Liverpool comedian John Bishop comes to the Palma Auditorium in Mallorca on Friday, April 11th, with his 25 Years of Stand-Up tour, Back At It. I was lucky enough to catch up with John this week and have a chat with him.

RP: John Bishop, born at Mill Road Hospital, Everton, on November 30th, 1966. So, shouldn’t that make you a Blue rather than a Red?

JB: Well, that’s a very good question, and no one has ever picked up on that before. So yeah, Mill Road Hospital was the main maternity hospital in Liverpool, and as you say, it was in the Everton part of Liverpool—or at least it was. It’s not there anymore. I was born there, and we lived on that road, just a few doors down from the hospital, which was handy because my mum and dad were knocking kids out at an alarming rate!

Then we moved. The council came along and said, We’re going to knock your house down as part of this slum clearance. That really annoyed my dad because he’d just decorated it! So we moved out of Liverpool to a place called Winsford. In fact, I spent most of my life outside of Liverpool, but always in spillover towns filled with people from Liverpool.

RP: So, growing up, what did the young John Bishop want to be?

JB: Steven Gerrard. Well, actually, at the time, it would have been—I don’t know—probably Kevin Keegan. I wanted to play for Liverpool, that’s what I wanted to do. Yeah. I wanted to be a footballer, like everyone else. That’s how dreams were shaped back then. I certainly never, ever thought I’d be a comedian.

RP: You still had a pretty good career as a semi-professional footballer. You played for quite a few different clubs, and your brother Eddie was a professional footballer at Tranmere, right?

JB: Yeah, Eddie played for Chester and Tranmere. He played at a very good non-league standard, and I played at a decent standard too. The difference, though, in elite sportsmen is the same as in the entertainment industry—everyone can do something to an extent, but to get to the top, you’ve just got to have something. Some level of determination, commitment, and desire to carry on when it really gets hard.

You see that in elite sportsmen. When I’ve played in charity matches and they’re messing about—operating at maybe 30% of their normal level—I still think, God, they’re so much better!

RP: You went to Manchester University, got a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science, and became a pharmaceutical salesman. How was that?

JB: When I started doing stand-up, I was the sales and marketing director of a company that had a product I was responsible for—one that stopped people from rejecting their organs after transplants. It was the hardest thing in the world to stand up and talk about. But there were no jokes. It wasn’t like the job was in any way related to stand-up comedy.

RP: You came into comedy quite late, and your story of how you got into it is fascinating. But it wasn’t the easiest of times for you, was it?

JB: Yeah, I’d just split up with my wife, and I used to have the kids every weekend, taking them back to school or nursery on a Monday and picking them up again on Friday. That meant I was just depressed on a Monday. I was looking for something to do that night—something I could do on my own—because all my mates were bored of listening to me.

So I ended up going to a comedy club, just because I could go on my own. I was 34 and couldn’t think of anything else to do. The guy on the door said, Look, if you put your name down, it’s an open mic night, and you don’t have to pay. I didn’t even know what an open mic night was! He explained it meant I’d have to get up on stage, but because the only comedy clubs I’d ever been in had been packed, I assumed this one would be too.

So I put my name down, thinking, They’ll never get to me—there are probably 200 people in there. But when I walked in, there were only seven. Seven people, and five had already put their names down. I ended up being called up second.

The truth is, if I’d been third or fourth, I probably would have left. But I got called out second, and I was following a Geordie who just did chicken impressions. It was bizarre—I was thinking, Is this some kind of care-in-the-community thing?

I thought, There’s nothing to lose. There are only seven people here, and one of them thinks he’s a chicken! So I just did it. And after that, it became my thing. I started going every Monday, then got asked to do other nights, then weekends. It just grew and grew.

One Thursday, I got called in as a last-minute replacement, and by that point, my act had grown to be all about my divorce. Unbeknownst to me, my wife was in the audience that night—she’d been invited on a work do.

She came over to me at the end, and I just thought, Jesus, this will finalise the divorce settlement. My act is going to cost me another 20 grand. But she said, That was really funny. It was nice to see you the way I’ve always seen you—as funny. Can we do something to get back together?

That’s why comedy is so important to me.

This year marks 25 years since that first night. So much has happened since, but everything has grown out of stand-up—television, acting, all of it. I owe comedy everything.

I’ve been asked loads of times about doing a gig in Mallorca, but I always said no because I wanted to keep it separate. Mallorca has a really special place in our family. But Jimmy Carr sent me a photo of the theatre, and I thought, Oh my God, that looks just like the theatres I tour in the UK. It suddenly made sense to do a show in Mallorca, in a venue that feels right, in a place that means so much to us.

RP: Let’s finish how we started—on football. What are your thoughts on Liverpool post-Klopp? And now you’re probably nailed on to win the league what do you think of your new boss, Arne Slot?

JB: I mean, it’s been a fantastic first season. Jurgen left behind a great squad but also a great legacy as a person. He really got Liverpool—the city, the people, the culture. He galvanized the club just when it needed it most.

No one expected what’s happened this season. Jurgen’s personality is so imprinted on the club that whoever followed him couldn’t come in with a big ego—it just wouldn’t have worked. But Arne Slot slipped into the slipstream perfectly. You can tell how confident he is in himself because he didn’t rush out and buy loads of players. He just took his time, respected the squad Jurgen built, and figured it out.

RP: Do you begrudge Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid?

JB: Absolutely not. Trent goes with everyone’s blessing. I guarantee he’ll get an amazing reception because he owes the club nothing.

At a club like Liverpool, if you give everything, the fans give you everything back. It was the same with Jurgen—when he decided to leave, everyone just… accepted it.

I actually got to interview him at the Liverpool Arena in front of 10,000 fans. The warmth in the room, the gratitude—it was overwhelming. And I think the fans will feel the same way about Trent.

RP: John, I appreciate your time. I know you’re really busy.

JB: No problem—I just want everyone to know this is happening.

John is performing Back At It on Friday, April 11th, at the Palma Auditorium. Get your tickets at www.johnbishoponline.com