Ross Noble is a very friendly man. His spontaneous humour relies on making audiences into instant mates, then leading them a merry dance down the tangential paths of his mind.

At the age of 26 he's already played to packed houses at the Edinburgh festival, fronted his own Radio 4 series and stepped in as a Have I Got News For You team captain when Angus Deayton bowed out.

BBC South Yorkshire caught up with Ross as he arrived in Sheffield to kick off his tour.

Find out why waffling is an art, how to deal with the world's worst audience and why Sheffield should be the envy of every city in Britain.

You sound perfectly at home in Sheffield. You've already had a chat with your mate BBC Radio Sheffield presenter and comedian Toby Foster on air haven't you?

I did yeah. It was quite funny cos I know Toby really well and it was funny doing loads of interviews then - all of a sudden - it’s your mate on the end of the line.

"I was really annoyed about one of the bits that didn't go into the show."

It was like he was taking the p***. It’s like one of your mates pretending to be a journalist y’know. It was like he had his radio hat on.

Do you find that when you’re mates with comedians you get really competitive about who is funnier?

No, not really because comedy doesn’t really work in a competitive atmosphere. Usually what happens is, if you’re competing for a laugh you end up just shouting each other down and it doesn’t actually go anywhere.

It’s like constantly building on what’s been said. You’re trying to build it up and go somewhere as opposed to topping it.

You’ve worked recently on Have I Got News For You. Do you bounce off the other guests there quite well?

That’s a classic example. If a politician is on there trying to be funny, and they’re not then they get knocked down.

Whereas if you go on there and you’re a comic and you’re funny it’s different. If you say something, then Merton will pick it up and take it on to the next step and then hand it back and you can add something to it.

With HIGNFY the viewer gets the impression that some of the funniest bits are the bits you don’t see. Is that the case?

You can see it on the DVD, that they’ve left in the bits off camera.

But there’s loads of stuff they obviously can’t put in - one of the weeks that I was on the whole John Leslie business happened. There was tons of stuff on there.

I was really annoyed about one of the bits that didn’t go into the show. It got big laughs in the studio but they have three lawyers sitting in the green room and they said "No, that’s not going in."

You won't have that problem with your live show. But what exactly is 'Sonic Waffle'?

It’s a very clever name for me basically arseing about on stage for a couple of hours. Sonic Waffle is sort of a focussed meandering. That’s the best way to describe it.

Is there a lot of improvisation there then?

Yeah quite a lot. It’s fairly loose, but it’s not aimless. That’s the thing, it’s going somewhere. I see waffle as a positive thing, yeah.

It’s just basically a stand-up show and you have to give it a title so people know it’s a different show to what they’ve seen before. And it’s kind of me just larking about really.

I know you’re no stranger to touring after your Radio Four show Ross Noble Goes Global. Are you looking for inspiration and idiosyncratic humour as you tour the UK and Ireland?

Yeah insofar as I just keep my eyes open as much as possible and see what happens. Ireland’s always good for that because there’s always slightly odd things happening.

"Every city in Britain should have its own big shiny animal" (Real, 28K)

There’s just something about the place.

I don’t know whether the whole place is a bit odd but interesting little things happen in Ireland.

I just keep my eyes open all the time and it can be about the area or it can be about just a particular person that you happen to see in a place.

So have you managed to form any impressions since arriving in Sheffield?

Well I’ve been to Sheffield quite a lot actually and played on quite a regular basis over the years. So I’ve spent quite a lot of time here.

There’s that big silver buffalo isn’t there? That’s always a real sort of marker. When you’re driving down from Scotland you see the big silver buffalo from the M1.

You’d be surprised how many people think of that as quite a significant thing. It’s better than a roadsign: a big shiny animal at the side of the road.

Does that amuse you then?

It does, yeah. It might not be the most obvious thing about Sheffield, but in fact every city in Britain should have its own big shiny animal.

It’s better than roadsigns, you know... you go "I’m at the big shiny goose, I’m in Derby" or "I’m at the big shiny Eel - Ealing". It should relate in some way.

How to deal with the world's worst audience and more >>