Des Bishop

A rising star in the US and a massive name in Ireland, native New Yorker Des Bishop moved
from Queens to Ireland in his mid-teens in 1990. The openness and honesty of his presenting
style combined with his restless imagination and perceptive comic observations make Des
Bishop a must-see for fans of unique, insightful and provocative comedy.
He came to Irish fame with TV shows, The Des Bishop Work Experience (2004), where he
lived on minimum wage working different jobs in Ireland, Joy In The Hood, where he taught
stand-up comedy in disadvantaged areas of four major Irish cities, and In The Name Of The
Fada (2008, winner of the IFTA Best TV Series Award) about when he decided to learn Irish
from scratch and perform a 60-minute stand-up comedy routine in the Irish language.
In 2010, Des wrote his most personal show called My Dad Was Nearly James Bond, inspired
by his father, Mike who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Bishop won an Irish Book Of The
Year Award for his memoir of the same name, and brought a solo show version to
the Edinburgh Fringe to widespread acclaim and five-star reviews. In 2013, Bishop went to
Beijing, China to learn Mandarin. He is now fluent and the show about his experience, Breaking
China was another major hit series with another acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Des has appeared on many live stand-up shows including Edinburgh Comedy Festival Live
(BBC), Live at the Comedy Store (Comedy Central) and Australia’s Spicks and
Specks (ABC). He was also the star of HBO’s A Comic’s Climb, his Aspen Comedy Festival
debut in 2005.
He has released six hit stand-up specials including Made in China (Universal 2015), One Day
You’ll Understand (RTE 2018), and his latest Of All People.