Mark Watson: I’m Worried That I’m Starting To Hate Almost Everything In The World: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh, 2006
Mark Watson Live: Bloomsbury Theatre, London, 2008
Stand Up For Freedom (Amnesty International): Assembly Hall on the Mound, Edinburgh, 2008
Mark Watson: Do I Know You? Assembly @ Assembly Hall, Edinburgh, 2010
Mark Watson: The Information: Assembly, George Square, Edinburgh, 2012
Mark Watson: Flaws: Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 2014
Mark Watson’s Festival of Bad Ideas: Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 2017
Mark Watson: How You Can Almost Win (Work in Progress): The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh, 2018
Mark Watson: I Appreciate You Coming To This and Let’s Hope For The Best: The S/and Comedy Club, Edinburgh, 2019
Edinburgh Comedy Allstars: Underbelly, George Square, Edinburgh, 2019
Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards Gala: Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 2019
Mark Watson’s Watsonathon: Online: 2020
Mark Watson: Next Up Comedy Festival: Online: 2020
Mark Watson’s Watsonathon II: Online: 2020
Vix Leyton’s Comedy Arcade Online Live at The Leicester Comedy Festival: Online: 2021
Always Be Comedy Online: Online: 2021
London Comedy Allstars: Wonderground at Earls Court, London, 2021
Always Be Comedy Online: Online: 2022
Vix Leyton’s Comedy Arcade: Underbelly, Bristo Square, Edinburgh, 2022
Mark Watson: This Can’t Be It: Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 2022
Mark Watson: Search (Work-in-Progress): The Pleasance Theatre, Islington, London, 2022
Mark Watson: Search (Work-in-Progress): Soho Theatre, London, 2023
Mark Watson is an Edinburgh Fringe favourite. I have seen the comedian perform many times at the Festival and he always delivers intelligent and thought-provoking as well as extremely funny shows. He is hugely likeable and is vulnerable and anxious but is clearly passionate about his craft. The audience are on his side from the start as he buzzes with jittery energy and they can’t help but get swept along in the adrenaline-fuelled delivery.
The first time I saw him in 2006 he was targeting everything from an officious toilet attendant to a sluggish cashpoint user that irritated him. In his 2010 show, Do I Know You? He discussed the level of fame he was at and was it all worth it? His self-doubt came into its own, effortlessly styling many a routine that made for a very funny hour. Flaws in 2014 saw him recount his experiences of coping with life after seeing a therapist becoming all the better for it and the Festival of Bad Ideas in 2017 started from nothing and tried to solve bad ideas in life with the help of a fellow comedian who at my performance was Tiffany Stevenson.
In August 2018, his Edinburgh Fringe show was entitled How You Can Almost Win. On stage, he described how, for a man prone to significant stress, with many fears and a history of poor confidence in himself, Watson was asked to go on The Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls and accepted. As he described at the start of his work-in-progress show, this feat really wasn’t for him at all because his favourite things include food, safety and comfort and not being terrified and grumpy. The experience however changed the disorganised comedian for the better, and the hour became a sort of motivational talk / seminar about what he learned from it about life – with lots of jokes. Watson’s description of the ordeal was inspired as was the use of PowerPoint charts deciding whether or not he should take up the challenge at all. It was an interesting and very funny show from the Fringe regular.
I saw Watson again at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2019 with his new work-in-progress show I Appreciate You Coming To This and Let’s Hope For The Best. The Fringeeteran presented a show full of laughter and hope as he talked about new hopeful beginnings. The audience were treated to a bonus ten minutes at the start of the hour where Watson stood in the audience shouting at the crowd without a microphone to deliver his material.
I also saw Watson headline the Edinburgh Comedy Allstars showcase at the Underbelly, George Square where the Welsh comedian had the late-night audience convulsing with laughter delivering quick-fire stories with immaculate timing.
Having a very busy time, Watson also made a brilliant compere at Dave Edinburgh Comedy Awards Gala that I went to in August 2019 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He was very warm with the packed audience and had some great stories to tell before he introduced the acts.
Watson is famous for putting on 24-hour plus live marathon comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe every year. These are normally so popular that I have never been able to get in. In 2020, everyone was told to stay at home due to a worldwide pandemic. The economy suffered as a result. In May 2020, Watson and his team – Steve McNeil, Rob Shakespeare and others – decided to deliver an online show: The Watsonathon linking up to everyone’s homes which lasted a whole day where comedians came together to support good causes. I decided to watch the entire spectacle and (apart from falling asleep for three hours in the middle of the night), the whole thing was extremely entertaining and very funny. Highlights included a full scale online virtual wedding, an escape room, cooking with power tools, an athlete running two marathons in two days, stories, poetry, challenges, interviews, quizzes, auctions and a brand new specially designed gameshow. The online chat room gave the audience watching a chance to participate with comments (which I did) and Watson was the perfect host: warm, enthusiastic, lively, witty, exceptionally funny and ultimately, for lasting the course, heroic. The role-call of comedians was very long and impressive and appearances that I saw were from Tim Key, Nish Kumar, Sarah Millican, Rufus Hound, Cosmic Shambles (John-Luke Roberts, Jonny & The Baptists, Josie Long), Gary Delaney, Papa CJ, Alex Horne, Flo & Joan, Joz Norris, Ross Noble, Marcus Birdman, Adam Hills and family, Lou Sanders, Heidi Regan, Sophie Hagan, Daliso Chaponda, Phill Jupitus, Rosie Jones, Jessica Fostekew, Amy Annette, Colin Cloud, Piff The Magic Dragon, Adam Larter, Ed Aczel, Ben Moor, Nathaniel Metcalfe, Tony Law, George Egg, Tiernan Douieb, Vix Leyton, Bec Hill, Comedy4Kids, Yuriko Kotani, Ed Petrie & Oucho the Cactus, Thom Tuck, Pierre Novellie, Tim Fitzhigham, Helen Duff, Luke Wright, Matt Green, David O’Docherty, Dara O’Briain, Ellie Gibson, Sam Pamphilon, Stuart Goldsmith, Mark Olver, Deborah Frances-White, Jon Richardson, Laura Lexx, Luke Rollason, Arthur Smith, Alexis Dubus, Helen Duff, Shappi Korshandi, Jen Brister, Jayde Adams, Alexander Bennett, Ted Hill, Rhys Nicholson, Lulu Popplewell, John Robertson, Lesley Ewing Burgesse, Barbara Nice, and Richard Vranch (if I have missed anyone, apologies!). The show had an online audience of over 1000 people watching at times during the day and Instead of tickets, a ‘pay what you can’ system was put o place in the form of donations. Over £37,000 was raised on the day and is be split three ways, between @FareShare (a fundamental food charity), @HospiceIGNet (which creates funds for hospices, who are in danger of being forgotten about), and @nextupcomedy Heckle The Virus fund, which supports comedians who have seen all their work unfortunately dry up for the foreseeable future.
Watson appeared online at the Next Up Comedy Festival in July 2020. He was brilliant with the audience and was hysterically funny talking about his experiences of coping with lockdown and trying to write comedy.
In October 2020, Watson and his crew returned for a second 24 hour online event The Watsonathon II which this time raised over £32,000 on the day for two charities: one for comedians (which is supported by this blog): The Comedian Support Act and the second, Turn2us which is a national charity helping people when times are tough. With Watson once again hosting, the show had a Halloween theme (being broadcast 30th to 31st October) and featured a mock honeymoon in Vegas, games, quizzes, interviews, auctions and general mayhem. The showcase of comedians and household names included Tim Key, Sophie Hagen, Alex Horne, Judge Rinder, Flo & Joan, The Great British Bakers, Katie Steggles, Leslie Ewing Burgesse, Jessica Fostekew, Guy Kelly, Tim Minchin, Amy Glenhill, Adam Larter, Melissa Riorden, Tiernan Douieb, Jay Foreman, Andrew McLelland, Yanni, Pope Lonergan, Sooz Kempner, Richard Vranch, Olaf Falafel, Rufus Hound, Tim Fitzhigham, Tim Vine, John Luke Roberts, Olga Koch, Joz Norris, Wendy Wasson, Jordan Brookes, Alison Spittle, David O’Docherty, Abigail Schumann, Phil Nichol, Vix Leyton, Esther Manito, Adam Hills, Dara O’Briain, Joy Lycett, Marcus Birdman, James Acaster, Will Duggan, Matt Highton, Heidi Regan, Robin Ince, Jessica Thom, Allyson June Smith, Maureen Younger, Jen Brister, Boothby Graffoe, Colin Cloud and a wonderful last minute appearance and song by Ali McGregor.
You can donate by clicking: https://donate.watsonathon.com. The online shows were a triumph and I am planning to see a future live marathon on stage with the great man and his team whenever than will be possible.
The comedian appeared as a guest for Vix Leyton’s Comedy Arcade online live at The Leicester Comedy Festival in February 2021. As ever, engaging and witty, he proved to be an ideal guest with some amazing stories and anecdotes.
Watson headlined Always Be Comedy Online in March 2021. Having just had the Corona virus jab, the comic went live outside the Walthamstow Vaccination centre describing everything around him and the vaccine procedure. Watson could take any situation no matter how surreal and just be very funny. He was one of the most unforgettable and hilarious acts especially in the circumstances.
It was wonderful to see Watson appear live on the bill for London Comedy Allstars at the Wonderground in Earls Court, London in September 2021 and for the first Always Be Comedy online show in 2022. Talking to the audience about his kids and being a father, he was clearly enjoying himself bantering with the audience and he was a joy to watch.
The comedian appeared as a guest for Vix Leyton’s Comedy Arcade at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2022. His unique comic style shone through as he effortlessly delivered hilarious stories related to broad topics from the engaging compere. I also saw Watson’s hilarious and inspired solo show This Can’t Be It. Based around taking a life expectancy teat on an app, the show analysed the comedian’s very existence with hysterical consequences all delivered brilliantly by one of the Fringe stalwarts.
The comic performed his new work-in-progress show, Search, at The Pleasance Theatre, Islington in London in October 2022 and then again at The Soho Theatre in February 2023. Based on the passing of time and the ever-increasing amount of information, the new material was fresh, witty, intelligent. and exceptionally funny.
Watson is a true comedy pioneer and in my mind is one of the best comedians currently working. He is always very creative in his thinking, produces some very entertaining and humorous shows every year and has become a quality staple of the Fringe experience. He has a talent for making any situation funny and is an extremely popular comedian.