Des Bishop
Desmond Bishop (born 12 November 1975) is an Irish-American comedian. He was brought up in New York and moved to Ireland at the age of 14. He primarily resides there. Approach to comedy. Bishop's comedy has covered social issues, such as poverty. In 2000, Bishop was diagnosed with testicular cancer; and went on to turn his experiences into comedy material. Life and career. Bishop is a comedian who has worked as a comic in Ireland since the late 1990s. He began hosting shows at the International Comedy Cellar - a venue set up by Irish comics such  as Ardal O'Hanlon, Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy. It was here that Bishop honed his act. Bishop appeared in the 2002 film "In America", in which he played a high stockbroker rapping in the back of a New York taxi cab. He reached a broader audience after his TV show "The Des Bishop Work Experience" screened on RTÉ Two in 2004. The show featured him attempting to survive for one month working a minimum wage job in various parts of Ireland. During the series, he worked at Abrakebabra, Waterford; The Aqua-dome, Tralee; Superquinn, Dundalk; and the Central Hotel, Dublin . A more recent TV show, named "Joy in the Hood", featured him travelling to deprived areas of Ireland's major cities and mentoring local people in stand-up comedy. Bishop speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and has also worked in China where he has adopted the Chinese stage name Bi Hansheng (毕瀚生) and has appeared in a few Chinese dating shows. In 2017, Bishop took part in the first series of the Irish version of "Dancing with the Stars." He was partnered with Italian dancer, Giulia Dotta. They were eliminated in the sixth week of the competition, finishing in eighth place . Personal and family. Bishop attended St. Francis Preparatory School in the Fresh Meadows neighbourhood of the New York City borough of Queens. At the age of 16, he began school at St Peter's College, Wexford in Ireland. He later re-sat his Leaving Certificate at Blackrock College, Dublin. He has a degree in English and history from University College Cork. Bishop's brother Aidan works as a comedian in Ireland. Both are involved in running the International Comedy Club. His father died from lung cancer in February 2011, On 19 March 2019, his mother Eileen died at the age  of 77, after a long illness. In February 2021, Bishop became engaged to Hannah Berner, a main cast member on the reality television series "Summer House". Irish language. Bishop's TV show, "In the Name of the Fada" premiered in 2008. It chronicles Bishop's undertaking to learn Irish to a level sufficient to perform a stand-up act in the language. During this period he achieved fluency in the language. He later used his Irish-language skills to sing the Gaeilge version of the song "Jump Around" called "Léim Thart". The DVDs of his live show "Tongues" and of  the series "In the Name of the Fada" were released on 14 November 2008.