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
Bishop has been married to his wife Melanie since 1993.They have three sons Joe, Luke and Daniel