Is this a good time?
It’ll only take five minutes. I know, yes – people say that kind of thing all the time, and the next thing you know you’ve signed up for a standing order with a charity you’re only half-interested in/are taking part in a consumer survey about ‘your A+E experience’ which turns out to have 70 questions; have joined the Army. But this WILL be quick. We’re both busy. I’m currently on tour – markwatson.seetickets.com/tour/mark-watson – and you’ve got your saxophone lesson.
I just wanted to say that the project I’ve spent the last few months on, Mark Watson’s Comedy Marathon, is now available in its entirety on Audible. If you haven’t got an Audible account, you need to set one up in order to gorge on my writing, but it is FREE to do that when you subscribe to a 30 day trial.
The series is themed around the London Marathon (but – phew – the funny side of it) and it brings together a cast the likes of which I’ve never had the privilege to work with before. If I said Derren Brown was in it, Sara Pascoe, Romesh Ranganathan, Harry Enfield, Angela Barnes, Adam Kay – I’d still only be scratching the surface of the talent involved. If I went on to name David Tennant and Olivia Colman, reunited for the first time since ‘Broadchurch’ – well, that would be going too far because neither of them is in it. But the original list, that was all true. And many more amazing people besides. In fact several of the best ones, I’ve deliberately not mentioned so that you can gasp when you encounter them in the series.
It’s designed to be listened to as one great big slab of fun, the way people consume TV series in the modern world, but you can also dip in and out as much as you please. I mean it’s beyond my remit to tell you how to use your time. You might not HAVE six and a half hours to binge-listen to something. I know you need to work on the saxophone and stuff. But whatever you’re up to, if there is a podcast-type gap in your life, please consider this as a possible solution.
And – I am cringing as I write this bit, but – if you DO manage to listen and you find yourself enjoying it, it would be massively appreciated if you left a nice review and rating on Audible’s site. This will counteract the damage done by the inevitable people who listen to 20 seconds, find they haven’t laughed yet, and take a sledgehammer to my three months of work. What an industry!
There, that was about five minutes depending on your reading speed. Thank you and good luck.
Mark x
Hi Mark,
Thanks for taking the time to stop and chat at the Bath Half today. Look forward to see you around Oxford in the near future.
Hope you had a great run!
Chris
Mark
I am not on facebook or twitter so this is the only place I could find to express this.
I watched your performance at lunchtime on the 26th Aug in the Edinburgh Stand basement. Despite the heat and lack of air it was one of the best hours I have spent recently and your performance was excellent. The pictures you paint and absurdities you detail as you draw humour from the minutiae in everyday life are breathtaking in terms of their insight and hilarious in their delivery.
The reason I am writing this is that you pointed out that you didn’t get belly laughs trying out your new material as you you had at other performances. I just want to reassure you that your performance was ‘funny as f*ck’ and any lack of laughs was down to the vagaries of the audience not with your comic ability.
I have performed some stand up in my time I and I know a lack of audience response can create the worst feeling in the world diametrically opposed to the feeling when it goes well and everyone is howling with laughter. I also know when you don’t get laughs it doesn’t mean people did not really enjoy it. However it still stings. I hope your career goes from strength to strength.
Cheers