon that the DVD was like a big, massive brain dump. And though they were trying to be critical, I thought it was quite good. What was intended as a put-down was taken as a compliment. So I decided to run with it."

Ross doesn't have many ideas about what he'll talk about. He'll leave worrying about that until the night before the tour. "It's all just busking it. I usually write stuff down after the show – rather than before – and some of it is quite good.

"I write them down on a piece of paper, then I lose the paper, which I find a year later. And on the paper it will say something like 'disco eggs'. And I think 'what the hell is disco eggs'? That sets my mind going and I'll come up with something completely unrelated to what the thing was in the first place. If you don't get too locked down in the detail you can keep your mind open and spinning."

I ask Noble if he's a good tourer, by which I mean: does he enjoy being on the road? And, in typical Noble-style, he takes it a completely different way, imagining I'm asking him whether he's a caravan.

"I remember the caravan club: 'I always make sure my chemical toilet is adequately ventilated'." And then he laughs at his own absurdity and answers the question about whether or not he likes being on the road.

"When I'm at home, I have two small children so I'm a bit busy. But when I'm on tour it's great. I can have a bit of a lie-in and do stuff instead. It's hard, I miss my family, but at the same time there's a lot more time on touring for staring out of windows and drifting into your own head.

"People who are on the road live in a bubble. You become the child and don't have to think for yourself. I am taken to a hotel and if it's 2am and I want ice cream I say to someone: 'can I have ice cream please?' and they bring it.

"I've tried doing that with my wife when I'm back home. I ring her on my mobile if she's downstairs and I'm in the bedroom. I ask her to bring me cheese and biscuits up to bed. And then I tell her not to swear at me." And we both laugh.

Time runs away quickly as Noble prepares for his killer radio interview, which, it has to be said, won't be a patch on this. So we use the remaining time for a quick Q&A.

He stars in horror movies as killer clowns, when he's not on the road, and thoroughly enjoys it. "I love that stuff. We did a horror film last year which should be out next year or later this year. I've also written and am directing and starring in a one-off horror for Sky. That's going to be out in Halloween week. Keep an eye out for that."

He's also a regular on Have I Got News For you and famously sat alongside Paul Merton when the two of them were so rubbish that they scored nil points.

He laughs about it. "Before we went on, I said to Paul 'let's try and get zero points'. He wrote about it afterwards in his book. It was so hard to get no points because if you say anything vaguely near the truth they give you a point. It was good fun and Paul's brilliant. There's not many people who are as funny as him and can also put an extra layer on it by getting it all wrong and mucking around."

Noble is dyslexic – a condition that has been more of a blessing than a curse. "It's one of those things that means your brain works in a slightly different way. I find it a little bit tricky with the directing because there's a lot of writing and stuff and scripts.

"That's quite hard. I find that hard. But yeah, if I hadn't have had to find ways around dyslexia I probably wouldn't have ended up doing this. I'd say to any kids who are dyslexic, just find your way round it."

Noble had a farm after moving to Australia. It burned to the ground in a huge fire, leaving him with nothing. "It was a big fire. It wiped out the whole lot. The thing I remember is having to buy new pants. I literally only had one pair because the rest had burned. It is an extreme way of buying new underwear. But that was that, I only had one pair."

He also loves motorbikes. "I do. I did a thing travelling around Devon for a week on a big adventure bike. We had nothing but rice pudding to eat. My friend and I slept rough by the side of the road and made a film about it. Hopefully we'll put that online soon."

The clock's ticking and there's time for one last question. It's about his fans and the type of relationship he enjoys with them.

"In terms of the actual fans, I very rarely get any bad stuff. You hear all the horror stories from other people but it doesn't bother me. Everyone's cool. When I'm out and about in the daytime, people just come up and have a chat. I think they find me approachable because I'm just a bloke who talks b******s.

"So people just say hello. I'm not one of these people who complains and says 'I don't like talking to the public'. Pah. I enjoy it.

"This morning, for instance, I was in a café next to the BBC and the woman at the counter told me my sandwich would be less if I had a BBC pass.

"The woman next to me in the queue recognised me and leant me her pass.

"So I got a discount on a sandwich and a random stranger was kind for no apparent reason.

"So there you go: I get significant discounts on sandwiches and last week I also got a free dinner in a Toby Carvery."

Ah the joys. Life's sweet when you're Ross Noble. Happy Days.

By Andy Richardson