Ross Noble
Random Theory
by Scott McLennan

Jane Goodall’s not the only long-haired and intelligent monkey lover adored by folk around the globe. Northumberland comedian Ross Noble might not have the qualifications of chimpanzee expert Dr Goodall, but he sure is a lot funnier than the National Geographic staple. Married to a Melbourne lass and now splitting his time between Australia and England, Ross is back in Adelaide this week for the Fringe with the release of his new DVD set, Randomist, neatly coinciding with his visit. The four disc collection reveals the incredibly gifted comedian’s fascination with Australia’s larger than life tributes, such as Gumeracha’s The Big Rocking Horse and Kingston’s The Big Lobster, as he travels around the country on his BMW motorcycle.
“I’m slightly obsessed with them to be honest,” Ross began. “It started off with occasionally seeing them at the side of the road, but now I actually make a diversion in order to see them. The favourite thing I discovered recently is that they’re actually moving the Big Merino [in Goulburn, New South Wales] up the road. The entire building is going to be lifted up and they’re going to put it on the back of a big truck. It’s quite worrying to think that it’s free standing, as someone could have nicked the thing. I think they should get a big shepherd and a big sheep dog and just herd it up the road to the new service station.”
Maybe they could move the Big Merino to the Big Woolbales in Hamilton, Victoria, since they’re rubbish.
“Yeah, it might start a bit of a trend of big things moving,” Ross suggested. “There’s also the Big Oyster in Taree, which is a car showroom. I wouldn’t mind getting back there and renting it out for a week. I’d just sit inside the Big Oyster and play Monopoly.”
During Randomist, Ross lays into U2’s Bono for his choice of fashion accessories.
“They’re not a bad band, but there’s a pretentiousness to people who wear sunglasses and people who wear hats,” Ross stipulated. “Fair enough if you’re an Eskimo and you’re wearing them so you don’t die, but The Edge wears hats all the time and Bono wears sunglasses all the time.”
Although happy to listen to anything from bluegrass to rock, Ross isn’t into the smooth and sensual R&B.
“R Kelly and Craig David and all that shit,” Ross explained. “You can keep that shit. Guy Sebastian as well.”
You can’t have a go at Guy – he’s a local!
“What?” Ross asked. “So because he’s local his music can’t be utter shit? That makes sense, yeah. Didn’t the Snowtown murders happen in Adelaide? You can’t go having a go at the local serial killers? That’s like the people south of Sydney going, ‘Ooh Ivan Milat, he’s one of ours!’. But given the choice I’d rather hear a new album by Ivan Milat than Guy Sebastian. Nothing against the bloke personally… other than the fact he’s a twat!
“I’m not like a huge music fan but I like pop videos,” Ross continued. “I couldn’t tell you the last time I listened to an album the whole way through but I’ll happily sit and watch three or four hours of music videos. I prefer the way the music and pictures go together rather than just listening to a record. They’re like little films, you know. One of my favourite ever is Wired For Sound by Cliff Richard, where it’s basically just him roller skating around a shopping centre.”
But isn’t it good that he chose not to wear the spandex outfits that everyone else in the video is wearing?
“Yeah, that is a good thing,” Ross acknowledged. “But he should do the spandex now with his wrinkly old turkey neck style body.”
Are You Being Served?’s John Inman died last week, were you a fan of…
“What?” Ross interrupted. “I did not know that at all. That’s the first I’ve heard about that. Oh blimey. Are You Being Served? was loved over here, wasn’t it? People just went nuts for it. That’s always the way I find out people died. The phone goes and it’s, ‘Can we have a comment about John Inman?’.”
Ross stated that he was going to use his time in Adelaide during the Fringe to track down a mysterious local icon.
“I’m making this documentary at the moment and I’m hoping to get in touch with Johnny [Haysman, notorious Rundle Mall rambler] and put him in it,”” Ross revealed. “He’s a bit like Batman – I don’t know if he’s got a number to ring, you just have to wait for him to find you. He’s like the Dungeon Master. For me, Adelaide is the Silver Balls and Johnny. They’re the two biggest tourist attractions, so it would be wrong of me not to talk to him. I’ve done a couple of loops of Rundle Mall with him before and had a bit of a chat. He’s a lovely bloke but he was quite busy walking. He’s on a mission, you know. He’s world famous but nobody’s ever really got him on TV. I’ll spend a lot of my time hanging around Rundle Mall hoping to bump into him.”
If you could travel to any point in history where would you go?
“I’d just go back to last night and have a couple of hours extra sleep,” Ross laughed. “People always come up with historical things to see and use time travel wisely, but I think the great thing about time travel is that you can get a decent night’s sleep everywhere.”
So you could have a decent night’s sleep in Elizabethan England, then.
“But it’s hard to get a decent night’s sleep when there are peasants arguing outside and kids with rickets clicking their way down the street,” Ross argued. “Crickets and rickets – they’re the two things that make it difficult to sleep in the evening and they sound similar as well. Kids with rickets sound like very large crickets, with their clicky legs making those sounds outside.”
Ross Noble brings Fizzy Logic to Royalty Theatre from Tue Mar 27 to Sat Mar 31. Randomist is out now through Shock.

Fuse Festival
by Robert Dunstan

Fuse Festival hits Adelaide as part of Adelaide Fringe from Tue Mar 27 until Fri Mar 30 and will have music industry people from around the globe descending on this city to deliver as series of conference as well as attend some showcase gigs. The four-day event will have lots of local acts as well as artists from around Australia taking part in Explode! to highlight acts ready to take on the overseas market and Ignition!, a series of gigs in live music venues around town for up and coming artists.
We spoke over the telephone to Fuse’s Alistair Cranney who began by saying he was very excited with the program.
“These things always take a long time to put together but this one has come up very nicely,” he noted. “And we still have a bit of room if people still wish to register for the conference.
The response to delegate Peter Garrett’s keynote Fuse address at 11am on Fri Mar 30 has been so great that it has been moved to a larger venue and will now be conducted at Cinema 2 at Academy Cinemas in Hindmarsh Sq.
“And we’ve now also made that a ticketed event so that anyone, not only those who’ve registered for Fuse, can come along and hear Peter talk,” Alistair revealed. “It’s open to the general public.”
“The music showcases also look fantastic,” he then noted. “For Explode!, the export ready showcase, we’ve got a band from pretty much each state – Dappled Cities Fly from New South Wales, Custom Kings from Victoria, New Rules For Boats from West Australia and Grand Atlantic from Queensland – and we’ll also have the Triple J Unearthed winner and that’s Cathy Petocz from Canberra. Triple J specifically wanted a singer songwriter rather than a band so she was chosen from something like 700 other entries. And then from SA we’ll have Huckleberry Swedes, Mere Theory, Terra Firma and Fire! Santa Rosa! Fire!.”
The latter band was chosen via a MySpace competition.
“And Grand Atlantic, the Queensland band, won the Sonic Bits competition,” Alistair explained further. “Sonic Bits is an American electronic press kit website that promotes all sorts of opportunities. They have about 2,000 bands involved at the moment and Sonic Bits approached Fuse about getting involved which is great as it interesting the way the word about Fuse has spread around the world.”
On Thu Mar 29 Adelaide’s leading live music venues will feature acts as part of Fuse with delegates encouraged to see as many as they possibly can.
“We’ll be providing cars and Fuse buses that will go from gig to gig and anyone – including punters – can just get on them,” Alistair said. “And the great thing about Adelaide is that none of the city venues are that far apart. In a lot of cases, you can simply walk from one to the other.
“So it’ll be about 50 bands in about 20 venues,” he continued. “Last year, one of the international delegates made a huge list of who they wanted to see and managed to get to see most of them.
“And there’s a big emphasis on local acts at this year’s event with Hilltop Hoods and The Audreys winning ARIA Awards,” Alistair enthused. “Interstate people are now thinking they might come to Fuse and see an act they might want to be involved with. And that happened last year because Hilltop Hoods - they didn’t play Fuse but their manager attended the conference - have since been invited to play the Glastonbury Festival in the UK later this year.
“Legless toured Japan and Pharoahs have gone on to have good success interstate,” he continued. “And, due partly to contacts made at lat year’s Fuse, Melbourne band True Live are doing very well. And Glenn Skuthorpe, who is doing the Ignition! showcase this year, will be playing The Dreaming Festival. And Hot Lies signed to Liberation and The Hiptones signed to Sony/BMG, Wolf & Cub signing to Remote Control and etypejazz doing the G’Day USA shows. So there’s been a big focus on local acts over the last year.”
Alistair suggested that acts involved in the showcase gigs would likely get just as much out of attending the conference.
“What I’ve been pleased about this year is that we have about the same number of acts performing at Fuse but this year we have 180 of those people, be they in bands or solo artists, attending the conference. Last year it was only 110. So I’ve been excited by the fact that artists are catching on to the idea that they can get an awful lot out of attending the conference.”
There will be an array of international delegates including Mark Meharry (MusicGlue, UK), Tony George (Australian Music Office, USA), David Messer (DMP Promotions, UK) and Katja (Popkomm Festival, Germany) and Alistair is quietly excited by the number of international delegates who will be attending Fuse.
“And it’s only just been confirmed that Adam Wolf, from a company called the Pig Factory in Los Angeles, is now coming,” he revealed. “Pig Factory are a music licensing company who place music in films and television shows. And that’s a great way to break into the market. Kasey Chambers has already had one of her songs placed in The Sopranos. And look at [local band] Lazaro’s Dog who did that advertisement for JVC and were the Fox Sports channel theme music for two years in a row and are still receiving money for it even though the band don’t play all that often any more.
“We also have David Messer from the UK coming,” Alistair continued. “He books a club called Dingwall’s over there in Camden and also runs an independent booking company. So he’ll be able to tell acts who they need to contact and the whole process of getting club gigs in the UK.
“And it’s been exciting that we’ve had an embarrassment of people who wanted to come to this year’s Fuse as delegates but we kinda ran out of money to bring them,” he added. “So it’s great that while Adelaide has been seen nationally as a small music market, it is now being taken notice of. And we have some of the best venues in Australia here. There’s certainly nothing like The Wheatsheaf in Sydney and nothing as good as the Governor Hindmarsh in Melbourne. Sure they have the Corner Hotel over in Melbourne, but it doesn’t lend itself to having rock bands as well as the more classy, slicker cabaret-style acts.
Explode! takes place from 9pm on Wed Mar 28 at Electric Light Hotel while Ignition! takes place at some 20 live music venues around town on Thu Mar 29.
For more information about Fuse Festival, visit <fusefestival.com.au>.

Seb Carboncini

Seb Carboncini is currently presenting Letting Go Of Our Inner Bitches, a show about tantric tantrums and such, as part of Adelaide Fringe. We asked what childhood event sent the comic on such a spiritual path?
“Watching Question Time In Parliament.”
Most under-rated comedian?
“Neutron Puberboober.”
Who’d play you in the Hollywood film of your life?
“Anna-Nicole Smith.”
Which comedian would you love to punch?
“Paul Hogan needs another makeover.”
Which comedian would you like to pash?
“None of them. They’re all filthy bush pigs.”
Secret talent?
“My intuition. I know where Osama Bin Laden is.”
What’s your poison?
“Adelaide water.”
Worst ever job?
“A rugby club masseuse.”
Brushes with fame?
“I have Alexander Downer’s toothbrush.”
Strangest dream?
“Sleeping with all the Mr Universe contestants in a pool of goanna oil.”
What did you want to be when you grew up?
“A mobile dog groomer.”
If you could take just one luxury item to a desert island what would it be and why?
“A luxury yacht so I could leave when I wanted.”
Favourite Adelaide moment?
“Doing yoga naked on top of the Santos building.”
Favourite local haunt during Fringe?
“Higher Ground.”
Worse decision you’ve ever made?
“Falling asleep during my driving test
Product you’d happily endorse?
“My show, Letting Go Of Our Inner Bitches.”
A five word summary of your show?
“Piss funny Zen theraputic hilarity.”
Why should people come and see it?
“Because they’ll be a better person for it.”
What are you looking forward to at the Fringe?
“Giving my audience a deeply touching experience.”
What makes Adelaide so great during Fringe?
“Because art rules the city, not idiots.”
Seb Carboncini is currently presenting Letting Go Of Our Inner Bitches at Higher Ground until Sat Mar 24.

Hung Le

Hung Le is in town to deliver a new comedy show, Hung Like Me, at Higher Ground so we e-mailed him some questions and began by asking what childhood event sent him on the performance path.
“I started busking in Melbounre’s Bourke St Mall at 15-years of age. Buying bottles of Red Label with one cent pieces really appealed to me at the time.”
Most under-rated comedian?
“Alexander Downer. If you ran up to him and whacked him on his big boof steelo head with a piece of 4x2, it would make that really funny bbb-dooing sound, don’t ya reckon? And he wouldn’t feel a thing unless you put a nail in.”
Who’d play you in the Hollywood film of your life?
“Mr Bean.”
Which comedian would you love to punch?
“Ben Stiller. Right in the chops.”
Which comedian would you like to pash?
“No one pashes comedians. What are ya?
“Secret talent?
“I can move toes independently on my right foot. Too much drinking at university..
Worst ever job?
“Never had one long enough to hate really.”
Brushes with fame?
“Engelbert Humperdink’s manager once told me I was a loser. They were paying me $250 at a 2,000 seater at Crown Casino and my dressing room was a table in the corner of the kitchen, so he was spot on. I pretended to be Quan Yeomans from Regurgitator when they were living in that bubble in the city square. Every time he went to the shitter, I came out and signed autographs. I wanted to see how much cock I had to suck to be in the ’Gurg.”
What did you want to be when you grew up?
“Alive would’ve been fine. Not 100% - just barely would’ve done.”
“A luxury boat with a luxurious chick with some Lux.”
Favourite Adelaide moment?
“Bong o’clock.”
Favourite local haunt during Fringe?
“Anywhere there’s gonna be free beer.”
Worse decision you’ve ever made?
“Bong o’clock prevents me from such mundane, everyday chores.”
Product you’d happily endorse?
“Food and that.”
A five word summary of your show?
“You’ll laugh until you stop.”
Why should people come and see it?
“Cause it’s funny as.”
What are you looking forward to at the Fringe?
“Full houses, beer, bong, food and that.”
What makes Adelaide so great during Fringe?
“As above… And sore kidneys.”
Hung Le is performing Hung Like Me at 8.50pm at Higher Ground until Fri Mar 30

Sean Hughes
by Catherine Blanch

It’s been 10 years since UK comedian Sean Hughes toured Australia, but his stand-up comedy drought has been broken with his return for Adelaide Fringe 07. In his absence he’s been dominating UK television, writing books and made his acting debut in The Commitments. We phone chatted to Sean to get his views.
“I’ve been doing so many different things for such a long time,” he began. “The more successful I got, the more opportunities that came along. Yet, when it came down to it, stand-up is what I like best.
“This show is pretty much coming from a 40-year-old perspective of the world. I feel spiritually 10 years of age but when I’m drunk I think I look 25 [chuckles].”
Do people ever really grow up?
“I don’t think so,” Sean concurred. “Being single and childless, I feel like Peter Pan. Without giving too much away, I do talk about how people can’t deal with that much freedom and therefore choose to settle down and have a family. I swear to God, it’ll make so much sense when people hear it on stage!
“Each show is very spontaneous – just as stand-up should be. That’s what makes a gig special and individual. What I’m doing will suit ages 11 to 70, which can be quite tricky but it seems to be working. It’s current and I’m not frightened of the truth!”
Do you know what to expect yourself?
“I never really know what the next line will be but I do know where it will eventually go,” Sean concluded. “I’d go crazy if the show was totally rehearsed - it would be like doing an office job! Whatever happens to me the day before I arrive in Adelaide will be the start of the show.”
Sean Hughes performs at Royalty Theatre from 6pm from Sat Mar 24 until Sun Mar 25.

Luka Bloom
by Robert Dunstan

Irish singer songwriter Luka Bloom – the younger brother of Irish music legend Christy Moore – is coming to town as part of Adelaide Fringe 07 armed with a brand new album, Tribe. A regular visitor to this country since the early ’90, Luka will be undertaking his first visit for a couple of years.
“And I can’t wait to get back,” he said over the telephone from home in Ireland late one night. “Why wouldn’t I for God’s sake?
“And, fortunately for me, people in Australia are still gluttons for punishment,” Luka added with a laugh. “It’s tour number nine for me and I’m pushin’ for 10. But it’s a nightmare flying these days with all the pain in the arse security.”
The singer songwriter’s latest album, Tribe, marks somewhat of a departure for it was written and recorded with Country Clare’s Simon O’Reilly after Luka had heard Simon’s instrumental Tidelines album.
“It is a total departure,” Luka readily agreed, “but it’s an album I’d be wanting to make for a long, long time. Simon had made a beautiful instrumental album that someone had sent to me and I just loved it. So I contacted him and said I’d like to work with him. So Simon created all these sounds and then posted them to me – and I mean he literally posted them to me as CDs because I’m a bit of a Luddite – and then I made up the songs from his music. It was lot of fun and very enjoyable.”
Luka’s trademark guitar only appears on two songs.
“Yeah, it’s most unusual for me to just be singing,” he said. “But that was also something I wanted to do.”
Robbie Moore, Luka’s son, adds backing vocals to the title song.
“That happened quite by coincidence,” Luka said. “The studio [Black Box] where we recorded my vocals was in France and only an hour away or so from where Robbie is studying at university. So I invited him over and he gave it a go.”
Luka is travelling with special guest Irish-born opening act Sabrina Dinan who has been winning rave reviews for her performances in Australia.
“Yeah, Sabrina’s amazing,” Luka enthused in conclusion. “She spent a good while or so in Australia some time ago, but this will be her first big tour.”
Luka Bloom plays the Governor Hindmarsh on Mon Mar 26 with special guest Sabrina Dinan. Luka’s latest offering, Tribe, is out now through Shock.

Rohan Harry

Thanks For The ADD is the name of the show that local comic Rohan Harry is currently presenting but it was doing a Reynella East Primary School talent show night in 1988 that sent him on his performance path.
”I did an Alice Cooper impersonation. The crowd went wild.”
Most under-rated comedian?
“Celine Dion.”
Who’d play you in the Hollywood film of your life?
“Dustin Hoffman.”
Which comedian would you love to punch?
“See below.”
Which comedian would you like to pash?
“See above.”
Secret talent?
“I’m really bad at keeping secrets.”
What’s your poison?
“A cask of Stanley’s fresh dry white. It 10 bucks for
30 standard drinks.”
Worst ever job?
“Turkey packer.”
Brushes with fame?
“Was at the urinal last week and Rob
Kelvin from Channel 9 happened to be standing next to me.”
Strangest dream?
“I was running around the city of Adelaide
with a shotgun dressed in a suit like one of the dudes from the matrix, and got attacked by flying peanuts.”
What did you want to be when you grew up?
“Cartoonist.”
If you could take just one luxury item to a desert island
what would it be and why?
“Bag of cheap wine cos when I finished it, I’d have a pillow to sleep on.”
Favourite Adelaide moment?
“Last week I painted the letterbox.”
Favourite local haunt during Fringe?
“Higher Ground.
Worse decision you’ve ever made?
“Sleeping with the boss’ stepdaughter.”
Product you’d happily endorse?
“Spam.”
A five word summary of your show?
“My personal MySpace account live
Why should people come and see it?
“Cos it’s about my space and I need friends.”
What are you looking forward to at the Fringe?
“Chilling out in the garden Of Unearthly Delights.”
What makes Adelaide so great during Fringe?
“It’s where the Fringe is held.”
Rohan Harry is performing Thanks For The ADD at Higher Ground at 7.25pm until Sun Mar 25.