John Bishop (comedian)

John Joseph Bishop (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian, presenter and actor, who is also known for his charity work, having raised £4.2m for Sport Relief 2012.
A keen footballer, Bishop played for non-league teams Hyde and Southport, and was known for having an aggressive style on play, often compared to Claude Makelele. He also worked as a pharmaceutical Rep prior to becoming a stand-up comedian. His television debut came on The Panel. He has subsequently appeared in the E4 teen drama Skins (seasons 3-4) and in the Ken Loach film Route Irish in addition to his own shows including John Bishop's Britain (2010–2011), John Bishop's Only Joking (2013) and The John Bishop Show (2015).
Bishop also had a regular Sunday slot on Liverpool radio station Radio City 96.7 called Bishop's Sunday Service.

Bishop is the youngest of four children born to labourer Edward Bishop and wife Kathleen Hackett. He grew up mostly in Winsford, Cheshire and Runcorn, Cheshire, and attended Murdishaw West Primary School and Brookvale High School, now know as Ormistion Bolingbroke Academy, after he and his family moved from Huyton, Merseyside. He briefly studied English at Newcastle Polytechnic and gained a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science from Manchester Polytechnic.

In the 1990s, Bishop worked as a medical representative for the pharmaceutical company Syntex, before leaving in 2006 to pursue a career as a full-time comedian. He performed stand-up comedy for the first time in Manchester in October 2000, and the following year, made it to the final of all the major new act competitions, including So You Think You're Funny, the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Awards, the BBC New Comedy Awards, and the City Life North West Comedian of The Year Award, which he won. In 2002, he was named best newcomer by BBC Radio Merseyside, and in 2004, he won the North West Comedy Award for best stand-up. In 2009, Bishop appeared as the first act on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in Manchester. That year, he appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where his show Elvis Has Left the Building was nominated for an "Eddie" (Edinburgh Comedy Award).

In 2009, Bishop appeared in Channel 4's series Comedy Showcase and was a contestant on Celebrity Mastermind. He also appeared in BBC Three sitcom Lunch Monkeys as fireman Terry. He has appeared five times on 5 Live's Fighting Talk quiz show, claiming four victories on the programme. His material is drawn from his life's experiences, including fatherhood, cycling around the world, playing semi-professional football, and working as a nightclub doorman. Bishop's first television appearance was in 2007 on the RTÉ topical-comedy show The Panel, where he was a regular panelist until 2008. He then went onto the Channel 4 panel show 8 out of 10 Cats before appearing on the BBC's Live at the Apollo. In December 2009, Bishop started his own TV show on LFC TV called John Bishop Meets..., where he interviewed former Liverpool football players.

In 2010, Bishop was a celebrity team captain on What Do Kids Know? with Rufus Hound, Joe Swash and Sara Cox on Watch. He has also appeared on BBC's Mock the Week, and Radio 4's Act Your Age. In series 3 and series 4 of Skins, Bishop portrayed Emily and Katie Fitch's father. In 2010, Bishop appeared in Ken Loach's Route Irish, which premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Bishop is a regular panelist on Sky1 show, A League of Their Own, as well as a stand-up/sketch show for BBC One entitled John Bishop's Britain. On 11 July 2010, Bishop came runner-up in the second-ever game of How Many Peter Jones'? on ITV's James Corden's World Cup Live. He has appeared as a panellist on BBC programmes Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You?, and on QI. On 28 October 2010, he also guest hosted an episode of series 40 of Have I Got News For You.

On 12 February 2010, during an appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross it was revealed that prior to his TV breakthrough, Bishop had worked as a warm-up for the show. In March 2011, Bishop and fellow comedians Alan Carr, James Corden, Catherine Tate, and David Walliams appeared in the video for Take That's single "Happy Now" for Comic Relief. On 24 June 2012, he appeared on Desert Island Discs. On 28 August and 4 September 2012, he appeared in Accused as Peter for two episodes. In late 2012, Bishop appeared on BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? and on an ITV one off episode called Panto!, where he starred as a local Morecambe disc jockey called Lewis Loud. As of January 2013, Bishop hosts John Bishop's Only Joking on Sky 1.

On 28 July 2013, Bishop headlined the Vodafone comedy festival in Dublin's Iveagh Gardens. Before the gig, a reporter called Brian Boyd interviewed him about his recently replenished marriage and how his wife eventually found him funny again

Bishop's autobiography entitled How Did All This Happen? was published in October 2013 . In November 2013, he hosted the 2013 Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium theatre in the presence of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

In December 2014, he appeared in A Night In with Olly Murs where he and Olly Murs had a lip-sync battle. In 2015, Bishop presented his own variety show on BBC One called The John Bishop Show.

In May 2015, Bishop appeared as a special guest at the Liverpool date of Murs's Never Been Better Tour and performed "Troublemaker" with him.

In January 2016, he took part in the BBC series Stargazing Live, appearing from the European Astronaut Centre, and following Tim Peake's astronaut training programme with a simulated spacewalk, underwater.

Since September 2016, Bishop has presented John Bishop: In Conversation With... for the W channel. The show will return to two further series.

On 21 September 2016, Bishop was confirmed to have a role in upcoming ITV drama series Fearless, which is set to air in 2017.

On 29 September 2016, Bishop announced that he would be going on tour for the fifth time in October and November 2017 with a show entitled Winging It.

At the 2010 British Comedy Awards, Bishop won the Best Male Comedy Breakthrough Artist award. He became the Number 1 "Star in a reasonably priced car" on Top Gear on Sunday 23 January 2011 after he appeared on the BBC Two show. He drove the Kia Cee'd around the test track in 1 minute and 42.8 seconds to become the fastest star in the latest reasonably priced car, knocking Tom Cruise off the top. Bishop's record lasted nearly half a year until being knocked off by Rowan Atkinson (1 minutes 42.2 seconds) on Sunday 17 July 2011. He was also the fastest in the League of Their Own skeleton race, beating Georgie Thompson and James Corden.

On 18 July 2014, Bishop was awarded an honorary fellowship at Liverpool John Moores University in recognition of his contribution to the arts and charity work during a ceremony at Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral.

On 30 March 2010, Bishop took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London. In 2012, he completed a 290-mile (470 km) triathlon from Paris to London in five days to raise money for the BBC charity Sport Relief. His "week of hell" began at the Eiffel Tower on 27 February, where he cycled 185 miles (298 km) to Calais. The next day, he rowed across the English Channel as part of a team including Davina McCall, Andrew Flintoff and Denise Lewis, then ran 90 miles (140 km) from Dover to London in three days, finishing in Trafalgar Square on 2 March. On 23 March, during the Sport Relief telethon, it was announced that his efforts had raised £4.2 million. Also in 2012, Bishop took part in The Justice Collective for their cover of The Hollies single "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" for charities in aid of the Hillsborough disaster. In 2014, Bishop once again took part in Sport Relief as a team captain for the Clash of the Titans event competing against Sebastian Coe and his team.

Bishop has also competed in numerous charity football matches including playing in the Ciaran Geddes memorial match at the Deva Stadium, Chester, where Bishop scored two goals while playing with his brother Eddie for Chester FC. On 27 May 2012, Bishop took part in the Soccer Aid match for Unicef, playing for the England team, who won 3-1 against the Rest of the World. On 8 June 2014, he took part in his second Soccer Aid football match, again playing for England, this time losing 4-2 to the Rest of the World. On 5 June 2016, he took part in his third Soccer Aid match, playing on England's team.

In May 2014, Bishop donated £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group after being moved by personal statements delivered by the victims' families at their inquests.

On 19 April 2016, Bishop served as host for a comedy gig at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.

Bishop has been married to his wife Melanie since 1993, with an 18-month separation that began in 2000. They have three sons: Joe (b. 1994), Luke (b. 1996), and Daniel (b. 1998). They live in Cheshire.

Bishop enjoys playing football and is an avid Liverpool FC fan, a fact frequently brought up on the show A League of Their Own, on which he was a panelist. He has three older siblings; brother Eddie (b. 1961) and two sisters Kathy (b. 1962) and Carol (b. 1965). Eddie, is a former professional footballer with Tranmere Rovers FC and Chester City FC. Besides Liverpool F.C., Bishop has said that he also supports Celtic F.C..

In July 2010, Bishop took part in protests against then-owners of Liverpool FC, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and later took part in a celebrity-studded protest video put out on YouTube. Bishop pre-recorded a video message to the 2011 Labour Party conference, which was being held in Liverpool.

Bishop has been a vegetarian for over 20 years. He talked about this on BBC Two's Something for The Weekend and his episode on food on his stand-up show John Bishop's Britain. On a 2013 episode of The Jonathan Ross Show, he said he had been vegetarian for 27 years. In 2013, PETA declared him to be one of the "Sexiest Vegetarians" of the year.

In September 2016, Bishop was ranked tenth place on Forbes' Top 10 Highest Paid Comedians List where he had earned £5.4 million a year, making him the UK's highest earning comedian.

Television

Film

Music videos

• 2011: Take That – "Happy Now" for Comic Relief
• 2012: The Justice Collective - "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

Stage

• 2009: One Night In Istanbul - Tom

• http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week53/john-bishops-gorilla-adventure

• "The Elvis Has Left the Building Tour" (2010)
• "The Sunshine Tour" (2011)
• "The Rollercoaster Tour" (2012)
• "Supersonic Tour" (2014)
• "Winging It" (2017)