Comedian John Bishop tours the UK, and not a dirty trick in sight

Once upon a time, it was an OBE. But these days nothing says more about someone’s relevance than having their very own App. Robbie Williams, Gustavo Dudamel, Tiger Woods, Steve Forbes and Eminem have one, and so does John Bishop. Did you say John who? We don’t know where have you been in the last year or so, but we’ve been following Bishop in his sell out UK tour, his BBC One Saturday night entertainment show, the teen drama Skins, viral You Tube apparitions, the Edinburgh Festival, Live at the Apollo, in magazines and newspapers supplements and last but not least through his Football Comedy App.

And we don’t even happen to be stalkers, mind you. Bishop is the It bag of the comic world, and everyone is following him. There is something extremely mundane in his gags and the appeal to laugh at the guy next door as we would at ourselves is possibly the secret of his success. Fact is that the 47-year old Liverpudlian was precisely the funny guy next door, working in the sales department of a pharmaceutical company until a mid life crisis led him to leave his job and embrace stand up only 10 years ago. The last decade has seen him flourish as a comedian without having to resort to the dirty trick of politically incorrect gags that so often pass wrongly as genius. A comedian with grace and charm, bliss.

John Bishop tour starts on Oct 10.

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Russell Peters returns to the UK with Green Card tour

The best way to make fun of foreign cultures is probably to take on board the humor of your own culture and its stereotypes. That’s the success formula of standup comedian Russell Peters, with his opinions on Bollywood films and the Indian accent.

You may not have heard of him, but Peters is already a comedy superstar, reaching USA, Europe and beyond. Born in Toronto in 1970 of Anglo-Indian descent, Peters has been performing for over 20 years and has gathered a considerable number of awards, not to mention a celebrity status in Canada, where his DVDs sell zillions of copies. Amongst his many achievements are a sold-out performance in 2008 at the Madison Square Garden in New York and cameo appearances in Hollywood movies.

An acid humor and a spicy combination of Western comic tradition and his Eastern background allow Peters to move comfortably within ethnic and class issues, entertaining audiences on the account of his own roots as a starting point, but never limiting his jokes to them. So don’t take offense.

Russell Peters will perform at The NIA Birmingham on Sep 21 and the new live DVD will be recorded in London at the O2 Arena, on Sep 23 and 24.

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