John Bishop (I)

Review: John Bishop

TV funnyman John Bishop's new live show is rude. This is John Bishop for grown-ups - and it's brilliant.

Review: John Bishop delivers comedy masterclass

The Scouse comedian is warm, witty, and full of life and has finally taken on the mantle of Britain's top comic, writes Adam Aspinall.

John Bishop: 'You can never retire from comedy'

He's the former footballer who's gone on to become one of Britain's best-loved comedy stars. We speak to John Bishop as he heads to Cardiff.

Interview: John Bishop cares about what you wear

GQ's comedian of the year John Bishop's success emanated from his blunt, measured stand-up routines about the humdrum existence of a working-class father of three, but he has had a year that doesn't exactly scream 'every man'.

John Bishops awarded Comedian of the Year at GQ Awards

John Bishop was awarded the Comedian of the Year title at the GQ Men of the Year Awards.

Stewart Lee's Alternative Comedy Experience offers 25 minutes of understated joy over on Comedy Central. Now three episodes into its second series, it's a grottier, grimier Live At The Apollo, without the necessary blockbuster blandness of John Bishop or Michael McIntyre.

Lee talks to comedians about their comedy - more interesting than it sounds, because of the calibre of people involved - which is then interspersed with short excerpts from stand-up sets, filmed at Edinburgh's tiny pub-like venue The Stand, giving it a brilliantly raucous, ramshackle feel.

Tuesday's episode saw Susan Calman, Josie Long, Kevin Eldon and David O'Doherty performing, with O'Doherty - a particular delight. If you've ever wondered how someone can do witty nostalgia about long-dead technology without sounding like a Buzzfeed list, then track O'Doherty's set down as a matter of urgency.

One of the biggest decisions an up-and-coming stand-up comedian can make is to give up the day job and concentrate on performing. It means farewell to the career as a teacher (Greg Davies), doctor (Harry Hill) or sales rep (John Bishop) and suggests a belief that a job telling jokes is going to pay the mortgage instead.

Alfie Moore spent 18 years on the Humberside police force before he turned to stand-up comedy, but if It's a Fair Cop - his first series for BBC Radio 4 - is anything to go by, it was definitely the right move.

The formula for the show is that Moore swears his audience in as police officers for one night, and takes them through a real-life scenario to see what kind of decisions they would make in the same circumstances. Theft was the theme of the first instalment, with the focus on 80-year-old Maureen and a stolen tin of salmon.

This approach was clever because the laughs, and there were plenty of them, came from two different directions. For a start, there was Moore's great patter, in which he managed to mock his previous profession at the same time as demonstrating a deep respect for it. Plus his rapport with the audience/temporary officers ("Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," said one less than sympathetic volunteer) was equally entertaining.

John Bishop's Australia: Not a thrilling ride

The first episode of Liverpudlian comedian's Australian road trip was quite possibly the limpest hour of television I have ever seen.

Review: John Bishop

A great coup for the Lowther Pavilion and Lytham as a whole, the end of set Q and A also allowed the audience to gain an insight into the man behind the laughter.

John Bishop attacks British snobbery

The Scouse comedian reveals his anguish at sending his son to a fee-paying school and how he couldn't go on Question Time because he'd 'punch someone'.