25 Years of Laughter

25 years ago, John Bishop stumbled into the brown-bricked Frog & Bucket Comedy Club on Oldham Street in Manchester on a Monday night, slightly depressed after divorcing his then-wife and looking for something to do. There were only a few others in the place. He put his name down on the open mic list and hoped for the best.

A quarter century later, he is now one of the most well-known and beloved UK comedians out. With countless numbers of tours, specials and guest-show appearances, his down-to-earth Scouse charm and humour allows his storytelling to sparkle honestly, from the heart.

Bishop is back again with his latest tour, 25 Years of Stand Up, in November to tell tall-tales of how his career came to be. An evening, I guess, of relatable tales, quick-fire punchlines, and the unmistakable sense of community that only a John Bishop show can deliver.

I got to sit down with John and talk to him about the highly-anticipated tour.

I came to your show, Back At It, last year when you were down here in NZ! It was brilliant, mate! Why back so soon?

The first time I came to NZ was in 2016. Covid happened and that knocked everything off its kilter! To be honest with you, I loved New Zealand the first time around. I was looking at my schedule for this leg of the tour and I was finishing it in the UK in November. I didn’t want to end it then! The next dates after that would be in the US and Canada and not ‘til next year. So I decided to see if we could fit in New Zealand and Australia again! New Zealand audiences are great, and it’s a great place to be. It’s inspiring to be somewhere as gorgeous. Loved it.

What can audiences expect from the 2025 tour, 25 Years of Stand Up?

Basically (as the title says) it’s 25 years of comedy, yes, but it’s not just 25 years of people knowing who I am…It’s 25 years since the open mic night where I tried comedy for the first time which was in a comedy club in Manchester called the Frog & Bucket. I wanted to celebrate that. I’m doing all the big venues in the UK (like the O2 in London) and Ireland, but I’m making sure to do Frog & Bucket Comedy Club as well. I’m doing my show there on a Monday night (it was a Monday when I did my first ever gig) and the comedian who was the emcee, Mick Ferry, is gonna be there to introduce me back on stage. If that’s not enough, the guy who was doing the sound on the night, Colin, is going to be operating my microphone too. A real blast-from-the-past. It’s a mad way of celebrating this journey.

This tour is bringing in bits and pieces from over the years, some new stuff, and some ‘greatest hits’, as it were. I even asked on social media: ‘what do you all want to see?’ and it was great getting that feedback to help shape it. Often when you do a comedy tour, it builds momentum naturally, but this has had movement since day one, which is brilliant.

How does one filter through the events of a comedian’s life and pick out the best bits to joke about onstage?

It’s madness. I’m not good at note-taking and writing comedy. So I just live my life, hope something funny happens and hope I remember it. I kinda filter it through that way. Then I try to find things people can relate to and link it all up. In this tour I’m using a guy who’s a TV producer. His name is Cam and he did a lot of my TV shows and documentaries and I wanted him to help me filter things and structure things. A lot of comedians seem to use other comedians to do that, but I figured that I’d just end up with more jokes. I’ve got enough jokes. But having Cam has been invaluable. It’s been great. I think this is the tightest tour show I’ve ever done.

Any spoilers? Or is it lock-and-key and a highly kept secret?

Basically, it just explains how I split up with my wife and ended up in comedy. I don’t wanna reveal the ending of it, so you gotta be in the room! Something happened when I was doing the O2 in London (which is massive—15,000 people in there). I was being funny, and hopefully doing a good job, and then in the moment I started talking about more personal bits. It then immediately felt like I was in a room with just 10 people. It all went quiet, and people listened. The only spoiler I will say is: this is the funniest I’ve ever been. This is the best show I’ve ever done. If anyone has ever considered coming to see me, this is the one.

What makes good comedy for you?

Comedy is the most instant form of communication that there is. It’s all about the last word in the sentence. When you say that last word, people laugh or they don’t. No one, I don’t think, goes home and thinks about that last word and analyses it. It works there and then, or it doesn’t. That then makes comedy its own meritocracy, wherein (even if you don’t like the comedian) jokes will hit harder for others than they will to you, and vice versa. The audience will always let you know. I think that’s the joy of comedy. Comedy is the instant judgement but also the instant reward. It’s exciting.

Talking about exciting, I understand that your life story has been adapted into a movie, Is This Thing On?, directed by Bradley Cooper! Bluntly speaking, mate, that’s a bit f**king cool. How did that happen?

Oh, it’s bonkers. Bonkers, bonkers, bonkers, f**kin’ bonkers. I mean, Bradley Cooper, who doesn’t seem to be able to make a bad film, is brilliant! Bradley picked my story up after he finished his last project, which was Maestro. I’ve been in the hands of a man who has been nominated for a trillion Oscars, so you know it’s gonna be good. Will Arnett plays my character and Laura Dern is the wife. It’s not us, obviously, but it’s inspired by us with an American feel to it. So it’s based in New York, and is my story of a couple who split up and Will Arnett’s character picks up comedy. I can’t say too much (because they’ve sworn me to secrecy and no one’s seen it yet). I did see an edit five(ish) weeks ago and I know it’s been improved since then, but the edit I saw was brilliant. I went into a small room with my wife, my agent, and one of the producers, Kris [Thykier] and just watched this brilliant film that took a while to hit the screen. The wait was worth it. The premiere is in New York on October the 10th and then will be part of the London Film Festival. It’ll be out in New Zealand on January 22nd!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

I was 16 years of age and I was working at a chemical factory. It was one of those jobs where you stay there all your working life. Old men in the yard would be like: ‘you’ve done well, son. You’ll get your pension here…’ I decided that I wanted to go to university and I told my mum and dad. They sat me down and tried all night to persuade me not to go. None of our family had gone to university and it seemed crazy, my idea. I had a good job, why trade that in? University, I was told, is not for people like us. I had to get up at six in the morning for work the next day and we’d been hashing this out for four or five hours. It had gotten heated. Then my dad just sat back, took a minute, lit a cigarette and he said: ‘you know what, son, you should do it. Because you never know you can’t do it unless you try. And that’d be the worst thing. Even if it goes tits-up at least you’ll know.’ I think that’s the best advice…If you’re ever thinking of doing something, just do it. To not know what would’ve happened…that’s the killer.
Today, actually, I was on the phone before with my wife who has gone up to Manchester to stay with my son. My son, he’s just started a Masters degree. She gets him on FaceTime and he said: ‘Dad, I can’t believe it! This girl in my lecture sat next to me. She took my breath away, dad, but when the lecture ended I let her walk away.’ And I said: ‘son…now you’re gonna regret it. You should’ve said something! You don’t know what would’ve happened.’ She was probably a bird with three kids, but at least he’ll know!

So yeah, that’s the advice…try everything, and see what happens.

Talking on advice, if you could give the John Bishop who was just starting out his comedy journey one bit of advice what would it be?

When I first started, I had a really good job working for a pharmaceutical company and carried on for six more years. People ask: ‘do you regret that you didn’t do comedy earlier?’ and the answer is always no, because I wouldn’t have appreciated it. I left the pharmaceutical job just before I turned 40. I think my piece of advice would be: don’t forget how lucky you are. I 100 percent value and appreciate everything about this life, this opportunity, this artform. You asked why I’m coming back to New Zealand so soon…It’s gonna be November and I’ll come and do my show via Australia and Singapore…I will be home just before Christmas. So, for a month of my life I’m gonna be on the other side of the world making strangers laugh. I can’t tell ya how good that is. That’s such a great way of spending a month. And then I’ll come home to the UK and it’s Christmas. Basically, I’m coming to New Zealand because I don’t wanna do any of the Christmas shopping or decorating!

What’s your definition of success?

If you’re offered double the amount of money to change your job and you say no, then you’re successful. If your job is not driven by money and you’re lucky enough to do that, you’ve won.