With more than 200 MICF shows under his belt, Mark Watson is not just a veteran of our festival - he’s also basically an honourary Melburnian, well-versed in all of the “Melbourneisms” of a resident. As the show gets started and a few latecomers wander in, he knowingly quips about our city’s broken infrastructure and how, despite its proximity, Chin Chin is, in fact, not a quick pre-show dinner.
In fact, he has so much to say that it’s hard to tell when Watson’s introductory small talk ends and his planned material begins. It’s made even more difficult because, on this night, there was an unexpected two-for-one deal: Watson was joined on stage by an extremely animated Auslan interpreter who was funny in her own right. Having someone there who had to translate his every word (the Auslan translations of ‘dildo’, ‘Hobbit’ and ‘jacking off at a picnic’ are admittedly amusing) was a continual distraction for Watson, but still hilarious.
About a quarter of the way into the hour, it’s finally clear he’s back on track. The Taskmaster star is known for his fast-talking nature, and while it does add to his dorky charm, it can sometimes make for a brain-addling listening experience. He’ll start a sentence then drop it because he’s had another thought or backtrack to finish something he’d said several sentences ago; perhaps partly his trademark style but also partly as a result of trying to catch up in a show that was running behind. Regardless, one thing’s for sure: when he does manage to get the story out, it’s well worth the wait.
In Search, Watson comes to terms with the realisation that as his children age, he is no longer their human Google. Access to phones and the internet render his knowledge obsolete, and while he jests about this, he approaches it with a level of endearing vulnerability. This, plus his feelings around a recent and apparently messy divorce, contribute to his desire to “search” for meaning in life wherever he can find it.
There’s rarely a moment without laughter as Watson tells the audience about antics like a drunken Zoom call gone wrong and about how a rude man at the fruit shop he worked at as a teen has elicited a lifelong desire for revenge. All in all, it’s an excellent hour - and on a session when he’s not joined on stage by a spirited interpreter, we’d wager it’d be more coherent.