Norwich Playhouse

Norwich Playhouse

This show (I'm Worried That I'm Starting To Hate Almost Everyone in the World) has the kind of a title that can make an audience a bit nervous.

You expect a tirade. Something abusive with lashings of satire. A delight in other people's discomfort.

Not so. Watson could not possibly have been less aggressive. His stage persona was almost deferential, and this cadaverous Welshman had a true gift for wit reminiscent of the likes of Boothby Graffoe.

Unlike Graffoe, however, Watson is very, very young. He was one of the writers on that slightly pace-lacking Cambridge Footlights show that came here in 2003, but since then he has achieved what amounts to meteoric stardom in comedy circles, with slots at the Comedy Café and the Comedy Store and all kinds of accolades on the Edinburgh Fringe.

At a time when all the comedy I see is so smooth and corporate, it's nice to watch somebody who is still prepared really to make the effort and who doesn't have it all worked out in advance. He stepped off the script more than once and even involved this critic in a bidding war for some gaffer tape (don't ask).

I know it's a bit of a cliché, but he really is one to watch.