Review: Mark Watson @ St. David’s Hall
Mark Watson
St. David's Hall, Cardiff
Sunday 7th October 2012
Multi-faceted funny man Mark Watson is a busy bloke. But when he’s not appearing on TV or radio, performing around the globe, changing his son’s nappy, being called names by Frankie Boyle or writing his latest novel, he likes to stalk his fans on Twitter. He revealed so in the Cardiff leg of his mammoth nationwide stand-up tour, The Information.
Climbing out from a box onstage and moving straight into his instantly loveable ramble, Mark won over the audience with ease as he ticked off latecomers and apologised for not being John Bishop. The core of the show’s content was focused on how we, thanks to modern technology, can find out all manner of things about other people with a click and soon enough, specific members of the audience were questioned about recent tweets. Audience interaction was, throughout the evening, taken to a wholly personal manner. The number given out in order to text Mark worked wonders, no more so than when one couple texted about their recent constipation-related sex-problems, a topic then referred to repeatedly. Mark also ran down offstage for a photo and to scare a lady who had popped out to the loos, his intimate involvement of the audience bringing alive the, in his words, “cavernous venue”.
In this age where comedians are viewed almost as rock-stars, I was pleased to see an unassuming and unpretentious chap relying little on underhand or dirty jokes; instead using clever, anecdotal wit and his seemingly effortless timing. This is a Cambridge graduate who uses his intelligence not only for laughs but to question the way we live, and his observations of the problems and flaws of modern technology and communication were just spot on. He has the nerdier section of the comedy demographic in his hands and is on top of his game.
If you fancy a good laugh at the St. David’s Hall, check out their truly blockbuster comedy line up
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IMAGE: Diamond Geyser
