Welsh Favourite Comes to Devizes
Andy Fawthrop
The Devizes Arts Festival came up with another of its heavy hitters last night with a packed house at The Corn Exchange, all ready to welcome comedian Mark Watson to the town.
Mark Watson is an English comedian, novelist and producer. Born in Bristol of a Welsh mother and English father, he has adopted a somewhat Welsh lilt in his delivery. He’s won a number of comedy awards and is well known from his frequent appearances on TV, as well as being a Radio 4 regular.
Introducing himself, Mark climbed on stage to do an introductory 10-15 minutes before bringing on his support act for the night – Vicky Slater. Projecting a slightly larger-than-life persona, Vicky delivered her material well, but I’m not sure that quite all of it landed. Her tales of coming out as gay were delightful and amusing, rather than particularly hilarious. She at least avoided the current lazy habit some up-and-coming comedians have of trying to pick on audience members in order to prompt some witty improv, and instead stuck to her own original material. Respect for that. She was slightly rambling and incoherent in places, but she gradually won the audience over.
After a slightly short first half and an early interval, the main man was back to deliver his set. Mark kicked off with comparing how difficult it was being a stand-up comedian versus, say, being a brain surgeon or, prompted by an audience member, a menopause therapist. His key criteria for the comparisons were, aside from the training and basic aptitude, the amount of sheer stress and anxiety that such an activity could induce.
This was all by way of introduction to his first main theme – stressful situations in ordinary life. But this was no feeble Michael Macintyre “observational comedy”, laughing at “isn’t it funny when…?” type comments. This was full of little anecdotes of his own personal experience that everyone could easily relate to – flying with a small airline, getting into a car thinking it was an Uber (when it wasn’t), asking for help in Tesco (from someone who wasn’t even an employee), dealing with a homeless man (who began to take advantage), interacting with chat-bots online (who seemed very concerned for his continued welfare after once buying some towels a few years previously), and coping with his son whose only apparent language capability seemed to be through frequent WhatsApp messages. The situations were carefully crafted and set up before the always droll and almost exasperated punchlines.
His second “theme” (if I can call it that) was around the “corporate” gigs he’s sometimes had to do, particularly the waste-processing and meat-processing industries. The latter’s “Meat Management Awards” provided a rich vein that he mined repeatedly for jokes about sausages and how he’d become “an advocate for natural casings”.
Against his own better judgement, he’d been persuaded to use ChatGPT to create a self-description, and it had come up with “a breathless delivery by a neurotic personality”, and even he had to admit that it wasn’t too far from the truth. And I’d agree. Watson came across as genuinely curious about the world, bemused by modern technology, amazed by other people, and surprised by how much of modern life created stressful situations for him. And out of this melting pot there came a genuinely funny man. He was self-deprecating, very natural and – no doubt about it – absolutely hilarious.
Absolute top marks to Mr Watson and to the Devizes Arts Festival for booking him. Top notch. Find out more at www.markwatsonthecomedian.com/
The Devizes Arts Festival continues until the night of Sunday 15th June at various venues around the town. Tickets can be booked at Devizes Books or online at www.devizesartsfestival.org.uk
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