Another fantastic review for Des Bishops powerful new show, posted by one4review.

Des Bishop – My Dad Was Nearly James Bond

*****

5 Stars

Irish-American comedian Des Bishop was born in London to an English father and Irish mother. He was raised in Queens, New York until the age of 14 when he was kicked out of school and sent to boarding school in Ireland. This complicated upbringing has provided plenty of material for Bishop in the past and continues to do so with devastating effectiveness.

Not only did Bishop have a complicated upbringing (the show touches on his alcohol and drug problems as a teenager, and discovering he had testicular cancer at the age of 24), but he also grew up with a father who had small roles in several films and commercials, and a successful career as a model before becoming a retail manager in several big New York department stores in order to support his wife and three sons.

When Bishop’s father was diagnosed with Stage 4 small cell lung cancer recently it gave the eldest Bishop son (his younger brother Aiden also has a show at the Fringe this year) cause to reflect on his childhood and the career his father gave up to support his family; the peak of which was when, as the show title suggests, he narrowly missed out on the role of James Bond which was won by George Lazenby.

The show is fast paced, passionate, touching and hilarious. Des’ interaction and banter with the near sell out crowd is effortless and only adds to the friendly atmosphere in the room, even when giving sex advice to a 19 year old boy sitting in the front row with his family! The show is also accompanied by film clips and photos projected behind Bishop and these effectively add to the story being told.

This was the first show of this Fringe that has managed to make me laugh until I cried and then moments later bring a genuinely emotional tear to my eye. As I mentioned after seeing Des Bishop’s Fringe show last year, he is a household name in Ireland where he still lives and he certainly deserves the same success this side of the Irish Sea.

Reviewed by Sarah

Tickets are available from Assembly@George Street or online.

Damon Smith from ‘The Metro‘ reviewed Des Bishop’s new show. Here is what he thought.

My Dad Was Nearly James Bond: Des Bishop ****

The name’s Bishop, Des Bishop.

‘I know there are Protestants here, I can smell them,’ grins Des Bishop. It’s a pleasantly familiar jibe from the stand-up who was brought up in New York and moved to Ireland at the age of 14.

His fans, who supported him through his brush with testicular cancer in 2000, lap it up. However, this year’s Fringe excursion isn’t the usual bombardment. It’s the show of a lifetime, or more specifically his father’s lifetime as he salutes the seemingly indestructible man who could have beaten George Lazenby to one of cinema’s defining roles.

Opening with a clip from the classic 1964 film Zulu, in which Mike Bishop played the pivotal role of Surgeon’s Assistant No 3, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond is a warm and affectionate tribute to the model turned actor who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last year and continues to battle the disease with dignity.

Des says that he has never had so much fun writing a show and the love for his old man shines through, beginning with a potted history of the formative Bishop years- ‘My father is English, my mother Irish, so I was born to hate myself’- before showing a clip of a television advertisement for tobacco starring Mike that seems unconscionable in the current age of smoke-free political correctness.

At one point, Des jokes, ‘If there was an Emotional Olympics, Ireland would be in the special one,’ but he is evidently letting down his countrymen and women because he talks with heartfelt emotion, before he reveals his father’s escapades with the infamous Black Bob. The closing minutes deliver an emotional kick that almost knocks us off our feet for a richly deserved standing ovation.

Des Bishop is playing at the Assembly@George Street until August 29th. You can buy tickets here.

Julie Dawn Adds Salt to the Wound ****

Damon Smith of ‘The Metro’ reviewed Willy Wonka Explained- The Veruca Salt Sessions in The Metro on Wednesday. Here was his impression.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then Australian stand-up Matthew Hardy will begin to explain his 30-year obsession with the original and best version of Roald Dahl’s dark fantasy, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder as the slightly sinister owner of the world’s greatest confectionary brand.

Sat on one side of the stage, supposedly in a therapist;s chair, Hardy waxes lyrical about the 1971 film and its shining star, Julie Dawn Cole, who played obnoxious Veruca Salt. ‘She’ll always be 12 to me,’ he coos, ‘Veruca will always be a cheeky, sassy trouble-making tyke.’ Ten feet away, nestled in a similar chair, Julie Dawn purges her soul also in the guise of emotional healing, railing against the diehard fans who still call her Veruca to this very day and fondly remembering her turn as Dorothy in the York Theatre Royal production of The Wizard Of Ox opposite a young Pierce Brosnan. ‘He played a tree, a role he recreated in Mamma Mia!’ she observes cattily.

So begins an hour of verbal ping-pong between devoted fan and celebrity idol, each telling their side of a story and friendship that began at Melbourne airport and continues today.

Hardy’s assertion that Charlie was a depressed little boy in need of counselling gets big laughs, while Cole reads aloud letters she penned to her mother during the making of the film. ‘Isn’t it funny. Shopping makes me feel good,’ writes 12-year-old Julie Dawn Cole, discovering the pleasures of womanhood before she has even hit her teenage years. Kids grow up so fast…

Damon Smith

Until Aug 29, Pleasance Courtyard, 7pm.