Mark Watson

Biography

Mark Watson is one of the UK’s leading live comedians, as well as a writer, producer, and director. Nominated twice for the main Edinburgh Comedy award, first with the Cambridge Footlights, and winning the award the second time, Mark’s brand of intelligent observation, friendly banter, and endearing frustration with the world engages and entertains in equal measure.

A TV and radio regular, Mark has appeared on almost every panel show going from Have I Got News… and Mock the Week to 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie To You. He’s also appeared on This Week, Live at the Apollo, Taskmaster, and celebrity editions of Mastermind, Pointless and Bear Gryll’s Celebrity Island.

He travelled around Brazil with fellow comic Henning Wehn on a football odyssey in Road to Rio, hosted his own surreal take on the celebrity game show in We Need Answers, and fronted sports panel show Mark Watson Kicks Off. On radio, he’s a regular on Radio 4 panel shows, and hosted two series of Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better, as well as series of Mark Watson's Live Address to the Nation and Mark Watson Talks About Life.

Consistently challenging himself on stage, Mark is famous for his unconventional Edinburgh shows that have taken the form of a workshop session, a game show, a lecture on the environment, and even a ‘greatest hits’ compilation of previous shows. He’s also performed a number of comic tours-de-force in the shape of 24-hour (and sometimes longer) shows.

Away from the spotlight, Mark is also an accomplished writer. His first semi-autobiographical book, Crap at the Environment, charts his attempts to become a sustainability expert in a year. He’s followed this with a string of well-received novels including A Light-hearted Look at Murder, Bullet Point, Hotel Alpha, and Contacts. In his memoir Mortification, Mark outlines occasions when he has metaphorically died, from stand-up gigs gone wrong to childhood dreams quashed.