Mark Watson grew up in Bristol and went to Bristol grammar school where he won the “Gabbler of the Year” award. During his time studying English at Queens’ College, Cambridge, he was a member of Footlights. Watson is an Edinburgh fringe regular and won the best newcomer award in 2005. As well as appearing on TV panel shows such as Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You, he has written five books including Bullet Points (2004), which the Observer called “unnervingly accomplished” and the non-fiction work Crap at the Environment (2008) about his attempt to reduce his carbon footprint. His new DVD, Flaws, is out 30 November and he starts his new standup show, I’m Not Here, on 2 March.
1 | Novel
Submission by Michel Houellebecq
Submission is about Islamism in France. Even though it came out a year ago, it couldn’t be more relevant to what’s happening currently. Set about 10 years in the future, it concerns the prospect of a legitimately elected Islamic French government. I find it hard to recommend it wholeheartedly, because I think there are some issues with Houellebecq’s writing. He’s funny, but also deliberately unpleasant and slightly shocking. Almost always, the main character is a middle-aged professor type, who is sexually frustrated and fairly intolerant of most of humanity. From what I can gather, that is basically Houellebecq. Still, there’s something quietly intoxicating about his writing: “guilty pleasure” isn’t the right term, but it’s getting there.
2 | Film
I’ve not seen this yet but I’m really excited about it because it stars a comedian, Brett Goldstein, whom I’m a massive fan of. I don’t know much about the film apart from the fact he stars as the world’s only superhero. I don’t have any ambitions to star in a film. Amy Schumer’s journey from standup to star is enviable, but she was more of a movie star waiting to happen. Someone like Miranda July, who has written prose and also made indie films, or Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, are more appropriate models for me. Plus, Hollywood is a world of pie-in-the-sky dreams that never get realised. Everyone I know in the entertainment industry dreams of making a film, but there are so many stumbling blocks and projects that never come off. So it doesn’t really appeal.
3 | TV
On Stage: Live From Television Centre
This featured four theatre projects broadcast live from the old Television Centre in White City. One of the reasons I was drawn to it was because of Jess Thom’s show Broadcast From Biscuit Land: Touretteshero. Thom has extreme Tourette’s syndrome; she says “biscuit” hundreds of times a day and hits herself in the face. Her show is about her extreme physical, verbal tics and what she does is fascinating. BBC4 is always the name that is brought up when the conversation comes around to cutting back, but, along with Sky Arts, it’s so important to have an arts channel that takes risks. TV has become more conservative because people are in constant fear of losing their jobs.
4 | Theatre
Alex Horne: Monsieur Butterfly Family Show
This is an experimental standup show that was nominated for the Edinburgh comedy award last year. It’s a mix of standup and this insanely long DIY stunt where Alex attempts to create this gigantic set like the board game Mousetrap, out of 125 pieces. The show builds towards a climax where the audience is left wondering whether or not this massive mousetrap will come off or not. Personally, I’m a fan of anyone who moves away from the traditional standup show. My 24-hour-long show was born out of a need to try something different. There are so many great observational comedians about, but one feels a yearning to try different formats.
5 | Album
Currents by Tame Impala
They’re a brilliant Australian psychedelic pop band. It’s quite difficult to put a label on their music. Currents is not as good as their last album, Lonerism, which was a complete classic, but it’s still a really good record. It’s multilayered and you discover new things each time you listen to it. Which is good for me because I’m a “headphones on” rather than a “dancing about” kind of listener. When I was at Cambridge, I didn’t have that much money but what I had I spent on gigs. My era was Britpop, late 90s, and at that time I went to Reading, Glastonbury, V Festival quite a lot. Now the festival scene has developed and those Britpop fans my age still want to enjoy live music.
6 | Non-fiction
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
This is about death and how the western world’s relationship with dying has changed. Gawande, who’s a doctor, writes about how death was once treated as something to be embraced. People used to die surrounded by their community of loved ones, but now in our medically advanced society we shut people away, away from their homes, to die in institutions. Being Mortal is about the psychological implications for society from that. We’re in denial about what life and death are because we don’t engage with them in the same way. It’s a gloomy but moving book about what it means to be alive.
