Comedian Mark Watson and critic Peter Geoghegan captain teams for the annual “Comics v Critics” football match at the Edinburgh Festival. The game kicks off on Sunday 14 August at 2pm on The Meadows. Spectators are very welcome at the free event.
Mark Watson is joined on the comedians’ team by comics Daniel Sloss, Jimeoin, Carl Donnelly, Paul Sinha, Keith Farnan, Eric Lampeart, Joel Dommett, Tom Rosenthal, Humphrey Kerr, Iain Stirling, Joe Bor, Kai Humphries, Mark Nelson, Mark Smith, Matt Richardson, Nathan Caton, Rob Beckett, Steve Hall and Chris Martin.
Last year the comedians’ side, captained by Rob Rouse, beat the critics 3-2 in a thrilling 90 minutes of football.
With the critics looking to avenge last year’s defeat, the annual game may well live up to its billing as “such a grudge match they had to get Amnesty International to referee”.
As he accepted the captain’s armband earlier to Mark vowed to lead the comedians to another win in this year’s game, organised by Amnesty International and Fest magazine.
Mark Watson said: “Captaining any football team is the realisation of a boyhood dream for me. The responsibility is quite terrifying.
“Rob Rouse whipped up the comedians into an adrenalin-fuelled frenzy last year and I’ll be looking to keep that up. We’re not going down on my watch.”