Watson’s rapid-fire, breathless delivery is a trademark and gift – keeping up with the animated Brit seems to be half the fun. His sharp and markedly detailed anecdotes provoke hefty laughter throughout the show. Watson paces the stage like a nervous, albeit committed, man on a mission – what makes Watson so appealing is that the line is blurred between feverish anxiousness and vehement passion, self-deprecating genius and fuming cynic. He pokes fun at others tactfully and without malice, but will cut away at his own misgivings with no self-regard.
The theme of having an impact on someone’s life, trying to affect people in a positive way or essentially having a dignified reason for one’s existence is loosely tied into the show. As if realising the enormity of such a theme, Watson peppers the show with a variety of disparate issues – becoming a dad, mind-readers, English sports fans, family dynamics and Australian slang – so as to alleviate the solemnity.
However, by the end of the show, those issues somehow came together as Watson bemoaned society’s disregard for the simplistic good. Watson is a highly experienced and masterful comic – proving that a hasty onslaught of words can carry great purpose.
