In Back At It, John Bishop tells about doing TV shows with his pal Hugh Bonneville, massive pantomimes with Sir Ian McKellen, living out his childhood Doctor Who fantasies for real, and 'having’ to do an arena interview with the outgoing manager of his beloved Liverpool FC, Jurgen Klopp.
It shows the rarefied circles Bishop moves in these days, but the comic’s skill as the archetypal ‘mate down the pub’ comic is making it all seem relatable.
However, the casual, chatty manner has a downside, with many of the loose anecdotes lacking a sense of a purpose or a solid punchline, existing for the journey, not the destination.
It’s telling that Bishop is one of the few comics at his level not to have a defining signature routine – no garlic bread, ‘out-out’, or man drawer. Rather than a comedy artisan crafting tight routines, he’s an everyman raconteur, just sharing what he’s been up to but with the hidden talent of an entertaining chat show guest.
There is some, not entirely successful, ambition to make this more than the sum of its parts, revolving around the 57-year-old having a midlife crisis – or ‘manopause’ – and trying to figure out who he is.
A pivotal story concerns him not recognising a childhood friend, crushing him in front of his children, which suggests, to the comic’s concern, that the answer to who he is might be ‘showbiz dickhead who forgot his roots’. It’s not – probably – but if ever Bishop is in danger of interrogating any real feelings, he just moves on to the next anecdote, nothing too deep to see here.
Questions of identity ties into the DNA Journey he made for ITV with Bonneville and his Who Do You Think You Are, which aired more than a decade ago, in which he sought to investigate the Irish family roots he’s so keen to claim, as a self-proclaimed ‘plastic Paddy’.
Bishop’s not been on tour for a couple of years – a hiatus so brief it would easily have gone unnoticed – but apparently the pause was for some soul-searching in which he came to realise, unsurprisingly perhaps, that stand-up is what he loves, and there’s a tone of gratitude beneath all the stories that his life has panned out this way.
That said, more generic material about being middle-aged seems old hat, paired with dated comments such as having to compromise in marriage to earn himself a blow job or that ‘real men’ don’t talk about emotions. There’s a lot of have-your-cake-and-eat-it ironic sexism about how his wife Melanie’s difficult labour or menopause was so tough on him.
This seems like lazy comedy by rote, and that’s before we get to a brief ‘we used to find porn in a bush in my day’ routine and the ‘…and I was on the bus’ pullback to a wanking routine. He starts with an ‘ooh careful I don’t get cancelled’ message, because that’s what comics have to evoke these days, don’t they?, but in truth there’s no edge here.
Bishop’s even hack in his mid-life crisis, buying himself a motorcycle. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t at home with the Sons Of Anarchy-style chapter but fit right in with all the office middle managers who came to a similar decision.
The comedian arrived at this point after inheriting a scooter, which he rode from Brittany to the home he has in Majorca, although as a routine, the destination is much more elusive.
His time on the genealogy shows is more fruitful, especially when the research throws up interesting facts such as his great-great-grandfather being a minstrel, and here Bishop makes the best use of his yarn-spinning skills. Whether these routines would have quite the same impact if you’d already seen the programmes, but they certainly land here.
The addition of a childhood wish list to the show’s narrative seems a late, and none-too-subtle, intervention to provide more context, however a couple of stories involving his late mum shine. They are sentimental, but not overly so, and come to life through their authentic telling and the connection Bishop so easily makes with his audience.
Famously, Bishop used to be a pharmaceutical salesman, and in his comedy he’s flogging a mild antidepressant, sure to lift the mood, but at a relatively weak dose.
John Bishop: Back At It is on tour until April. Tour dates.
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