Mark Watson begins by recalling how he thought he was dying during his London residency last year. Not in the lack-of-gags sense but in the phone-the-undertaker sense, when he collapsed and found himself in an ambulance. True to form, he contemplated pretending to expire to wind up the paramedics. This is a man who clearly cannot resist a giggle.
Unsurprising his set is filled with deliciously humorous incidents. Watson has an knack for turning minor events — the train’s toilet door opening at an inopportune moment, a pigeon colliding with a commuter — into major routines. The wiry stand-up, best known for his Mock The Week TV appearances, spools out these tales with a nervy, infectious glee. He explains that he has recently tried not to get stressed although umpteen things enrage him.
Last night he had good reason to be stressed. A talkative fan nearly hijacked the evening but Watson skilfully incorporated him, rather than aggressively alienating him.
This entertaining show would be better, however, if Watson did not resort to the obvious. He is too original to require hack material about annoying adverts, bleak chain hotels or predictive texting but even these quips raised plenty of laughs. By the end it was the audience that was in danger of collapsing. With laughter, not chest pains.
Until Saturday (020 7388 8822)
Mark Watson: All The Thoughts I've Had Since I Was Born
The Bloomsbury Theatre
Gordon Street, WC1H 0AH
