A Mark Watson show is kind of like watching a guy on speed with a microphone. Once my senses adjusted to his quick darting lunges, flailing gesticulations and the way his words seem to pour out at a million miles an hour, I came to realise that Watson may be one of the best acts at the Comedy Festival this year.

The internet told Watson he has 50 years to live. His show examines the different life stages we must all go through up until death. Whilst I could see that a pre-scripted show was buried in Watson’s mind, I rarely got to see the entire workings of it. The slightest tangent would tempt him to wander away from the task at hand, and it was here that the audience got to see where his true talent lays’improvisation.

It’s one thing to be funny, which Watson certainly is, but it’s his self-deprecating charm that seemed to make most of the audience warm to him. He is a comedian who encourages you to laugh at him, not just with him. From poking fun at his inability to do a cockney accent, to engaging the audience in a guessing game as to why two (extremely rude) audience members chose to leave mid-show, he wanted the audience to laugh at the fact that he wasn’t perfect.

Something tells me that in a few years time Watson will be one of the big names in comedy. See him now to avoid the crowds.

Finished reading this article? You might also like:

• PunCast Episode 16 – Mark Trenwith
• Mark Watson – All The Thoughts I’ve Had Since I Was Born
• Barry