Review by Steve Bennett

He opens with 12 minutes of straight stand-up, introducing the insincerity of his smile and delivering a nice routine on homoeroticism in sport. Plenty of his material about Irish women is simply transposed on to their Scottish counterparts in sweeping Celtic generalisations, but it reinforces his person as a playa in the mating game.

Contemplating hip-hop’s longevity for centuries to come and his childhood manner of calling his father to dinner are a little too reminiscent of routines by his more established brother Des, a comparison he inevitably suffers from.

But these are brief quibbles before he launches his show proper, lessons in seduction revealed with the aid of a flip-chart, hence the sublime pun of his title. Bishop presents both the bad boy and sensitive side of his persona, extolling and undermining both, alternately making you believe that he could be a chump or charmer on the pick-up.

The flip and reveal of the pad affords Bishop’s punchlines greater emphasis, extending the laughter from the audience reading the line to him delivering it out loud. Shrewdly, he begins to attribute the pad a mind of its own, mocking him in an emerging dialogue that teases his bravado and occasional sleaziness.

Although plenty of his material could have been ripped from any of the more aggressive dating bibles published in recent years, or indeed a typical Friday night club set, the gimmick of the pad and Bishop’s confident charisma carry the evening and win the crowd over.

Reviewed by: Jay Richardson

Review date: 1 Jan 2008
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett