John Bishop features in a heartwarming ITV special alongside his son Joe.
In John & Joe Bishop: Life After Deaf, John helps his son embrace his deafness by giving a signed stand-up performance.
The Doctor Who star sets himself the target of delivering an entire signed stand-up comedy gig to a deaf audience.
Sound like a tough task? Don’t forget this is the man who covered more than 290 miles in five days for Sport Relief in 2012.
Here’s everything you need to know about John Bishop, his son Joe and their close family unit.
How old is John Bishop? Where is he from?
John Bishop was born in the West Derby area of Liverpool, explaining the Scouse accent!
But he grew up mostly in the Cheshire towns of Runcorn and Winsford.
He and his family lived in the Grade II listed Georgian mansion, Whatcroft Hall in Northwich, Cheshire until April 2019.
He sold the home for £6.2 million to the HS2 rail project.
The family now live on a farm in Northwich.
John Bishop was born on November 30 1966.
He is currently 55 years old.
John Bishop career: What is he famous for?
Comedian John didn’t worked professionally as a comedian until he was 40 years old!
Before that, he worked for the pharmaceutical comedy Syntex as a medical representative.
He performed stand-up for the first time in 2000, before slowly entering and winning newcomer competitions including the BBC New Comedy Awards.
In 2006, he decided to leave his corporate job and pursued comedy full-time.
He told the Mirror: “The most important thing to me is I now have a job I can talk to the kids about.
“I feel closer to the family as a result.
“When I was in pharmaceutical sales and marketing I may as well have been a rocket scientist.”
Of course, John is now known for appearing on the celeb GBBO, and multiple of comedy panel shows like 8 Out of 10 Cats, A League of Their Own, and Have I Got News For You.
He’s also fronted his own TV series, including John Bishop’s Britain, John Bishop’s Only Joking, John Bishop’s Australia, and The John Bishop Show.
He also has a very successful acting career.
What has John Bishop starred in?
John Bishop is not only a comedian but also a very popular TV actor!
His first acting role was in Skins, the Channel 4 teen drama as Rob Fitch.
He joined in the third series as the dad of twins Katie and Emily.
He then appeared in the critically acclaimed thriller movie Route Irish in 2010.
John starred as Steve Livesey in the ITV series Fearless alongside the late, great Helen McCrory.
Doctor Who fans will know him as the Doctor’s assistant, Dan Lewis.
He joined the cast of the BBC One series in 2021.
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John & Joe Bishop: Life After Death – Is John Bishop married?
John Bishop married his actress wife Melanie in 1993 – that’s an impressive 29 years of marriage!
They split for 18 months in 2000.
Luckily Melanie attended one of his stand-up shows, they had a drink after and decided to get back together…
Talking about their brief separation, John told the Mirror: “There was no huge fight or revelation about someone else.
“We just grew apart.
“Maybe it had something to do with having three kids so quickly.
“For six years there was always someone in the house in nappies.
“Our marriage just faded.
“You realise that the person you wanted to spend your life with no longer wants to be with you, or you with them.
“Suddenly it felt like walking round the house with drawing pins in your shoes.”
How many children does John Bishop have?
John Bishop and his wife Melanie have three children.
Their eldest Joe, 28, suffers with an auto-immune disorder which causes progressive deafness.
He appears with his parents in the ITV documentary John & Joe Bishop: Life After Deaf on Thursday September 21 2022.
Their younger sons are named Luke, 25, and Daniel, 23, respectively.
Speaking at the LGBT awards in 2018, John Bishop spoke of his sons, saying: “I brought my whole family, my wife and my three sons who I love and I am massively proud of.
“Like all parents we have problems with them.
“One of my sons has a tattoo on his ankle that was meant to be Africa but looks like Australia; one of my sons mumbles, and one of my sons is a gay man.
“I’ll be honest, there’s been loads of nights when me and my wife have sat up and worried and worried and worried.
“What are we going to do if he doesn’t stop mumbling?”
He also spoke about his son’s sexuality on The Graham Norton Show, saying: “Having a gay son is just like having a son.
“Of the top 10 things that I even think about him, being gay isn’t even on there.
“He’s just another son.”
Is he vegan?
While John Bishop is not strictly vegan, he has been a vegetarian since 1985.
He told the animal rights charity PETA that he saw a cow being slaughtered and never looked back.
In 2013, PETA declared him to be one of the ‘Sexiest Vegetarians’ of the year.
John & Joe Bishop: Life After Death: Can John Bishop sing?
While John doesn’t consider himself a professional singer, we think he’s got a great singing voice!
He sang a duet with Kylie Minogue in his BBC Christmas Special in 2015.
John discovered musical talent runs in his family on Who Do You Think You Are? when he found out that his great-great-grandfather had a successful career as a composer.
Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before he appears on The Masked Singer?!
How tall is the comedian?
According to celebheightwiki, the comedian is 5’11.
Although this is definitely up to speculation, as he’s never confirmed his exact height!
What is John Bishop’s net worth?
John Bishop was included in Forbes’ Top 10 Highest Paid Comedians List in 2016.
They ranked him in 10th place, and reported that he makes £5.4 million a year.
This would make him the UK’s highest-paid comedian!
Those pay cheques mean he has reportedly racked up a net worth of £16 million!
Read more: John Bishop’s childhood struggles aged 6 after ‘injustice’ of dad going to prison
Does John Bishop have a brother?
John has three siblings – a brother named Eddie and two sisters, Kathy and Carol.
His eldest brother Eddie was a professional football player for Chester.
Tragically, their dad ended up in jail after an altercation.
John & Joe Bishop: Life After Deaf on ITV1 – what is wrong with John’s son Joe?
Comedian and actor John Bishop’s eldest son Joe has a rare autoimmune condition called Cogan’s syndrome which causes progressive deafness.
Joe lost most of his hearing when he was just 15 years old.
After a decade of trying to ‘fix’ Joe’s hearing, the family come to the realisation that it is now time to reconsider and find out more about the deaf community.
John has set himself the target of delivering an entire signed stand-up comedy gig to a deaf audience.
What is Cogan’s syndrome?
Cogan’s Syndrome is a rare inflammatory disease characterised by inflammation of the inner ears and eyes.
It can lead to vision difficulties, hearing loss and dizziness.
Commonly there is also inflammation in other organs as well, particularly the heart and large blood vessels, nervous system and bowels.
Symptoms include hearing loss, headaches, arthralgia, fever, arthritis, and myalgias.
John & Joe Bishop: Life After Deaf airs on Thursday September 22 2022 at 9pm on ITV. It will also be available on the ITV Hub.
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