Mark Watson the Comedian

Readers’ collected thoughts on the first anniversary of the blog, as collected by Cymruangel (Hannah). Once more, thank you all enormously for reading and being this bothered about it. Yours, M Watson.

The daily blog is one year in and going strong. Mark has created a fun and charming community, often inspiring and interesting, always fun, sometimes tense/suspenseful and a great thing to be involved in. Onward into the second year and beyond…
- Shell

I love the people that the blog has brought together. Genuinely. It’s a real sense of… community, in a strange, intangible way. I love it.
- Alex

I have had a far more exciting year than I had expected, and lots of that has been due to the blog and TYSIC. Even when things are tough, it’s been great to have people to share my anxiety with. I’m also very nosy, so to have the chance to know exactly what someone is doing every day has been a pleasure.
- amycool

It is an honour to be a part of something seemingly small, but that brings the biggest out in your heart. Almost as big as Mark’s lovely heart. But that would be impossible. The blog is a daily reminder of his kindness
- Catheart/ Sam F

Warm wishes and particular thanks for Project Preston. Chartering the Watsonian Express for us all was a perfect example of your kindness in action and brightened up that dark November night for us lucky participants!
- Louise

The blog, as well as making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and being something fantastic to look forward to every day, has also introduced me to several amazing people to whom I now speak almost every day that I’d never have met had it not been for Mark and the blog. It’s such a wonderful community which I feel privileged to consider myself part of.
- Meg

I would just like to say I think the blog is great! It’s a brilliant thing to be part of. Very fun and optimistic. At the end of a tough day it always makes me smile! We haven’t had a blogless day yet and let’s just hope in 9 years time we can say the same thing
- Ingrid

It’s nice to read something on the internet where the comments underneath are lovely and interesting, and don’t make you want to cry.
- Sephy

I love the blog. It’s really nice to read at the end of each day. I genuinely do get a nervous waiting-for-exam-results feeling when the blog isn’t up and it’s five to midnight.
- Lisa

This will sound incredibly nerdy, but the Mark Watson blog is seriously fascinating from an anthropological perspective. Our fearless leader/guru is so personable and dedicated to his fans, he has attracted some absolutely marvellous people to our little community.
In short, the blog is great. Long may it reign!
- Megan

Ever since the blog started I had a website which made me laugh or think each day… and in a couple of instances mention me which has never happened on any other website so for that I am grateful.
- Corey

Since I found the blog (a few months late) I have become pretty obsessed with it. I look forward to reading about your thoughts, which are definitely way more interesting than you think, and special because of the way that you actually care about our opinions. It all feels like something to be involved in, something to be important to in some small way.
- Lydia

The blog’s ace. It’s a nice thing to look forward to reading every day, whether it’s just some vague thoughts, or doing something lovely like trying to give people help and advice. It’s a cliché to say it, but it’s a nice little community too. Happy blogiversary and here’s to 9 more years!
- Amy B

‘When I read the blog it’s like chatting to a mate that you’ve known for years and can say anything to… I sit in my classroom all day and when planning lessons it’s my little treat to log on and see what’s going on in the outside world. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions…drama, tension (…Boyle-gate), excitement (gigs) and just generally like a good gossip! Long may it continue!
- Jen (Manchester)

I am one of Mark’s elusive ‘read much, comment little’ blog followers. However, this does not mean I enjoy the blog any less. His determination with the daily blog inspires us to have similar resolve in the face of a challenge. Well done, Mark, for being an inspiration and a very nice man. Happy birthday, blog!!
- Amy C

Well done Mark on making it to the first year! Well done everyone else for being on for general participatory madness (the ipod, biros, toberlone to name some).
Carry on this kind of caper and I think the next 9 years will be very enjoyable read (and TYSICs achieved, of course).
- Briony

For me, the blog’s key quality is the honest and caring exchange of views, advice and support. I took the advice given in a Can I Help You? blog, and life is changing… Thank you blog – you a nice place to be!
- Chris H

I feel a bit like I know more about Mark (and some others) than I know about some of my closest friends. Apologies, all. The biggest thing for me is the TYSIC – it’s been a pretty massive year; here’s to nine more and joy in abundance for everyone, Hurrah.
- Sam L
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It’s hard to do anything every day for a year, especially for someone as busy as Mark.
I didn’t even get to read the blog every day and I don’t have that much going on. So congratulations! It’s been a pretty good year for me, and I’d like to think this blog had something to do with it. I’m sure my life will change a lot in the next 9 years, but I hope this is one thing that’s always there.
- Madeleine

I have been so busy with school this semester that I have had little time for fun. But suffice it to say, MW and TYSIC helped save my life last year. On a scale of 1 to 10, last year was a #9 stinker which was made better by having the blog to read. Cheers from across the pond.
- Cathy R

It’s great Mark. The community on here is so kind that it is difficult not to feel extremely happy and grateful that I clicked a link a year ago. Thank You so much.
- Helen.

The thing that really sticks out when I think back over the first year of the blog is the times when I’ve felt like part of a much larger community. For instance, for Kindness Day, when I brought some joy (in the form of chocolates and flowers) to a group of nurses at the hospital were I work, and then later got to hear all about the small acts that other people had done. And of course all the times when the blog’s been left late in the day and I get to join in on the panic on twitter
- Heather / Tibbs

Congratulations on giving us all something to smile about at least once a day. After only the first year of nine, the blog’s facilitated friendships, challenges and cake – I don’t know what more we could ask for. Optimism vindicated and cause for further optimism. Thanks Mark.
- Kate W

I read the blog every day because it’s nice to know that a lovely, normal, slightly quirky person like Mark, with his little insecurities and his loathing of cheese can be a successful novelist and a comedian. It helps me to me to stay optimistic about my own lovely and quirky little self because he proves nice guys don’t have to finish last.
- Sue (DiB)

I love an excuse to eat cake. You have given us this and so much more.
- Rachael W

Mark Watson’s blog makes the world substantially better every day.
- Hannah/ cymruangel

Basically, I fucking love this blog. It always makes me smile, and I have met (or online ‘met’) so many brilliant people through it. The iPod Challenge is one of my favourite and most ridiculous things ever. You’re a bit of a hero, Mark Watson.
- Rachel/ Pandora

I’ve really enjoyed the first year of blogs, it’s been a fun thing to read every day and has created a great community and some good friendships. The challenges Mark has set up has brought everyone together and made it an either better place. I look forward to more challenges and many many more years of blogs!
- Rachel (a lot of us) A

I’ve read the blog every single day for the past year, sometimes to have a laugh, sometimes to know what’s been going on in Mark’s life, and sometimes just to keep my mind off problems. It’s been amazing, and I’d like to thank Mark for sharing his life with us, and the readers of the blog for being so nice. As always, love from Argentina!
- Juliet

A year ago, when the blog started, I was still suffering quite a severe bout of depression and broken self-confidence, amongst a number of other problems. Since then, I am slowly working all of them out.. I’m not saying that all of this has been due to the blog, but it’s always been a force pushing me in the right direction. I look forward to the blog every day.
- h2osarah

I’ve met strangers off the internet, and travelled to the centre of London in a snowstorm to see them. I’ve sent readers presents, won a brilliant book and met the man himself (and got to give him a present too). The blogs are a delight to read, though I’m not sure how good the stress and relief of waiting for late nighters are for me. When this eventually becomes a cult and Mark becomes leader of the world, I will be pleased to have been here from the beginning.
- Natalie- Helen

I have this blog set as my home page so that I NEVER miss a post. It’s also a handy reminder to keep working on my TYSICs and is probably the best idea ever!
- Ally

I love the way the blog interacts with everyone – you really feel Mark reads the comments as does everyone.I also admire how much time and effort Mark puts into the blog and even if short and simple makes it worth reading.
- Anji

THE Blog, which this is, is right good. It restores faith in humans to be proper alright, and funny. And Mark Watson may be the nicest person invented – at least from what can be gleaned through a blog. Cheers for keeping it up.
- Lizzy L

There are times when I think I haven’t much to say on the subject of working to change. Nevertheless, when I think back on what turned out to be one of the hardest years of my life I am surprised that I never stopped writing. It’s because we made a commitment and I don’t want to let down the team.
- LisaD

Well, I have read the blog every day and giggled and stuff and I love it. But more importantly than that, I have been inspired. Without this blog, I probably wouldn’t spend ten minutes of my Friday nights making a small group of people in a coffee shop laugh. So thank you Mark for igniting a small spark of a stand-up career!
- Tom B

I adore The Blog. I enjoy the points Mark brings up in them, and the readers’ comments all of which add to my knowledge of things. I even enjoy the ones that don’t say all that much. It’s become such an integral part of my day, I don’t think I could live without it now.
- Katy F

So, the blog is one of those things which has rather vastly improved my life in the past year. It’s made me new friends, sent me to fun places, and made me meet new people. It’s also actually improved me via TYSIC. I’ve got a job now I couldn’t have got this time last year. So thank you Mark, for facilitating an improvement to my life.
- Misha

I’ve read every post of this first year and really come out with a feeling of optimism and a sense of community. It’s lovely to know that out there are a whole gang of people basically trying to make the world a nicer place, one silly idea at a time.
- Robert W

Seriously, reading the blog is one of the things I look forward to when I get home every evening. I like that it’s a real blog, that it’s really written by Mark, and that he really wants to interact with his fans.
- Beth C

The blog helped me to find one of the best friends I’ve ever had, in Aislinn. So I really owe Mark a lot. I also would never have found enough confidence to take my life into my own hands. The opportunities I’ve had through the blog have been ridiculously amazing. I think it’s pretty safe to say that the blog has genuinely changed my life, always for the better and I, for one, cannot wait to share the next 9 years with you all.
- Zoe F

Dear Watson,
You inspire haiku
With your crazy blogging ways
Please live forever

We live in such fear
Of the day that you forget
I hope I die first

There was a ex-welshman called Mark
Who thought it a bit of a lark
To do a 10 year blog
And in spite of the slog
His bite was as good as his bark
- Josh R

“I’ve never come across a group of people more willing to help one another and use friendship and love as a way to better this little planet. You are all stars.”
- Carl B