He's one of the most sought-after comedians on the stand-up circuit, but Ross Noble doesn't have an act as such - he just says what comes into his head, he tells Nick Morrison.

ROSS Noble has been somewhat spooked by the phone. "I just walked upstairs and the phone rang. It was quite frightening," he says. "I had literally just walked in, looked at the phone and it rang - it's weird."

Quite why a phone call at a prearranged time comes as such a shock perhaps helps explain why Noble is in such demand on the comedy circuit. He seems to see the world slightly differently from everybody else, a warped vision which made him the most popular act at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, a Perrier Award nominee, and a regular panelist on radio show Just A Minute.

Cramlington-born Noble, 27, has been performing stand-up for 12 years, making his debut at Newcastle's Comedy Caf when he was just 15. He's now in the middle of a three-month national tour, named Noodlemeister.

"It's impossible for me to describe what's in the show, and coming up with a title for something which is incredibly hard to describe is a bit of a problem. It is more a description of me, more of an abstract thing," he says.

So far, he's had the odd complaint that there's a distinct lack of Chinese cookery in the show, but other than that, it's in the style of his previous shows, Slacker's Playtime and Sonic Waffle. "It is just kind of mucking around and exploring ideas," he says.

"I tend to take ideas, and then I basically take them on, and I will start with something that is a 30-second throw-away and sometimes on stage, something just comes out and the next night, I take it on and see if I can take it in a different direction. It gets longer."

There's no script as such, although he does have ideas, which he then expands and plays around with on stage. "It is five or six words written on the back of a napkin," he adds.

Making up each show as he goes along might seem to be putting himself under pressure, but it's at those moments that he seems to thrive most.

"It is like a painter thinking they will be unable to draw: you can look at some scenery and think 'That is not particularly inspiring' but it is up to you to paint it. Half the time, it is not particularly inspiring, but boring things make your mind work faster. Humour comes from unexpected places.

"I'm really into motorbikes, and when you are riding along on a motorbike, you are not thinking about wrapping it around a tree, you are thinking about how much fun it is riding down the road.

"And there is stuff that is the same as the night before, but I just take it in a new direction. That is the way my mind works."

This style has evolved from his beginnings in comedy, when he says he tended to take the "slickster" approach, of "Have you ever noticed how... ?", adding: "It didn't really work for me, because I'm a bit more strolling."

So far, he's resisted overtures to be on TV, mainly because the vehicles he's been offered haven't been suitable, and has instead confined his appearances to shows such as Room 101 or Have I Got News For You?.

"People were trying to get me to present TV shows and it was hard to explain to them that I'm a live stand-up, and that is what I do. People try to mould you into what they want, and it's hard to say 'I'm better in front of a live audience,'" he says.

In the end, he recorded one of his live shows, which gave him the advantage of being in control and not a slave to the small screen. He'll also be seen on Jack Dee's new show, to be broadcast later this year - much more his natural environment than a sit-com, and one of the reasons he's now enjoying his comedy more than ever.

"It's actually more fun now than it was when I first started. When you start, you are doing every gig you can possibly get - farmers' yards, Hell's Angels clubs. It is a real learning process, but it is actually quite restricting what you can do.

"When you go from that to doing nice big theatres, it gives you an opportunity to do so much more theatrical stuff. That sounds a bit arsey, but it just broadens what you can do," he says.

Already a comedy veteran, he says wants to emulate his heroes, Billy Connelly and Bill Cosby, in carrying on with stand-up, as well as perhaps a more unlikely role model, Jasper Carrott.

"What I really love about Carrott is that he goes on stage and he talks about things that are relevant to a man of his age. That is a really great thing.

"In the past, comedians were always more gag merchants, and it didn't really reflect too much of who was actually telling the jokes. It would be great to end up as a 60-year-old bloke just talking about your experiences. By then I might have scratched the surface."

* Ross Noble's shows at Newcastle Theatre Royal on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (July 1-3) are sold out. He also plays York Grand Opera House on July 15 and 16. Box office: 0870 606 3595.

Published: 29/06/2004