Des Bishop

Des Bishop

Des Bishop is a comedian born in New York City and based in Ireland. He is known for comedy built around observation of Irish society and for his ability to imitate regional Irish accents. He is born in 1975, and his origin is listed as London and Dublin.

Career

Bishop begins working as a comic in Ireland in the late 1990s, when he hosts shows at the International Comedy Cellar, a venue associated with Irish comedians including Ardal O'Hanlon, Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy. He develops his act there and first reaches television audiences in early 2000 through an appearance on Don't Feed the Gondolas, a topical news-based television programme.

He later reaches a wider audience with The Des Bishop Work Experience, which screens on RTÉ Two in 2004. In the series, he spends a month working minimum-wage jobs in different parts of Ireland, including Abrakebabra in Waterford, the Aqua-dome in Tralee, Superquinn in Dundalk and the Central Hotel in Dublin. Another television project, Joy in the Hood, follows him in deprived areas of Ireland’s main cities as he mentors local people in stand-up comedy. He also presents In the Name of the Fada, which follows his attempt to learn Irish well enough to perform a full stand-up set in the language.

Stage work and writing

Bishop creates Rap Éire with Arthur Riordan, describing it as a hip-hopera satire about an ambitious American drawn into political circles during the early Celtic Tiger period. The work has two runs: first at the Project Arts Centre in February 2001, and then at the Andrews Lane Theatre the following summer. He performs every night of the first run while receiving radiotherapy for testicular cancer, and the original premiere planned for the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2000 is cancelled after the diagnosis. Bishop and Riordan later co-write Shooting Gallery, which has a short run in Dublin in 2005.

Film and other activity

He appears in the 2002 film In America, playing a high-flying stockbroker rapping in the back of a New York taxi. Bishop’s comedy also draws on his experience of testicular cancer, which becomes part of his material rather than remaining a private subject.

His brother Aidan is also a working comedian in Ireland, and both brothers are involved in running the International Comedy Club.