Mark Watson – I’m Worried That I’m Starting To Hate Almost Everyone In The World (FringeTIX)
Mark Watson @ Nova Cinema 2
8:15pm, Wed 21 Mar 2007
I’m perusing the Guide. I see a show titled “I’m Worried That I’m Starting To Hate Almost Everyone In The World”. I figure that I may have just found a kindred spirit. I add the show to the shortlist.
And yet, as I wander into my fiftieth(!) event of this Fringe, I know nothing about this like-minded soul, Mark Watson. Luckily, he helps us out by going through a protracted introduction and explanation at the start of the show; giving us a primer to the Welsh accent that he leverages so well (given that he’s not actually from Wales). Enlisting helps from the audience, Watson encounters his first instance of crowd-mindfucking – people down the back volunteering friends sitting down the front – which is then followed by the Cherry Ripe incident(s), with rustling and gummed diction a-plenty.
The core of Watson’s show is based around stories that are triggered off the Seven Deadly Sins – which, in turn, are inspired by objects in the colourful sack he brings onstage. He riskily asks for audience members to remove random objects from the sack which, of course, continues the tradition of people nominating others in the crowd – something that brings him great mirth. Recollections of his first mugging, beggars, and the manner in which his father informed him that Father Christmas didn’t exist all generate huge laughs, and Watson himself completely cracks up at one stage because of a statement from one punter – which, itself, was worthy of the price of admission.
Despite the fact that there was very little Hate to be found in the performance, I liked Mark Watson – a lot. He’s cheery, he’s amiable, and he appears to be very open and honest onstage; I definitely rank him as one of the better comedians this Fringe. Check out one of the oddest muted colour-combos in MySpace, too :)