By Nick Bugeja
Mark Watson has a plan: to get to know people better, to tap into their inner lives, and to figure out what makes them tick. He tells us that things have been tough for him recently: the farce that is Brexit serves as a constant reminder of the sorry state of his native Britain, while a divorce in the past year has left him a little worse for wear. And it all makes for a fast-paced, genuinely enthralling 60 minutes of laughs.
You can really tell that Watson isn’t new to the comedy scene. There are some comics out there whose calibre of performance doesn’t reflect the amount of time they’ve been slaving away in dimly-lit bars, community halls, and comedy venues in search of cackling laughter. Neurotic, and often spluttering out his words, Watson is a comic with ample control over his material, the mood, and ultimately us as an audience.
There’s never any doubt – despite how “off-track” things may sometimes seem – that Watson is always pulling the strings. His random yet seamless interaction with the audience is truly, astonishingly good. Watson’s pre-organised material on his life as a stand-up, his divorce and his son’s “insubordination”, as Watson puts it himself, is invariably well-executed.
But it’s his spontaneous efforts working the crowd that stands out. Granted, on the night I saw his performance, there was one audience member who made good comedic fodder for Watson to latch onto; though he never failed to satisfy and up-the-ante during these little moments of exchange.
It’s early days in the Comedy Festival, yet it’s hard to see that many shows are going to eclipse what Mark Watson is producing right now. Bereavement may be the worst thing to go through for a person – as Watson tells us in his show – but missing his show might be high up on that list.
The Infinite Show is on at Melbourne Town Hall until April 21
https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2019/shows/mark-watson