For comedy lovers familiar with Mark Watson’s marathon shows, you may know they typically last between 24 and 36 hours, had an impressive run as one of the most celebrated traditions of the Edinburgh Fringe in the 2000s, and have developed into a hugely loved comedy/charity institution benefitting (among others) Comic Relief and Dementia Revolution. The shows are chaotic, improvised, exhausting, emotional spectacles and there is nothing else quite like it in comedy.
Now, anyone who knows anything about me knows I have a very specific reason to love this particular format; because for the last one I spent 26.2 hours locked in a room – with approximately 100 other brilliant maniacs, getting over my fear of being on stage and learning stand-up skills with some of the best in the business, for charity. I still have Rufus Hound’s proposed set that he wrote for me in my notebook.
That was just over a year ago and, for me, it escalated beyond anything I could have predicted – up until the world we as know came to a temporary stop, I was in the process of writing my first show for Edinburgh Fringe. And that is the beauty of these shows, putting aside the hyperbole behind a lot of events that claim they’re so good they’ll change your life, Mark actually does operate with the kind of chaotic energy that makes you believe anything could happen. That ‘anything’ could be accidentally putting you on a completely new path (like me) or, like Tiernan Douieb, it could manifest in Gillian Anderson, Dana Scully herself, shaving your back live on stage in front of thousands!
Last year’s show was a mix of the great and the good in comedy and entertainment taking on their own challenges alongside volunteers recruited via social media, including an absolute tour de force of funny women. We got to witness Angela Barnes get over her fear of fish, experience the vocal talents and sartorial excellence of Jayde Adams, see Deborah Francis-White as Theresa May and make-up challenges from Bec Hill as well as contributions from Lou Sanders and so many others checking in either in real life or on-screen. All presided over by a refreshingly equally weighted panel alongside Mark that was on stage for the full run, including Sofie Hagen, who somehow at the same time wrote, filmed and screened a short film – just one other thing going on that day.
And as for this year… well we’ll have to wait and see. The call is currently out and the brief is broad, Mark is looking for comedians, musicians, bands, magicians, personalities of all kinds, anyone who can do something in front of a camera – loosely themed around recreating the world as we knew it prior to lockdown, which could be anything from putting viewers at home through the rollercoaster of an open mic to designing the perfect conversation with a stranger in a bus queue.
It starts on 1st May at 9.00pm, and will continue until 9.00pm the following night (or until Mark officially runs out of steam, but past form suggests that is unlikely) and will be streaming on Twitch and YouTube.
If you’re interested in being part of Mark’s Comedy Marathon, you can email: Vixel247@gmail.com and I’ll pass them all on.
