Background
John Bishop was born in Liverpool's Mill Road Maternity Hospital, the son of Kathleen "Kathy" (Hackett) and Edward E. Bishop. He grew up in Winsford and Runcorn.
John Bishop was born in Liverpool's Mill Road Maternity Hospital, the son of Kathleen "Kathy" (Hackett) and Edward E. Bishop. He grew up in Winsford and Runcorn.
Attended Murdishaw West Primary School and Brookvale High School after his family relocated from Huyton.
Studied English at Newcastle Polytechnic and gained a BA (Hons) Degree in Social Science at 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.Bishop 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 FIn 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,ringe Festival, where his show Elvis Has Left the Building was nominated for an "Eddie" (Edinburgh Comedy Award)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.n 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
Charity work
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 British Broadcasting Corporation 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.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/n 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.
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.
Bishop has been married to his wife Melanie since 1993.They have three sons Joe, Luke and Daniel
