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Mark Watson Interview

We caught up with Mark Watson a few days after his gig at Cardiff’s Glee Club.

LaughRiot: What did you think of Cardiff?

Mark Watson: It was lovely, it always is, and it’s one of the best clubs. I love playing at the Glee. I’ve been playing there since I’ve started out pretty much.

LR: In your new show, what made you decide to start in the audience?

MW: I’ve done that throughout the tour, I started in Edinburgh last year. I think it’s because I’m playing bigger and bigger rooms now and it’s harder to have that intimacy with the audience. I’ve seen plenty of shows at the start where people come out on the stage and it looks pretty lonely. Also I like to break the ice and I wasn’t really sure how to start the show and I thought it was a good way.

LR: Do you prefer playing in smaller venues?

MW: It depends really, it’s hard to generalise.  You’d think smaller venues would be more intimate but it’s not always the case, there have been some venues that have been really fantastic. It really depends on the design, some big rooms feel smaller than they actually are.

LR: Would you ever do a stadium tour?

MW: I’m not sure; I haven’t seen that many stadium gigs.  It would be hard to replicate the atmosphere that you get in a smaller venue. It would be a really exciting challenge though. You would probably have to have the type of comedy that was pretty broad and pretty physical like Lee Evans for example.

LR: How long does it take to plan a tour?

MW: It’s a pretty long process, the Edinburgh festival is in August so everything builds up to that. I’m working on the show in theory for about six months before that, though obviously I’m doing other things as well. To be honest I’m writing material even before that, some of the stuff I did in Cardiff will end up being in the next show, so in a sense you never stop. I try and deviate between one show and the next so I don’t end up repeating myself.  In practice you’re kind of writing all year round to be honest, so when you see a show it’s a summary of roughly the last 12 months.

LR: Is there anywhere you don’t like playing?

MW: Some places have been better for me than others; I’ve never enjoyed Nottingham that much. I’ve never had a gig that I felt was outstanding in Nottingham, or Sheffield, that bit between the North midlands and the north has never that lucky for me. There’s nowhere I turn up though and feel “oh bloody hell.”

LR: You’re well known for performing stand up with an exaggerated Welsh accent, did you start off doing comedy with a put-on regional accent?

MW: There wasn’t really a conscious decision, well I suppose there was a point when it was.  I did it more to try it out really, I didn’t know I’d be doing comedy this long.  I thought I’d see how I went and it sort of became my thing really quickly which is weird.  It suits me nicely and I find it really useful to have a persona, it makes me less inhibited.

LR: Do you think sometimes stand up comedy is funnier in a regional accent?

MW: To be honest I think it is, I think Peter Kay is someone who wouldn’t have been as successful without his ‘every man’ accent. There have also been a lot of Irish comedians who have been very successful as well. On the whole I think it’s a big advantage especially if you’re a bloke like me with no particular defining or memorable characteristics, a white middle class male, Comedy is packed with people like that.

LR: I’ve been to quite a few comedy shows and have rarely seen any female comedians, why do you think the stand up industry is so male dominated?

MW: It’s hard to say why really, in truth there are probably about five or six male comedians to every female comedian.  Maybe because it can be quite ‘macho’ in comedy with everyone competing, there’s a lot of ego around. I think it’s also a self perpetuating thing, as for there to be more female comedians there needs to be a large number of successful female comedians as role models and there’s just not that many. I Mean there’s people like Jo Brand and Jenny Eclair but they’re few and far between. There’s a lot of fairly crap female comedy on TV which is misrepresentative especially if you’re a young girl thinking about going into comedy.

LR: Do you have a favourite female comedian?

MW: Sarah Silverman but everyone says that, there is much more of a tradition of successful female comedians in America and as a result there’s been more young women going into comedy in America, where there hasn’t been in Britain. Lucy Porter who is a fringe figure has been successful, it’s one of those things where it needs two or three female comedians to be really successful in the UK for the floodgates to open.

LR: What are your plans after the tour?

MW: I’m going to Australia next week and then I’ll be doing Edinburgh again and that’ll lead to another tour. I’m also writing my new book and doing lots of smaller projects in between. I’m hoping to do less live stuff but doing it better and better, I think that’s my aim – to get to a place where some comedians are and being able to choose what things to do and what to leave out.