Merseyside Mirth Makers - John Bishop

John Bishop

John Joseph Bishop was born on the 30th of November 1966 in Liverpool's Mill Road Maternity Hospital, the youngest of four children and lived in Toxteth until his parents, who were from Huyton, moved to Winsford and later to Runcorn. His father, dock labourer Edward Bishop accepted a job opportunity in Winsford, Cheshire and John attended Murdishaw West Primary School and Brookvale Academy. Growing up John's dream was to be a professsional footballer but only achieved semi-professional status with Southport FC. So he had to settle for a 'proper job' and joined pharmaceutical company Syntex as a medical representative.
He and Melanie had met at university in Manchester in 1987 and they married in 1993 with John taking a Master's Degree in Business and was progressing through the company. However when he and Melanie separated in 2000 he found he had a lot of spare time on his hands.

John and Melanie

In October 2000, looking for a way to occupy his time, he came upon the Frog and Bucket comedy club in Manchester and thought it might be a good place to sit and drink alone. It was an open-mic night, and when he was told he could get in for free if he had a go, he put his name down. He was supposed to do five minutes, but he got up and started talking about his split from Melanie, and found it hard to stop. It was like therapy, he says, and he loved the feeling of making people laugh. It was at this club he had a chance meeting with Melanie and after a while they got back together. By the end of 2001 he had 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'. He was also named best newcomer by BBC Radio Merseyside in 2002. In 2006 Melanie encouraged him to quit his job and concentrate on stand-up.

His 5th Stand Up Tour

In 2007 he made his first television appearance on the RTE topical-comedy show 'The Panel' where he regularly sat as a panelist until 2008 and also appeared on the Channel 4 panel show '8 out of 10 Cats' and on the BBC's 'Live at the Apollo'. In 2009 he started his own TV program on LFC TV called' John Bishop meets ?', where he interviewed former Liverpool football legends. The following year he portrayed Emily and Katie Fitch's father in Skins, during series 3 and 4 (until 2010). Determined to be one of the best in stand up comedy he appeared in 2009 as the first act on 'Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow' in Manchester. The same year he was nominated for an 'Eddie' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well appearing in Channel 4's series 'Comedy Showcase', 'Celebrity Mastermind' and many other shows.
On the 18th of July 2014, John 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. In September 2016, he was ranked tenth place on Forbes' Top 10 Highest Paid Comedians List when he had earned £5.4 million a year, making him the UK's highest earning comedian.

see next :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2019/05/merseyside-mirth-makers-lee-mack.html?q=John+Martin