Mark Watson - Can I Briefly Talk to You About the Point of Life?

Published Friday 17 August 2007 at 16:45 by Ben Dowell

What can you say about a man who won the If.Comedy Awards prize last year, has two novels under his belt, a brilliant Radio 4 series, awards, yet more awards and so on? Well, the truth is always a good start and this is it: Mark Watson has to be one of the best stand-ups in the English speaking world.

In his new show he takes as his starting point an evangelical Christian wanting to talk to him about the point of his life, which of course got him thinking and then got us this show, a delightfully madcap examination of his life, absent-mindedly observing people on the train or appearing alongside Jamelia on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Why do phone companies always want to upgrade our phones? Would people always ask to upgrade other things in life, say replace your dog with a wolf?

Of course, these musings are better in his hands. They also don’t really deliver what his title promises, but that scarcely matters. Watson’s magic rests on his ability to turn the everyday into pure gold, a uniquely manic charm and intelligence that is as infectious as it is seemingly effortless. In fact, it’s enough to make you quite jealous.