THE start of a new year is not a cause for a comedian to chuck away his old joke book and start all over again.

"Our year tends to run from August to August, for the Edinburgh Fringe, " says Mark Watson, who is on the road this winter, playing Leeds City Varieties on Wednesday.

"Lots of shows on tour now will be the show from Edinburgh, and the time to rip it up will be August for the new Edinburgh season.

"That's when I'll rip it up and start again. So it's more like midseason now (I always like to think of myself as a football manager), but the New Year does make you think about new material - and Edinburgh is always looming."

Mark, a regular panellist on BBC2's Mock The Week, notes a paradox that faces successful comedians.

"The better your show does in Edinburgh, the more difficult it is to find time to write new material, " he says.

Mark, however, maintains a busy diary, writing books, making television and radio appearances, and soon he will be off to Australia and New Zealand for more tour dates.

"I did some shows over there for the first time last year, but that also meant I was only two months away from the starting the next new show, so it's a tricky balance, " he says. "You never want something to be half-finished. You always want to be ahead of the audience."

  • Mark Watson in Can I Briefly Talk To You About The Point Of Life?, Leeds City Varieties, Wednesday, 8pm. Box office: 0113 243 0808