A chat with comedian Mark Watson, who's coming to Basingstoke's Haymarket on January 21

To prove the point, the stand-up, who is the father of a newborn baby, begins our chat by telling me how shattered he is. “My phone is currently at three per cent power, which is a reasonable metaphor for the state of my life right now.

“The difference is that I’m not as easy to charge up as a phone. Coffee is my equivalent of a phone charger, but it’s not as reliable. But both my phone and I are just about getting through most days!”

You’ll be delighted to learn that Mark is bringing this trademark wry, self-deprecating sense of humour to The Haymarket on January 21.

Following a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival, he'll perform his wonderfully entertaining new show entitled Flaws.

In the show, which marks his tenth anniversary in comedy, Mark explores why, despite our lack of perfection and poor decision-making, humans are still pretty spectacular.

Even though he may not possess the answer to all of life’s most serious questions, the comic reflects with his customary hilarity on the process of growing up, including the terrifying ageing process, parenthood and the fear of passing terrible traits onto your children.

He says: “The buzz you get from a live show is pretty unique. You walk out on stage and you get an immediate, huge sense of love and affection from the audience. It is only comedy where you get such an instant response and where the stakes are so high.”

The comic, who on radio has presented the well-regarded shows, Mark Watson Makes The World Substantially Better, 100 Million or Bust and Mark Watson’s Live Address to the Nation, continues: “People instinctively feel that stand-up must be terrifying because the performer is so exposed.

“There is no doubt that I find it nerve wracking. Comedians who feel no anxiety have simply become machines. But in a live show, at least you are in control.

"With TV, what you do might only be reflected in five per cent of the final edit; you’re just a cog in the wheel. Even if you do well, you’re at the mercy of casual audiences who might decide they don’t like you within five minutes and write nasty things about you on the Internet.

“But when it’s your tour, matters are purely in your own hands. Yes, you’re on your own and vulnerable, but the flipside is that you have autonomy. Even if they hate it, you can say that, ‘At least it had integrity. I’ve successfully performed a show which I wholeheartedly believe in, even if they didn’t like it!’”

Mark, a fully-fledged Edinburgh Fringe legend who has in the past manfully performed marathon 36-hour shows, carries on that he finds touring the most rewarding of all experiences.

“It’s so satisfying. Most comedians want to get to the point where rather than being just another act on the bill, they are touring under their own name. I don’t aspire to much more than having a couple of hundred people who’ve bought a ticket with my name on it – even though some of them might not know who the hell I am!

"I’ve now been a professional comedian for 10 years, and it seemed like the natural point to reflect on what I’ve done. I couldn’t help observing that most of the time has been spent making money from telling people about my personal inadequacies. So Flaws is about how my hapless stage persona has at some point become a hapless human being.”

The comedian, who has also appeared on We Need Answers, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Mock the Week, Would I Lie to You, Have I Got News for You, Live at the Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and Channel 4’s Comedy Gala, continues: “The stuff I talk about on stage is not that different from my real life. I have a definite shtick – a slightly manic nervous energy which makes something of my incompetence and general failings.

"But that’s actually very similar to how I conduct my life. The effect of that on my mental well-being is ambiguous. If you’re performing a version of yourself, it’s quite easy to lose track of where your real self begins and ends.

“In the show, I say that in my twenties I felt that it was fun to tell anecdotes about the different ways I’d screwed up. You’re allowed to be a shambles in your twenties.

"But it is sobering to realise that you’ve got no better as a 35-year-old and that if you don’t shape up, you’ll be a 50 –year-old who has still not got to grips with the basic pillars of life. I have two children and a mortgage and still walk this strange tightrope between a seemingly respectable life and complete chaos!”

Mark, a Cambridge graduate and former Footlights performer, concludes: "I support the perennially underachieving football team Bristol City, but their local rivals Bristol Rovers are even worse. They’re in freefall.

"People saying to me, ‘It could be worse – you could support Rovers’, doesn’t really help. I’d like my team to do well rather than take comfort from the failures of others. There’s only so much consolation you can get from the idea of someone else doing worse.”

“In Flaws, I try to improve myself and find role models to aspire to. My lack of confidence and self-esteem has powered my shows and my decisions in life. But if you look at the opposite, aggressively confident people, a lot of their qualities are loathsome.

"In correcting your flaws, you might actually move towards something even worse. Self-improvement is very difficult!”

-James Rampton 

See Mark Watson in The Haymarket on Wednesday, January 21 at 7.30pm. 

Tickets: £17

Box office: 01256 844244, anvilarts.org.uk