Mark Watson (comedian)
| Mark Watson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mark Andrew Watson |
| Born | 13 February 1980 Bristol, England |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, radio |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Genres | Satire, observational comedy |
| Spouse | Emily Watson Howes |
| Website | http://www.markwatsonthecomedian.com |
Mark Andrew Watson (born 13 February 1980) is an English[1] stand-up comedian and novelist.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Watson was born in Bristol to Welsh parents[2][3] and attended Henleaze Junior school and then Bristol Grammar School, where he won the prize of 'Gabbler of the year', before going to Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied English, gaining a first class degree.
At university he wrote, starred in, and directed a number of plays and comedy sketch shows including two years with the Cambridge Footlights, with whom he was nominated for a Perrier Comedy Award (Best Newcomer) at the 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
[edit] Career
[edit] Comedy
Although not Welsh himself, Watson delivers his act with a common Welsh accent which is not quite his own. He adopted it when he started stand-up comedy saying that it made him "more comfortable to be talking in a voice that I didn't quite recognise as my own".[4]
Watson has appeared regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning the first ever Panel Prize at the if.comeddies in 2006 and being nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2005 Perrier Comedy Awards. His other awards include the Time Out Critic's Choice Award 2006 and a Barry Award nomination for best show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival 2006.
Watson has performed several unusual shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and Melbourne Festivals, including marathon shows lasting 24 hours and more. His shows have featured guest appearances from other performers such as Tim Key, Tim Minchin, Adam Hills, Daniel Kitson, David O'Doherty, Brendon Burns and John Dorney as the balladeer.
Watson undertook his first long show at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which lasted 24 hours. At the end of the show he proposed to his girlfriend Emily Howes, who accepted.
At the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Watson hosted a literary workshop-cum-interactive comedy show entitled Mark Watson, And His Audience, Write A Novel. The aim was to write, by the end of August, a novel begun from scratch and woven entirely from audience suggestions, with another 2,000 words or so added each day. The novel was not finished within the month but the project is set to continue albeit in by an, as yet, undecided method now that the festival has finished. The book so far is posted on the website MySpace.[5]
At the 2007 Fringe, Watson hosted a panel show We Need Answers with Alex Horne and Tim Key. This saw 16 comedians take part in a knock out quiz where all the questions and answers came from text service Any Question Answered. Paul Sinha won the competition, beating Josie Long in the final. We Need Answers returned in 2008 with fewer rounds, Josie Long emerged as winner, beating Sinha in the semi-final and Kristen Schaal in the final.
Watson performed his final 24 hour show at the 2009 Fringe along with his "Earth Summit" and his "Edit". The Earth Summit was Watson's version of the Al Gore talk about world pollution and global warming and the Edit was a compilation of Watson's fringe shows to date, made particularly for those who had not seen him perform there. Watson's debut DVD, titled The Mark Watson Edit was initially due for release on 15 November 2010.[6] However, Watson was forced to shelve the project and a new DVD recording will be released as his first DVD in late 2011.[7]
In 2010, Watson took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.
[edit] Live shows
| Show name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Far too Happy | Cambridge Footlights revue with Edward Jaspers, Tim Key, Day Macaskill, James Morris and Sophie Winkleman. Perrier Comedy Award nomination |
| 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Stereocomics | With Rhod Gilbert |
| Mark Watson's Overambitious 24-Hour Show | ||
| 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | 50 Years Before Death And The Awful Prospect Of Eternity | Perrier Best Newcomer Award nomination[8] |
| 2005 Years in 2005 Minutes | ||
| 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | I'm Worried That I'm Starting To Hate Almost Everyone In The World | |
| Mark Watson's Seemingly Impossible 36-Hour Circuit Of The World | Won if.comeddie award Panel Prize[9] | |
| Mark Watson, And His Audience, Write A Novel | ||
| 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Can I Briefly Talk To You About The Point Of Life? | Followed by UK tour |
| Mark Watson's 24 Hour Jamboree To Save The Planet | ||
| We Need Answers | Gameshow. With Tim Key and Alex Horne. Later transferred to BBC Four | |
| Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2008 | Mark Watson (And Friends) Take Control Of The World In 24 Hours | |
| 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | All The Thoughts I've Had Since I Was Born | Followed by UK tour |
| We Need Answers | With Tim Key and Alex Horne | |
| 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Mark Watson's Last Ever 24-Hour Show | |
| 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Mark Watson's First Ever Week Long Show | |
| Mark Watson's Earth Summit | ||
| The Mark Watson Edit | ||
| The Hotel | Comedic theatre show written and directed by Mark Watson[10] |
[edit] Television
[edit] We Need Answers
A three-episode run of We Need Answers began on BBC Four on 12 February 2009, based on the Edinburgh Fringe show of the same name. As with the live show, Watson co-hosted with Tim Key and Alex Horne. A further 13 episodes were broadcast later in 2009. Guests for the series included Germaine Greer, Michael Rosen and Jilly Goolden.
[edit] Mark Watson Kicks Off
In 2010 ITV 4 commissioned Mark Watson Kicks Off. This is a sports panel show hosted by Watson where each week are 3 celebrities taken part in numerous rounds. Rounds include "Beat the Best" where Mark takes on a sporting champion but with a twist and "I'm not a successful sports star but I'm related to someone who is" where the 3 celebrities ask questions to a guest who is related to a sports star.
[edit] Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson
Mark Watson's current TV show is Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson, on Dave.[11]
[edit] Guest appearances
Watson has made regular appearances on BBC Two's comedy panel show Mock The Week; he has also been a panellist on BBC music quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks four times—once as guest captain and once as presenter—in addition to appearing on current affairs panel show Have I Got News for You. He has appeared on the popular BBC panel show Would I Lie To You? and he also makes regular appearances on panel show debate programme Argumental.
Watson appeared as a talking head in Armando Iannucci's spoof documentary series Time Trumpet.
In Australia, Watson has been seen on Rove, Good News Week, Spicks and Specks and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, all aired in April 2007.
Watson performed stand up on episode one of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, aired 7 June 2009.
On 6 May 2011 he appeared on New Zealand comedy panel show 7 Days.
[edit] Radio
Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better aired on BBC Radio 4 in February 2007, followed by a second series in August 2008. Both series featured poems by Tim Key and music, performed by Tim Minchin in the first series and Tom Basden in the second. In August 2009, Watson hosted a three-episode series on BBC Radio 5 Live called 100 Million or Bust, where a panel of guests attempted to spend £100 million on transfers as managers of an English Premier League team.
Another collaboration with Basden and Key, Mark Watson's Live Address To The Nation, was broadcast as a pilot in February 2011, and the BBC have commissioned another six episodes. These are planned for the last quarter of 2011.[12]
[edit] Guest appearances
Watson has made regular appearances on the BBC Radio 5 Live show Fighting Talk where he took part in the infamous "pen Gate" against Tom Watt[13], and got into a verbal fracas with John Rawling on his début appearance[14]; he also boasted about of his show-biz meetings with Cameron Jerome and Ricardo Fuller.
[edit] Books
Watson has written three novels: Bullet Points (2004), A Light-Hearted Look At Murder (2007) and Eleven (2010), published by Chatto and Windus. "Eleven" was released in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010. He has written another book, Crap at the Environment (2008), following his own efforts to halve his carbon footprint over the course of one year and was the Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 in the last week of July 2008.
[edit] Other work
In 2009, Watson appeared in adverts for Magners Pear Cider (which became the subject of an extended routine by fellow comic Stewart Lee as part of his 2009, "If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One" live show). As well as this he is also the voice over for the rabbit in an Innocent Smoothies advert in 2010.
On 25 February, Watson presented the 2009 NME Awards at Brixton Academy. At the start of the 2009/2010 season, Watson writes a regular article in the Bristol City official matchday programme Well Red.
In December 2009, Watson's television drama A Child's Christmases in Wales was screened on BBC Four.
[edit] Personal life
Watson is married to Emily Watson-Howes, a fellow writer and performer. Tim Key was Watson's best man. On February 23, 2010, Emily gave birth to their first child. Watson is a keen supporter of Bristol City Football Club.
[edit] Stand-Up DVDs
- Mark Watson Live was released on 28 November 2011
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2010/06/world-cup-england-football
- ^ http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/southwalesecho/features/tm_headline=preview--mark-watson&method=full&objectid=18514312&siteid=50082-name_page.html
- ^ Logan, Brian (15 August 2006). "Mark Watson: The busiest comic in Edinburgh". The Guardian (London). http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1844662,00.html.
- ^ Monahan, Mark (19 Jan 2008). "Mark Watson: So, there was this English Welshman…". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/comedy/3670604/Mark-Watson-So-there-was-this-English-Welshman.html. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ Gavin Allen (22 January 2007). "Preview: Mark Watson". South Wales Echo. http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/southwalesecho/features/tm_headline=preview--mark-watson&method=full&objectid=18514312&siteid=50082-name_page.html.
- ^ "Play.com - The Mark Watson Edit". http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/13525282/The-Mark-Watson-Edit/Product.html.
- ^ Simon Brew (2010-12-07). "Mark Watson: Stand-up, the DVD market, writing novels and Twitter". Den of Geek. http://www.denofgeek.com/television/691212/mark_watson_standup_the_dvd_market_writing_novels_and_twitter.html. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
- ^ "The Perrier Comedy Award 2005". http://perriercomedyawards.com/shortlist2005.htm.
- ^ "Phil Nichol wins top comedy award". BBC News. 27 August 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5289386.stm.
- ^ The Hotel Press Release - TheInvisibleDot.com
- ^ "Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson : Dave". http://uktv.co.uk/dave/series/tvseries/256313.
- ^ "Mark Watson's live Radio 4 show given full series". comedy.co.uk. http://www.comedy.co.uk/news/story/00000505/mark_watson_live_address_to_nation_full_series/. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ Fighting Talk: 10 January 2009
- ^ Fighting Talk: 19 November 2005
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Mark Watson Fans
- Profile at Karushi Management
- Mark Watson at the Internet Movie Database
- Time Trumpet profile
- Mark Watson on Twitter
