I have always been a performer. As an actor and stand-up comedian I ran around in silly costumes or told cheap jokes for money, and I firmly believe that writing a book is a performance, albeit of a very different sort. Should you feel inclined to watch, here are a few examples of the more showy-off side of what is laughably called my ‘career’, but has really been a concerted and largely successful effort to avoid a proper job…
Here I am putting people off their Corn Flakes on BBC Breakfast.
I’m thrilled to be a member of Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a twisted collective of musically-inclined crime writers – myself, Doug Johnstone, Luca Veste, Stuart Neville, Chris Brookmyre and Val McDermid – who enjoy murdering songs for fun. What began as a bit of fun after book events has now got a little out of hand and culminated in the band being booked to play Glastonbury in June 2019. I know! Stuart, our amazing lead guitarist was sporting a T-shirt that read: BEST MID-LIFE CRISIS EVER! Here is a clip of us performing in October on a TV show for Sky Arts – playing as a five-piece due to the fact that Val was working in New Zealand at the time. Apologies to Elvis Costello…
For a few* quid and some beer, the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers will happily rock up and rock out at any festival that fancies inviting us.
*To be negotiated, obviously.
The best job I ever had. Playing Gary in the cult kids’ TV show Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, I got to spend four years running about in a forest with a big sword. This clip is from an episode I co-wrote.
Talking about my 2016 standalone novel, Die Of Shame.
This is from the George Stroumboulopoulos show on Canadian TV. It’s a feature where guests are invited to let rip and complain, so I decided to get on my high horse and sound off about something that really winds me up…
Like a great many crime writers (mostly the male ones) I’m a frustrated rock star. I got to live out this fantasy when I collaborated with the wonderful country duo My Darling Clementine. We recorded an album and toured a show called The Other Half and this is a clip of the show’s finale, where I finally got to strap on an axe (guitar) and sing (wail) a country classic. My apologies.
Recorded at the Edinburgh Book Festival, I fess up about those parts of an author’s life that, for very good reasons, are rarely talked about.
To view more videos of Mark, check out his YouTube channel.