Comedy Although not brought up in Wales, Watson used to deliver his act with a common Welsh accent which is not quite his own. He adopted it when he started stand-up comedy, saying that it made him "more comfortable to be talking in a voice that I didn't quite recognise as my own". He has since reverted to his own accent. Watson has appeared regularly at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe, winning the first ever Panel Prize at the
if.comeddies in
2006 and being nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2005 Perrier Comedy Awards. His other awards include the
Time Out Critics' Choice Award 2006 and a
Barry Award nomination for best show at the
Melbourne Comedy Festival 2006. Watson has performed several unusual shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and Melbourne Festivals, including marathon shows lasting 24 hours or more. The first of these was performed at the
2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which lasted 24 hours. At the end of the show he proposed to his girlfriend Emily Howes, who accepted. These shows have featured guest appearances from other performers such as
Tim Minchin,
Adam Hills,
Daniel Kitson,
David O'Doherty,
Sarah Millican,
Gillian Anderson, and
John Dorney as the balladeer. At the
2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Watson hosted a literary workshop-cum-interactive comedy show entitled
Mark Watson, And His Audience, Write A Novel. The aim was to write, by the end of August, a novel begun from scratch and woven entirely from audience suggestions, with another 2,000 words or so added each day. The novel was not finished within the month. At the
2007 Fringe, Watson hosted a panel show
We Need Answers with
Alex Horne and
Tim Key. This saw 16 comedians take part in a knock out quiz where all the questions and answers came from text service
Any Question Answered.
Paul Sinha won the competition, beating
Josie Long in the final.
We Need Answers returned in
2008 with fewer rounds; Josie Long emerged as winner, beating Sinha in the semi-final and
Kristen Schaal in the final. Watson performed his final 24-hour Fringe show at the
2009 festival along with his "Earth Summit" and his "Edit". The Earth Summit was Watson's version of the
Al Gore talk about world pollution and global warming and the Edit was a compilation of Watson's fringe shows to date, made particularly for those who had not seen him perform there. Watson's debut DVD,
The Mark Watson Edit, was initially due for release on 15 November 2010. However, Watson was forced to shelve the project and a new DVD recording was released on 28 November 2011, entitled
Mark Watson Live. In 2019, Watson staged a 26.2-hour live show to coincide with the
London Marathon, and during the
COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 he hosted two 24-hour "Watsonathon" events on the
Twitch streaming platform. Watson often performs gigs in unusual locations, including: on a ferry, from a stream, on a train, on the steps outside a theatre, in a vaccination queue, and in drive-in shows during the Covid pandemic.
Live shows Television A three-episode run of
We Need Answers began on
BBC Four on 12 February 2009, based on the
Edinburgh Fringe show of the same name. As with the live show, Watson co-hosted with Tim Key and Alex Horne. A further 13 episodes were broadcast later in 2009. Guests for the series included
Germaine Greer,
Michael Rosen and
Jilly Goolden. In 2010
ITV4 commissioned
Mark Watson Kicks Off, a sports panel show hosted by Watson, with three celebrities taking part each week in numerous rounds including "Beat the Best" (in which Watson takes on a sporting champion, but with a twist) and "I'm not a successful sports star but I'm related to someone who is" (in which the three celebrities ask questions to a guest who is related to a sports star). In 2011, Watson hosted a pilot for an improvisational comedy show called
Improvisation My Dear Mark Watson. The one-off episode was commissioned and broadcast by
Dave, who chose not to create a full series. The pilot aired on 9 July. In 2012, Watson starred with
Micky Flanagan and host
Mark Dolan as a captain in the
Channel 4 panel programme
The Mad Bad Ad Show.
Guest appearances Watson has appeared as a panellist on shows including
Never Mind the Buzzcocks,
QI,
Who Said That?,
Guessable,
8 Out of 10 Cats,
Argumental,
Have I Got News For You,
Mock The Week,
Would I Lie to You?; and in Dictionary Corner on
Countdown (2023). He has been a contestant on
Pointless Celebrities, ''
Richard Osman's House of Games, Taskmaster, and Celebrity Mastermind''. He has performed stand-up on shows including ''
Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (2009), Channel 4's Comedy Gala (2010), Live at the Apollo (2011), and Tonight at the London Palladium'' (2017). In Australia, Watson has been seen on
Rove,
Good News Week,
Spicks and Specks and the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival, all aired in April 2007. In 2011, he appeared on New Zealand comedy panel show
7 Days. Watson has appeared on a number of sports programs, including
The Premier League Show (2017-18), BBC Green Sport Awards (2022) and
Sport Relief (2020). Watson appeared as a
talking head in
Armando Iannucci's spoof documentary series
Time Trumpet. In 2017, he competed in series 5 of
Taskmaster against
Bob Mortimer,
Sally Phillips,
Nish Kumar and
Aisling Bea, finishing joint second. Also in 2017, Watson appeared on
Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls alongside
Iwan Thomas,
Jordan Stephens,
Lucy Mecklenburgh,
Melody Thornton,
RJ Mitte,
Ryan Thomas,
Sharron Davies and
Shazia Mirza. Watson left on doctors' orders after suffering from severe chest pains and insomnia in the final episode. In 2021, he appeared on
Richard Osman's
House of Games alongside
Josie Lawrence,
Raj Bisram and
Laura Whitmore.
Radio In August 2009, Watson hosted a three-episode series on
BBC Radio 5 Live called
100 Million or Bust, where a panel of guests attempted to spend £100 million on transfers as managers of an English
Premier League team. Watson has made regular appearances on the
BBC Radio 5 Live show
Fighting Talk.
Books Other work Watson co-runs a production company,
Impatient Productions, which produces his own radio shows as well as for others such as
Angela Barnes,
Britain's Got Talent winner
Viggo Venn, and
Reverend Richard Coles. Since 2025, Watson has written and starred in fictional podcast series
Murder of a Famous Bastard, an interactive series where listeners can influence events through a
Discord server. Since September 2023, Watson and seven-time
World Snooker Champion Stephen Hendry co-host the official
podcast of the
World Snooker Tour,
Snooker Club. Each episode features special guests of sports, entertainment, and music personalities. In December 2021, Watson launched a podcast through his production company with co-host Michael Chakraverty called
menkind, discussing masculinity with a weekly guest. There have been 60 episodes to date, and guests have included
Tom Daley,
Nikesh Shukla, and
Jordan Gray. In 2020 during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne started a
YouTube channel playing a game known as
No More Jockeys. The three were given
Chortle Legends of Lockdown awards for No More Jockeys as well as their individual work. In 2009, Watson appeared in adverts for
Magners Pear Cider, which became the subject of an extended routine by fellow comic
Stewart Lee as part of his 2009 "If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One" live show. In 2010 Watson provided the voiceover for a rabbit in an
Innocent Smoothies advert. From 2018, Watson appeared in
TUI commercials alongside fellow comedian
Zoe Lyons on
Sky One. On 25 February, Watson presented the 2009 NME Awards at
Brixton Academy. At the start of the 2009/2010 season, Watson wrote a regular article in the
Bristol City official matchday programme Well Red. In December 2009, Watson's television drama ''
A Child's Christmases in Wales'' starring
Ruth Jones was broadcast as part of the Christmas 2009 season on
BBC Four; it was described as peeping into the Christmases of a South Wales family during the 1980s. == Personal life ==