Des Bishop

Now a massive star in Ireland, native New Yorker, Des moved from Queens to Irelandin his mid-teens in 1990. He first came to prominence with his extraordinary TVseriesThe Des Bishop Work Experience (2004), where he lived on minimum wage in aseries ofdifferent jobs in Ireland. Mixing this documentary footage with stand-up, theseries became one of the most talked-about of the year, and propelled Des into nationalstardom. In 2006, he embarked on his second critically acclaimed TV series,Joy In TheHood, where he taught stand-up comedy in disadvantaged areas in four major Irishcities. Another hugely successful live tour followed including invitations to theJust ForLaughs Festivalin Montreal and theMelbourne Comedy Festivalin Australia.Des's most recent project took him to Beijing, China in 2013 to learn Mandarin and hehas been living there for the past 18 months. He is now fluent and the show,BreakingChinawas another major hit for broadcaster RTE in 2014 and he also made a half hourradio documentary about the rise of Stand Up in China for the BBC World Service called"Stand up for China". His live show again opened at the Edinburgh Festival where heplayed to over 5,000 people and included an invitation to perform at the Soho Theatre inLondon and a return to Barrow Street in New York.