𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Comedian John Bishop has said seeing a film based on his life-changing first stand-up gig has been a “bizarre” but “brilliant” thing to get his head around.

Bradley Cooper’s new movie Is This Thing On?, which he directed and appears in, was loosely inspired by Bishop’s gig at Manchester’s Frog and Bucket comedy club 25 years ago, when he was working as a salesman.

Set in New York, it tells the story of comic Alex, played by Will Arnett, and his soon-to-be-ex-wife Tess, played by Laura Dern.

Bishop said it felt “so weird [that] this is happening, but so brilliant at the same time”.

The film came about after Arnett met Bishop and the Scouse stand-up told the Hollywood star he had only found comedy in 2000 when he and his wife had temporarily separated.

Bishop said he decided to take part in an open-mic night one evening when he did not want to pay to get into the venue.

Arnett then used the story as the basis for his screenplay, which he wrote with Cooper and film and TV screenwriter Mark Chappell.

The resulting film also stars Andra Day, Amy Sedaris and Ciaran Hinds and is due to be released in December.

Bishop told BBC Radio Merseyside he included a date at the Frog and Bucket on his current tour on the 25th anniversary of that first appearance.

He said “the stars in the sky” then aligned, as the following night, he was on the red carpet for the screening of Is This Thing On? at the 69th BFI London Film Festival.

“You couldn’t write it, you couldn’t line things up like that as perfectly,” he said.

“It’s been odd trying to get my head around it.”

However he joked that being involved with the film had meant having to deal with one slightly awkward moment after his wife Melanie met Cooper.

“He gave Melanie a hug and then Melanie had a minute with him, talking to him, but she was whispering in his ear,” he said.

“We come back to the hotel and I was saying ‘This has been a mad few days’.

“I said: ‘What are you going to remember most about it?’

“She said: ‘Whispering in Bradley Cooper’s ear’.

“That kind of doesn’t make me feel great…”

Looking back on his 25 years in comedy, Bishop said the “maddest thing” was how quickly it had gone and how it had felt like “a parallel life”.

“I never intended to do it… I never had the dream of being in showbusiness because I never thought I would do stand-up comedy,” he said.

“I was a salesman, and so somewhere in the world, it feels like there’s a comedian who is now being a salesman, and I’ve nicked his life and he’s got my life.

“There’s a comedian standing up now doing a PowerPoint presentation about his sales projections for next year while I’m doing his gig.”

He said it felt “so weird that this is happening, but so brilliant at the same time”.

“I don’t take any of this for granted,” he added.