It'll Have You In Stitches

“Many of them are basically themselves, only with a hat on,” says Ross Noble, of stand-up comedians taking to the screen. The acclaimed UK comedian, who has made Australia a sort of second home personally and professionally in recent years, had no intentions of following suit. In fact, he had no ambitions of screen stardom at all – he was quite content to continue with his surreal, stream-of-consciousness stage style, maybe throw in the occasional appearance on a TV chat show or panel program. But when he played a “socialist tramp who got thrown off a moving train by Tony Blair” in a telemovie by legendary UK comedy troupe The Comic Strip a couple of years ago, he found he really enjoyed the process. Still, he was careful about choosing his next project, unwilling to dilute his stand-up, and wary of the traps facing comedians who take a crack at acting.

“They either want to play straight roles and then no one takes them seriously because they think the performance is going to be a joke,” says Noble, “or they do out-and-out comedy roles where people just show up to see that particular character they play.”

Noble's road-less-travelled-by alternative? Play a homicidal children's-party clown in the bloody horror-comedy Stitches. Barely recognisable thanks to greasepaint makeup, a grimy clown suit and a dour demeanour, Noble's Richard Grindle meets a nasty end at a kid's birthday bash after a prank goes horribly wrong. Six years later, he returns from the dead to get his revenge on the young 'uns, now teenagers, in various inventive and gruesome ways.

“When I read the script for Stitches, I said, 'You had me at knifed in the face!',” laughs Noble, adding that he was taken with the Sam Raimi-style vibe Stitches gave off and relished the opportunity to try his hand at a character far removed from the Ross Noble audiences are used to. “Because what I do is very optimistic, I liked the idea of playing someone who was just the opposite,” he says. “And I absolutely loved it.”

Shifting into character wasn't especially difficult for Noble – “as soon as you slap on the makeup, put on the big shoes and get a knife in your hand, you really feel like you're in there” – but he was pleasantly surprised at how easily he took to making movies, especially since at first glance it seemed to run counter to his own somewhat improvisational, organic style of working. “With stand-up, if you make a decision, that decision affects the rest of the show,” he says. “From the minute you walk on stage to the minute you walk off stage, it's all one go. That's great but what I liked about the filmmaking process was the ability to try things different ways, mix it up, do the same scene a lot of different times and it's then up to the director and the editor to shape your performance. I was aware that was part of the deal. And I really liked it, so I'm gonna do some more. The next one I might write myself, actually.”