What's Tweeting Mark W@tson?

Is the only thing expanding at the same pace as the internet the number of online faux-pas it’s now possible to make? Mark Watson might agree. The digital age has led to some e-mishaps for the comic that spark his latest Fringe standup show, The Information.  

Yet, these blundering incarnations seem at odds to the thoughtful, verbose man who speaks between Euro 2012 matches for which he provides alternative commentary. Indeed, sports pundit, game-show host, and novelist as well as standup, Watson possesses many disparate identities that the internet, or at least Wikipedia, throws into relief.  

The Information is Watson’s first Fringe standup show since 2010. “It came about because I was involved in identity fraud. I say I was involved; I was the victim rather than the perpetrator, obviously. It was done online by someone hacking into my accounts because I answered one of these scam emails.” Fake Nigerian banking’s most esteemed celebrity client will not be merely giving daddish warnings to shred all your bank statements in a food processor. “I find, with Edinburgh, it pays to try and do a funny show rather than a sensitive exploration of my problems. There’s an obvious funny side to it. The notion that someone can actually be me temporarily is ridiculous. Obviously I’m pretty confident I am Mark Watson and no one else could be, but because of the internet you’re not quite as sure of your identity as you used to be.” He continues uneasily, “the amount of information out there about every single human is mind-boggling. There’s a different world and whether it’s good for you or not is another matter really.” 

Yet this reserve towards online media belies how much the standup has embraced it; committing himself to keeping a blog for ten years and tweeting prolifically. Clearly there’s digitally more to Watson than his sort code, not to mention the fact he's already dabbled in fairly fraudulent personas.

During the first few years of his standup career, for example, he performed with an affected Welsh accent that he then made a conscious decision to drop. Having scrapped Welsh Watson, it seems he’d be happy to have some internet identities co-opted; a few embarrassing YouTube favourites or a nerdish Pinterest account perchance?

“There are definitely loads of clips on YouTube of me early on in my career. If you go back far enough I used to have floppy hair, almost what you’d call curtains. Because of YouTube, the past ten years of my life is sort of sketched out on the internet. So yeah, I’d be happy if someone laid claim to quite a lot of those old versions of me.”  

Social media can serve darker purposes than the mere dredging-up of embarrasing photos, however. For Watson, a Twitter spat with Frankie Boyle back in 2011 was something of a wake-up call. “I would have ideally never engaged in an argument with someone in a public way.” When he blogged a measured critique of Boyle’s use of Down Syndrome as joke material, his contemporary christened the comedian a c-word on Twitter. “If it hadn’t been a blog, it would have been a newspaper article. But the difference is when it becomes a Twitter dispute you’ve suddenly got a couple hundred thousand people, in his case, watching. I certainly got quite a lot of personal abuse from people who didn’t know me. They just heard I was engaged in some controversy with Frankie Boyle.” Despite the fact Boyle’s response came a bizarre eight months after the original blog post, Watson continues, “it did bring home to me how quickly opinions can be formed on social networking sites. It made me realise I should be more careful using Twitter.”  

He also knows how, on the other hand, Twitter can bleed material. “I know people who are more joke merchants, one-liner sort of things and they're always having to watch out on the internet. All it takes is a few retweets and within an hour no one knows where the joke originated, it’s just out there.” 

Still, the "out there" of this sinister internet hinterland has clearly proven fertile comic ground for Watson. Moreover, The Information threatens to reach broad practical and ethical conclusions on its subject matter, but such ambitioun is typical of the comedian. Previous Edinburgh shows have included Can I Talk To You Briefly About The Point of Life and All The Thoughts I’ve Had Since I Was Born. “Partly, I’ve always wanted to do standup shows that provide some kind of narrative, some kind of metaphysical hook. I at least want people to feel there’s a bit more than gags,” he says. “But it’s also true that I have to be vague, as we often have to give the show titles [to the Fringe organisers] months in advance. For, say, the point of life, you can use any material that dawns on you. But it’s safe to say I’m quite ambitious.”  

So ambitious in fact that this year Watson will also be hosting the Edinborolympics; tossing together various limber comedians for a sort of “sports-day-slash-wacky-races” event. “Legally I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to use the phrase ‘Edinborolympics’ but I’ve put it in the brochure now, so it’s a bit late.” It’s not a large concern, though. “I don’t really have the big money required to compete with the London Olympics when it comes down to pure resources.” Yet, what if he did have to compete in London? “I’d put myself forward for either water polo or one of the long distance events. I have to say it’s looking less and less likely.”

Perhaps, but Watson still seems to have many competing identities. A guarded individual and a generous performer, his low-status, shambolic on-stage demeanour belies a dense list of accomplishments; the 32-year-old’s fourth novel comes out in August and he’s working on a fifth. How would he feel about the next level of digitised identity; a Tupac Shakur-like hologram of himself posthumously performing standup? “I’m already so thin and gaunt that it’s actually not that different from watching a hologram anyway. I’m pretty scared of death and threatened by the idea of not existing. I’ve got the ego of a performer, so anything that allows me to extend my career beyond the grave I’m all in favour of.”