Mark Watson the Comedian

After the emotional hi-jinks of last night's blog, this one is pretty much admin. Sorry.

This is my final mention of the fact that I am running the Bristol Half Marathon on Sunday for www.themoldovaproject.com, the charity run in their spare time by my dear identical sisters, and would like to be sponsored by you. The (awkwardly) long Paypal link is below. Actually, it's not the final mention, I'm sure to harp on about it on Saturday and Sunday, because you don't run 13 miles without banging about it incessantly. But it's my last sponsor-plea. I'm aware that anyone reading this blog who's financially able to donate any money has already probably done so. But just making sure. Thanks massively for the amounts (totalling over £250) you have pledged so far. Hugely appreciated by me, my sisters, and eventually the people in Moldova who will benefit from your generosity.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=K2MCW3QDC6BTE

And now something even duller, unless you're in Australia. I was meant to be doing the Brisbane Writers' Festival this weekend, and now I can't. I wouldn't want anyone to turn up and find I'm not there, so this is just public information. I had to pull out because of various worthy but boring reasons. I am still going to Australia to launch the book, though. I am in the Sun Theatre, Melbourne, on September 13 and then Cinema Nova on the 19th, doing readings and the like. I will visit Brisbane and everywhere else in Australia during 2011 (well, all the major cities. Not so much those places where backpackers get chopped up and there's nowhere to get water for 2000km). So, if you are in Melbourne, come and see me. If elsewhere in Australia, sit tight and I will be there in six months or so. I love Australia and if I had my way I'd be there even more than I am.

Oh yes, We Need Answers. By coincidence, after blogging about its live version last night, I found out it was repeated on BBC4 last night. You can still watch it on iPlayer. Please tune in to the other ones as and when they're repeated. And if you like, write to the BBC begging emotionally for it to be brought back. Using phrases like 'considering a firebomb' and 'cannot live until this quirky quiz is renewed'. (NB it is Key's 34th birthday today.)

As I said, pure boring admin. Sorry. I mean, most comedians only ever do this with their blog. And even then, only from time to time. But I'm not most comedians, am I?

Before you go I'd better at least offer one piece of fun. It will take the form of two Celeb Tales told to me today by Alexa Chung, the impossibly well-connected, but refreshingly clever, presenter who I'm currently making a pilot with. You have to guess who the Celebs are. This is fun because I've got no interest in celebrities, and complete disdain for people who buy magazines full of tittle-tattle. So it's not what you would expect from my blog. And I love to surprise you. If this goes well, I may try and get a gossip column.

-Alexa was recently at some sort of star-studded gathering and Celeb A took a fancy to her. He had a big entourage following him around serving him champagne at his every whim. Celeb A decided to make a pass at Alexa. He - despite being famous - did it not by taking her for a cocktail, or for a spin in his chauffeur-driven car, but by writing that he liked her ON A POST-IT NOTE and leaving it IN HER SHOE. They did not get together.

-Celeb B is a noted American. Alexa had to interview her for American TV. Celeb B was so up herself she didn't even look at Alexa. She said 'we've met before' to avoid bothering with introductions. Alexa knew they hadn't met. Now she hates Celeb B.

Who are they?

Bit of fun.

Hello. I did a full day's work on the pilot today. I met Alexa Chung, my co-host. She is very glamorous and knows famous people. She was really nice, too. I don't know exactly how famous she is, perhaps you can adjudicate. But anyway, if you know who she is, you can be pleased by the news that she's nice. The pilot, as I've said, isn't going to be on TV, but the show eventually might. Fingers crossed.

On the subject of We Need Answers, we haven't decided anything, but it seems likely at some point we WILL do it live again. Perhaps not everyone knows, but that was how WNA began life: as a late-night, drunken Edinburgh show. I kept score on a cricket scoreboard. Key once threw ten eggs at Brendon Burns. The whole thing was much ruder and longer. You get the picture. If it happens again, you'll be the first to know.

I wanted to quickly record something that happened today. Emily was shopping and bought various bits of equipment for the baby. When she came to pay - with a crying baby, and all manner of clutter weighing her down - it turned out she only had my credit card, and they asked for ID or some sort of validation from the bank, and it couldn't be done. So she started trying to negotiate some sort of pain-in-the-arse arrangement where she left her iPhone as a deposit and then slogged all the way up the hill to a cashpoint and back again with the baby.

Suddenly a woman, who had observed the whole incident, said 'don't worry, I'll pay for it and you can pay me back'. It was about £115. Emily couldn't believe it. The woman paid the bill and left an email address. Emily got home, got in touch with her and sent her the money through PayPal. And that was that.

A tiny, wonderful incident of human trust and cooperation. This is what it means to be a citizen of the world. Not everyone can afford to lend a complete stranger a sizeable wedge of money like that, of course. But we can all be inspired to do 110-quid's worth of lovely

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Well, we made it. Thanks to the Minchins who carried some of our 117 bags, and no thanks to the surly train staff, one of whom ended up in a shouting argument with TV's Lee Nelson. Yes, the train was packed with comedians. You can imagine how hilarious a ride it was. We've come home to find our builders, when they said 'we'll definitely finish your new kitchen by the time you're home', actually meant 'we won't quite finish your kitchen; you will spend several days surrounded by crap, without a sink, and trying to prepare meals for your baby without many kitchen implements.' Rather depressing, if predictable: the old trouble-with-builders thing is a rite of passage for people like me around the age of 30. I go straight into making a TV show- not for broadcast, just a pilot- and am running this half marathon, somehow, if I manage it, and then going to Australia. So these sort of complications are not welcome. I'll speak to you tomorrow when I hope to have sorted some of them out...

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Today we have basically been packing for the journey back south tomorrow. If you've ever had to pack a suitcase you will agree that it's not much fun. Now imagine it's not a suitcase but about 117 bags full of baby toys, baby clothes, baby food makers, miscellaneous baby stuff, and Emily's hats. That's what we're up against. And of course we have to make sure the beautiful flat we've rented for the month is not a complete slum when we hand it back. So not much blogging is possible today. But just to say I didn't mean to give the impression yesterday that I would definitely not do Edinburgh next year. (It got some frowny faces.) I just think the balance of probability is against it because I have a lot on. I need to write the next novel and I'll be touring an awful lot, so there's limited time to put a new show together. And I'd never do it unless I felt the show was going to do me justice. But Emily is almost sure to be here, which means I will be too for a good chunk of August, which in turn means I'm bound to get involved in some sort of nonsense. More We Need Answers Live, anyone?

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It sounds like quite a few of you had a parent or grandparent say something like 'there's your friend!' when I popped up on an old McIntyre Roadshow last night. I think this is rather touching. I'm going to consider starting each blog with 'hey mate'. I'm now two shows away from finishing Edinburgh- my fifth with a solo show and 11th in a row altogether. I have overcome, or moaned into submission, the usual problems, which this year included mild illness, more serious illness of KW, fluctuations of faith in show/talents/career, extreme sleep deprivation, having wine tipped on me, having a lot of awkward chats with drunk passers-by, up-and-down ticket sales, and trying to run really far in my spare time. There's a good chance I won't do it next year, so over the next couple of days I will do a blog looking back at highlights of my strange times in this city, 2000-2010. And still owe you a summary of my Challenges. And quite a bit of other business. But hey. Still nine and a half years left.

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