Mark Watson the Comedian

Many of you, like me, are- it turns out- blissfully oblivious to much of the celebrity world, so nobody was able to guess the subjects of last night's A-list anecdotes, which come via me straight from my famous temporary colleague A. Chung. The answers were (a) Kanye West: points go to Anji who guessed 'a rapper dude' was involved. And (b) Lady Gaga. Who, if you really are in the dark when it comes to stars, is the weird one with weird eyes. Who tries to be like Madonna. That's more than enough about 'celebs' I think. I believe I'm on Would I Lie To You at present: some of you might recall a lie-based game we played ages ago when it was recorded. I can't watch the show or even get on Twitter to follow it (either Tweetdeck is broken, or at least, my version is) so if you saw it, do report back. I'm also on Comedy Central later, since you ask. In a Comedy Store Live-type show. It was my first gig after KW was born and I stumbled through it like someone newly released from jail. I'm in the bath, by the way, so I'll have to wrap this up. I'll do something better tomorrow. Blog-wise, that is. No apologies for the bath.

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

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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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