Mark Watson: Request Stops

We were lucky enough to have Mark land in the hometown this week. I am not going to get into another rant about how so few decent shows happen here. I am fully aware that as hard as it is for us to get out of the place, it is equally difficult for others to get in… especially to come to some pipsqueak town no-one outside the county has ever heard of.

But anyway:

There was little in the show that we hadn’t seen before. Much of the material is that which is being shown all over the television at the moment. That did not detract at all, though, because as with all performances the importance is in the delivery and Watson had us all chortling away even before the performance started. I will not ruin it by going into too much detail, but will just say that you do not want to arrive late for this show… well, someone must, I guess… just make sure it isn’t you.

Mark Watson is just an incredibly likeable person all-round. He played with the audience, fully understanding and acknowledging every action. I have to say, there is truly a great skill in being able to simultaneously present an act whilst watching every member of the audience, even in a theatre as small as ours, but he managed it perfectly. It is always a fear of an audience that they will be picked out and ordered to contribute to the show, but whilst participation was invited, there was no victimisation or character assassination with opinions sought but not demanded and each response duly acknowledged.

Whilst most comedians present an onstage character, I very much get the feeling there is no act where Watson is concerned, more that he is just getting on the stage to say what he wants to say and meeting him after the show, he was very much as you see in his public persona. It is quite refreshing in a world where you never truly know a person’s motivation to meet someone who seems so genuinely at ease with themselves that they will allow the world to see them for all they are, but for the most part this does seem the case.

And yes, I am aware that this is turning into a rather gushy type of review, but what can I say – a brilliant show. Very funny, a thoroughly nice guy… and he signed daughter’s drawing, seeming to genuinely love it (and why wouldn’t he? It’s fab!!)

So if there are tickets available (and there are for some shows!) near you, go along! If not, clicky the linky and make purchase of the DVD!
I’ve not watched it, but I’m sure it’s every bit as good as the live show… maybe it’s even different material, who knows!



And for no other reason than that I LOVE it!

Here’s baby’s pic again!!

Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson

 It is fabulous to see Dave putting on some original shows at last rather than wheeling out the same old repeats time and again.

This latest offering had us laughing throughout… as one would expect from the great cast!

Ok, the format is not exactly new and I know the show has taken quite a blasting for this fact alone, but the jokes are new, the talent is new – so in all seriousness if you are so bloody offended by having something from the 80's dragged into the here and now just switch off. It’s easy enough; hit one button and you are no longer subjected to the onslaught.

The show had a good mix of guests, who managed to gel well together without one ego seeming to take over the show as so often seems to happen in these situations. Good, too, to see Rufus Hound emerging from the light entertainment hell he seems to have disappeared into over time and actually get the opportunity to make us all laugh again. 

Some rounds worked better than others and the necessary edits were glaringly obvious, but to my mind that added to the rawness of the format. Those parts that did not work so well this time around may go better with different comedians working them another time, it does not necessarily mean they should not be part of the show at all, and the bumbling nature of the stars, not quite knowing what to do next only enforced the improvised aspect of the whole show.

For balance, I have to say I found the eulogy round slightly uncomfortable, as an audience member was told she was to lie down and pretend she was dead.

I quite like the idea of the round, but it could have been done in a different format; maybe if rather than a eulogy the person was being toasted, introduced as a guest speaker at a conference or something. Or perhaps I just worry too much about death as a subject matter; either way, I did squirm through that round a little. 

You also have to wonder; if there were more episodes made how many people on finding out they would be in the audience would try to make their facebook profiles seem as wacky as possible in order to ensure they were picked. I am reminded in particular of my childhood when Noel Edmonds used to have a segment of his Saturday show in which cameras would have been placed around the home of an “unsuspecting” victim; towards the end of its run, people would be behaving in a far more ridiculous way as they were quite obviously aware of the fact they were to appear on television.

This show was only a pilot, although it generally takes me more than one episode of a programme to decide if I like it, so it would be good to see a couple more made even if it didn’t become a full series.

Definitely has potential to be something great once the kinks are ironed out though!

Clips are available on the Dave site and on Youtube. There are places you can watch the full episode online, but as they are not officially linked to Dave, I am not sure about the legality of them so will not link to them.

The episode is repeated on Saturday night at 9pm, kicking off an entire evening of shows featuring Mark Watson (including his excellent One Night Stand) running until about 3am – ok, the shows are on a loop, so you don’t have to spent the entire time watching, but six hours of listening to his voice…. I ain’t complaining any!

I'll close by reminding you, as always, to take a look at Mark's own blog. Always a great read! (although I've not looked in for a few days myself having been mightily busy with the humdrum, but I am sure it still is- no reason to think it wouldn't be!)

Mark Watson Free Ticket Giveaway

If you do not already (for shame!) you really should take a look at Mark Watson’s blog. It’s a great read and he posts pretty much daily.

He is currently running a competition to give away tickets to his DVD recording this coming Sunday (3rd July) in Bristol. To win the tickets, however, you do need to be travelling the furthest thus displaying the greatest determination to make it… and again, geography bites me in the ass as I am too near for this!

Find Mark's giveaway here

He is, of course, open to a persuasive argument, but as I do have tickets to see him here in town in November, it would feel rude to enter this giveaway.

I love to read his daily posts – he is one of few people to write exactly as he speaks and I defy anyone to read without affecting his accent.

No? Just me then…

Have a look anyway.

Avoiding work much?

As if life wasn't already riddled with enough distractions, I found myself off on a huge tangent today!

Firstly, I am running on a brand spanking new computer, so of course had to spend 12 hours sorting my files.... well, technically I didn't, I could have just transfered the files directly, but when better to have a good clearout of all my half-completed projects!

In a lot of ways, it was quite a cathartic task. Whilst trawling through the incomplete, I stumbled across ways of combining old part-written scripts and stories with the projects I am currently working on and have found a great new way to approach a couple of my bigger jobs.

But reading every last word of every poem, note and flash-piece I have written over the last 20 years or so takes a little time... especially when some of it is such utter drivel!

I also found myself wandering through old link listings, to discover along the way that the fabulous Mark Watson is appearing not so far from home next month... "BRILL!", thought I "I'll get tickets!" So after much more piffle and time wasting, I find myself back on Mark's website... hold on a moment, another list of dates later in the year... and he's actually in my home town, saving me an hour's drive! And more importantly, it's on my olderest, besterest friendling's birthday so I can justify treating myself in order to give her a fab birthday!! Everyone wins! Ok, everyone doesn't win, as my kids would want to come along too and guess what, they can't cos it's for my friend... bonus points to me then!

Two tickets bought, front and centre!

So as a result of all the sidetracking, I am now ready at almost 10pm to start the work I was commencing at 915am.

And more annoying is that it is wind-down time, yet all this snooping through old stuff has me buzzing with inspiration so I will be writing into the wee hours!

Mark Watson's dates can be found here