#269: Des Bishop - Rising Above

Des Bishop is a stand up comedian, podcaster, writer and author.


His new comedy special, ‘Of All People’ Is now out on 800 Pound
Gorilla Media (links below) . Of All People is an hour of
original stand-up and a culmination of years of experience on
stage all over including in Queens, Ireland, and China. Bishop
crafts high-energy stories and jokes, bringing the audience on a
wildly entertaining ride through tales of his international
travels and the gap between his looks and attitude. The openness
and honesty of his presenting style combined with his restless
imagination and perceptive observations make Des Bishop a
must-see for fans of unique, insightful and provocative comedy.


Now a massive star in Ireland, native New Yorker, Des moved from
Queens to Ireland in his mid-teens in 1990. He first came to
prominence with his extraordinary TV series The Des Bishop Work
Experience (2004), where he lived on minimum wage in a series of
different jobs in Ireland. Mixing this documentary footage with
stand-up, the series became one of the most talked-about of the
year, and propelled Des into national stardom. In 2006, he
embarked on his second critically acclaimed TV series, Joy In The
Hood, where he taught stand-up comedy in disadvantaged areas in
four major Irish cities. Another hugely successful live tour
followed including invitations to the Just For Laughs Festival in
Montreal and the Melbourne Comedy Festival in Australia.


In 2007/8 Des embarked on his most ambitious and challenging TV
programme to date: he decided to learn Irish from scratch and
perform a 60 minute stand-up comedy routine in the Irish
language. Over the course of 12 months, he lived with a family in
the West Of Ireland honing his craft and in March 2008, the first
episode of In The Name Of The Fada was broadcast. In The Name Of
The Fada has prompted a radical re-think about how to teach Irish
in schools and it unsurprisingly won the Irish Film and
Television Award (IFTA) for Best Television Series later that
year.


In 2010, Des put together his most personal show to date called
My Dad Was Nearly James Bond. Inspired by his father, Mike who
was diagnosed with terminal cancer; Des documented the remarkable
life of an actor and model who gave up the glamour for a steady
job in a department store when his three sons were born. Des also
wrote a memoir by the same name, which was short-listed for an
Irish Book Of The Year Award. The My Dad Was Nearly James Bond
live show previewed in Melbourne, before opening at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival to widespread acclaim and five star reviews
including Brian Logan of The Guardian who called it “a coup de
théâtre…compelling…like diamonds, this show is forever”. The show
toured extensively both nationally and internationally in 2010/11
including The Barrow Street Theatre in New York.


In 2013 Des travelled to Beijing, China to learn Mandarin and he
has been living there for the past 18 months. He is now fluent
and the show, Breaking China was another major hit for
broadcaster RTE in 2014 and he also made a half hour radio
documentary about the rise of Stand Up in China for the BBC World
Service called “Stand up for China”. His live show again opened
at the Edinburgh Festival where he played to over 5,000 people
and included an invitation to perform at the Soho Theatre in
London and a return to Barrow Street in New York.


Des has appeared on many live stand up shows including Edinburgh
Comedy Festival Live (BBC), Live at the Comedy Store (Comedy
Central) and Australian music themed quiz show Spicks and Specks
(ABC). He was also the star of HBO’s “A Comic’s Climb” about his
debut at the Aspen Comedy festival in 2005.


In total, Des has released five bestselling stand-up DVDs: Des
Bishop Live at Vicar Street (2004); Des Bishop Live (2005); Des
Bishop – Fitting In (2006); Des Bishop – Tongues (2007); and
Desfunctional (2009). His special, “Made in China” was released
by Universal Pictures in November 2015. His special One Day
You’ll Understand was released in November 2018 on the RTE
Player.


The openness and honesty of his presenting style combined with
his restless imagination and perceptive comic observations make
Des Bishop a must-see for fans of unique, insightful and
provocative comedy.


We chat about his new comedy special, moving in his teens to
boarding school in Ireland, grief and loss of his father, ‘crazy’
reviews, imposter syndrome, becoming the parent to your parents,
rehab, addiction in his teens, finding his voice, plus plenty
more.


The video footage of this entire chat is now out as well (one day
after release)! So check them out on YouTube under Michael
Kahan

Check Des out on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desbishop


Website / tour dates: https://www.desbishop.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desbishop

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Desbishopcomedy


TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@desbishop5


Comedy special (newer one):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdlYHOmSpaM&t=675s&pp=ygUKZGVzIGJpc2hvcA%3D%3D



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