Mark Watson
“HE’S SIMPLY EXHILARATING”
Mark Watson is a comedian, author, sports pundit and husband. He was born in 1980 and according to life expectancy for his socio-economic group and Body Mass Index, will die in 2056.
2002
He did his first gig in 2002 and the same year won the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Competition. It was then discontinued, securing Mark as the all-time champion of humour. Also that year he was runner-up in the aggressively titled So You Think You’re Funny? After that he stopped doing formal competitions and concentrated on being competitive in general.
2004
In 2004 he published his first novel, Bullet Points. It was Commended in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes. Also that year he performed his first, and so far best, 24-hour show.
2005-6
In 2005 his first Edinburgh show, 50 Years Before Death and the Awful Prospect Of Eternity, was nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer. A year later he won the first ever if.comeddies Panel Prize in recognition of being stupid enough to do a 36-hour show and a show about writing a novel, in addition to main show I’m Worried I’m Starting To Hate Almost Everyone In The World. Also in ’06 he was nominated for the Barry Award in his first appearance at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and became obsessed with Australia; he got married to his beloved, Emily; and he advertised Pot Noodle, dressed as a miner. This has been the dullest paragraph so far but it picked up a bit at the end there.
2007
In 2007 he recorded his first Radio 4 series, Mark Watson Makes The World Substantially Better, with collaborators Tim Key and Tim Minchin. He and Key were to link up again, together with Alex Horne, in oddball quiz show We Need Answers which is now being developed by the BBC. His third and so far best Edinburgh show Can I Briefly Talk To You About The Point Of Life? sold out every night and he published his second novel, A Light-Hearted Look At Murder. He began the online environmental group Crap At The Environment. He became a regular on Mock The Week. He did his first 24-hour show in Melbourne and what may turn out to be his last in Edinburgh. He did a two-week run at the Sydney Opera House. Gosh, he did all kinds of things in 2007! You don’t know the half of it!
2008
Mark completed a 37-date tour of Britain and a three-month Australasian tour which included sell-out runs at the Melbourne and New Zealand Festivals, and Best Show awards at both the Adelaide and Sydney Festivals. In Melbourne, having trained under Al Gore’s, he performed for the first time his version of Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ lecture, to an audience of 1500 people.
You can watch a clip here. The second series of Mark Watson Makes The World Substantially Better for Radio 4 show went out that summer, as well as Spike’s Lookalikes, a four-part sitcom
which Mark wrote, staring Ardal O’Hanlon and Doon Mackinchan. He returned to Edinburgh with his sell out fourth solo show “All the Thoughts I’ve Had Since I Was Born”, recorded the
pilot of We Need Answers, and launched his first non-fiction book Crap At The Environment by sheepishly reading some bits of it in some shop or other. In September, Mark recorded his first DVD at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London.
2009
Mark has filmed 2 series of his BBC4 quiz show We Need Answers, hosted the NME Awards at Brixton Academy, starred in BBC1’s Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, completed a 60 date tour of the UK, Melbourne and New Zealand and won a Fringe First for his interactive Edinburgh show The Hotel. Mark also had time to write “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” starring Ruth Jones which will air this Christmas on BBC4, host his own Five Live radio show £100 Million or Bust and host Nevermind The Buzzcocks. He’s currently preparing for a series of work in progress shows at the Soho Theatre ahead of his 2010 UK tour.
Testimonials
“HE’S SIMPLY EXHILARATING” - Daily Telegraph
“WATSON MANAGES TO DO A STAND-UP ACT FUELLED BY RESENTMENT, RAGE AND RUDENESS, AND STILL COME ACROSS AS ENTHUSIASTIC, POLITE AND DECENT. JOYOUS STUFF.” - Independent on Sunday
“HIS EXTRAORDINARILY HIGH-OCTANE SHOW IS A JOYFUL STREAM-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS JOURNEY…IT’S ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF A COMIC WHOSE BRAIN WORKS SO FAST, YOU KNOW THEY’LL ALWAYS HAVE THE PERFECT COMEBACK. BUT IN FACT WATSON IS SUCH A LIKEABLE CHARACTER THAT NO ONE WANTS TO HECKLE – THEY’RE TOO INTERESTED IN WHAT’S COMING NEXT.” - Observer
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