Watson plans another 24hr show

The 28-year-oldcomic says he will not be undertaking an epic performance at this year's Edinburgh Fringe on medical advice and because he wants 'to stop it becoming a repetitive gimmick'.

However, he is planning an event at the Melbourne comedy festival next month – and wants to harness the power of the internet to get people around the world to take part .

He said he has the technology in place to transmit the show over the web, adding: 'I'm hoping this will lead to us being able to pull off stunts of a kind never done in a comedy show before. Or at the very least, dick about on a remarkable scale.’

Watson first staged his 24-hour show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004, which ended with him successfully proposing to his girlfriend Emily Howes. He followed it with a 2005 minute show in 2005 (about 33-and-a-half hours), a 'seemingly impossible' 36-hour show in 2006, and a '24-hour jamboree to save the planet’ last year.

This year's show will kick off in Melbourne's Hi Fi bar at 23:59 on April 6. Simultaneously - at 12:59 local time – a satellite show will start in the Red Hedgehog in Highgate, London, where the events in Australia will be shown on screens.

Watson said: 'The idea of the show is to effect a benevolent takeover of as much of the world as possible. This means getting as many people as we can to follow the show, and chip in, in various ways.

‘For example we're planning a tiny version of the Olympics where we set challenges (longest spin of a coin, highest tower built out of cereal boxes etc.) and appeal to people worldwide to send in images and videos of themselves doing it.

‘To give another example, we'll try to write a song for world peace and have it simultaneously performed in as many countries as we can - even if it's just one person in some countries - with, again, people sending the proof of their efforts.

‘We might also try to launch a spontaneous international outbreak of random acts of generosity, perhaps getting someone in the States to buy an ice-cream for a child, while at the same time somebody does the same thing (with the same brand of ice-cream) in Federation Square, Melbourne.’

To register interest in taking part in the show, visit the official website at www.watson24hour.com

Published: 2 Mar 2008