Desmond Bishop (born 12 November 1975) is an American-Irish comedian. He was brought up in New York and moved to Ireland at the age of 14. He primarily resides there.

Approach to comedy

Bishop's comedy has covered social issues, such as poverty. In 2000, Bishop was diagnosed with

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle, or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include a ...

; and went on to turn his experiences into comedy material.

Life and career

Bishop is a comedian who has worked as a comic in Ireland since the late 1990s. He began hosting shows at the International Comedy Cellar - a venue set up by Irish comics such as Ardal O'Hanlon, Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy. It was here that Bishop honed his act. Bishop appeared in the 2002 film '' In America'', in which he played a high stockbroker rapping in the back of a New York taxi cab. He reached a broader audience after his TV show '' The Des Bishop Work Experience'' screened on

RTÉ Two (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

in 2004. The show featured him attempting to survive for one month working a

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...

job in various parts of Ireland. During the series, he worked at

Abrakebabra Abrakebabra is an Irish fast-food restaurant chain established in Dublin, Ireland in 1982. When the first Abrakebabra restaurant was opened in Rathmines in Dublin it attracted huge attention catering to late-night crowds with a fresh menu that ...

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

; The Aqua-dome, Tralee;

Superquinn Superquinn was an Irish supermarket chain, founded in 1960 and entirely privately owned by the Quinn family. Select Retail Holdings, a property buying consortium, purchased the company from the Quinn family in 2005. A receiver was appointed to the ...

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

; and the Central Hotel,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. A more recent TV show, named ''Joy in the Hood'', featured him travelling to deprived areas of Ireland's major cities and mentoring local people in stand-up comedy. Bishop speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and has also worked in China where he has adopted the Chinese stage name Bi Hansheng (毕瀚生) and has appeared in a few Chinese dating shows. In 2017, Bishop took part in the first series of the Irish version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

.'' He was partnered with Italian dancer,

Giulia Dotta Giulia Dotta (born 31 January 1992) is an Italian dancer and choreographer. She started dancing from an early age specialising in latin and ballroom dance and has had competition experience at both national and international levels. She is best k ...

. They were eliminated in the sixth week of the competition, finishing in eighth place.

Personal and family

Bishop attended

St. Francis Preparatory School , motto_translation = My God and My All , location = , streetaddress = 6100 Francis Lewis Boulevard , city = New York City (Fresh Meadows, Queens) , state = New York , ...

in the Fresh Meadows neighbourhood of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

borough of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. At the age of 16, he began school at

St Peter's College, Wexford St Peter's College, Wexford is an Irish secondary school and former seminary located in Summerhill, overlooking Wexford town. It is a single-sex school for male pupils. Currently, the school's population is over 770. History Founded in 1811 by ...

in Ireland. He later re-sat his Leaving Certificate at Blackrock College, Dublin. He has a degree in English and history from

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one o ...

. Bishop's brother Aidan works as a comedian in Ireland. Both are involved in running the International Comedy Club. His father died from lung cancer in February 2011, and on 19 March 2019, his mother Eileen died at the age of 77, after a long illness. In February 2021, Bishop became engaged to Hannah Berner, a main cast member on the reality television series ''

Summer House A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden ...

''. They married at Bishop's home in The Hamptons in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

on 13 May 2022.

Irish language

Bishop's TV show, ''In the Name of the Fada'' premiered in 2008. It chronicles Bishop's undertaking to learn Irish to a level sufficient to perform a stand-up act in the language. During this period he achieved fluency in the language. He later used his Irish-language skills to sing the Gaeilge version of the song '' Jump Around'' called ''Léim Thart''.RTE.ie - Press Release - New season schedule
The DVDs of his live show ''Tongues'' and of the series ''In the Name of the Fada'' were released on 14 November 2008.

Works

Standup DVDs

*''Des Bishop - Live at Vicar Street'' (2003) *''Des Bishop - Live '' (2005) *''Des Bishop - Fitting In'' (2006) *''Des Bishop - Tongues'' (2007) *''Des Bishop - Desfunctional'' (2009)

Book

*''My Dad Was Nearly James Bond'' (2011)

References

External links

Official website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Des 1975 births Living people Alumni of University College Cork American male comedians Irish emigrants to the United States American stand-up comedians Irish male comedians Irish stand-up comedians Irish television personalities People educated at Blackrock College People from Flushing, Queens People from County Galway People from County Wexford Comedians from New York (state) People educated at St Peter's College, Wexford 21st-century American comedians