Mark Watson: Do I Know You?

Just as footballers with excellent dribbling skills are called technically gifted, so some comedians are masters of the technique of standup. Rather than hit the audience with a barrage of one-liners or smash taboos, they massage expectations and build intricately interlinked sequences into their sets. Among this breed, it's hard to imagine there's a more skilled craftsman than Mark Watson.

In Do I Know You?, Watson works the audience brilliantly. He starts the show even as the crowds are still entering, standing at a laptop on stage typing gags onto a screen before making his 'official' entrance. He then moves into a very funny, idiosyncratic yet good-natured take on the audience banter staple of "where are you from?". Once he gets onto the material proper, the artistry continues. Linking together two punch lines half an hour apart, he manages to make grabbing a frisbee sound like the filthiest thing in the world.

Watson seems relaxed and clearly enjoys chatting with the audience, but this ends up limiting his act after a while. He is too often drawn into long back-and-forths with the audience that, while amusing, break up the act and leave it rather disjointed. Towards the end of the show, he has so lost track that he asks the audience for the time. The impression is very much that of a genuine error rather than a clever trick. Watson is a very skilful performer who sometimes gets rather carried away with his own ability.