John Bishop: "Comedy is like lap dancing"

With a string of dates at The O2 on the horizon, comedian John Bishop has been revealing all in the new issue of Hot Press. Upon comparing his line of work to either that of a boxer or a lap dancer when discussing the lonely nature of stand-up comedy, Bishop eventually plumped for the latter.

"I think lap dancing," he decided. "If you're a boxer, you're punching, getting punched back. But with a lap dancer, you come out and go, 'That's me bits, do you like them?!' That's what it's like with comedy: 'Here are my funny bits!'"

In conversation with Hot Press' Craig Fitzpatrick, Bishop also expressed some mild bemusement at the oft-highlighted 'Scouse' part of his act.

"It's because of the accent", he said, "which I didn't realise was as strong as it is until I left the estate and went to college. Everyone spoke like me. I grew up outside of Liverpool. I was born in Liverpool and we lived in one of the slum areas that got knocked down, so we were moved to council estates outside. In many respects the accent was bred into me as a form of identity. It's like an Irish-American. Third generation Irish-American feels more "Irish" than Michael Flatley, y'know?"

Also on the agenda are Bishop's recent triathlon effort for BBC's Sport Relief and comparisons to late Dublin comedian Dave Allen. Check it all out in the new issue of HP (Mumford & Sons cover), on shelves now.