Mark Watson: Wouldn't want to sit where you're sitting

Mark Watson gives the impression of being the kind of person who wouldn't enjoy going to a comedy gig. If he didn't happen to be onstage being the comedian, I don't think he'd be there at all.

Which might seem a strange thing to say about a comedian.

But I've seen Mark Watson at the Norwich Playhouse before and, as I waited for the show to start, I was looking around me. Because last time I saw him there he started off the gig sitting in the audience. He's not the most unusual-looking bloke and literally no-one realised he was there. To his obvious joy he had been able to eavesdrop on several 'settling-down-to-watch-comedy' conversations before speaking up and starting.

And the start was a very amusing and reassuring soliloquy about how we could all relax because the show was going to be funny. The general gist was that it was going to be moderately funny in places, very funny in others - but, basically, funny. As I remember it, it wasn't until he'd set these expectations that he actually took to the stage.

Of course, he can't do that anymore.

Now he's on the telly, he'd be spotted straight away if he sat in the audience. But I had a hunch he would do something similar - and he did. I won't spoil it and say what, in case you're going to see the show. Suffice to say I felt very smug for working it out. And, as before, when he revealed himself he spent the first part of the show managing our expectations again.

Unlike Reginald D.Hunter's "My comedy isn't as cuddly as I look on the telly" warning, Mark Watson wanted to tell us that he was trying out new material. This was a good warning - not just because it was funny but because it was necessary. Instead of seeing the "Request Stops" show we were expecting, he was taking the opportunity afforded by his success in Norwich to try a new show called "The Information".

The set included some great sections and even, to everyone's surprise, a song. Like all 'new material' shows, some of it worked and some of it didn't (in my opinion, the song didn't) but the weird thing was, that after significant success on stage and screen, Mark Watson seemed to be trying to find his "thing" as a comedian.

And the thing is, I think he's already found it. No other comedian I've seen approaches a comedy gig with so much empathy for the audience. Unlike Adam Hills, who seems to be focused on making sure everyone has a good time, Mark Watson seems to be focused on making sure no-one has a terrible, possibly even psychologically damaging, time. It sounds odd, but it can be very, very funny. And it's a unique perspective which provides him with some wonderful material and a unique style of delivery - full of fabulously self-doubting asides. I say stick with it.