John Bishop on turning his life story into a big-screen comedy, Is This Thing On?

Comedian John Bishop sat down with Greatest Hits Radio's Simon Mayo to talk about his new film Is This Thing On?, based on an autobiographical anecdote by the Liverpool-born comic, and directed by Bradley Cooper.

The pair discuss how the film is inspired by John's own late start in stand-up comedy, portrayed by a fictional character Alex Novak (Will Arnett). It centres on a man whose marriage is falling apart just as he stumbles into comedy - and the real-life moments, from open-mic nerves to family life - that have been woven into the John-coded film.

Does John Bishop star in the film?

Sitting opposite Simon, John is quick to stress that while the film is rooted in his life, he doesn’t appear on screen as himself. “It’s a film that’s inspired by how I got into comedy,” he explains. “And I got into comedy, as many people know, late in life and accidentally going into a comedy club, not wanting to pay the cover charge and then getting on stage and finding this thing that I loved.”

Instead, those experiences are handed to fictional stand-up-in-the-making Alex Novak. “So that’s what happens to the character in this film, Alex Novak,” John says. “We come into the film just as his marriage is breaking down with his partner, Tess, who’s played by Laura (Dern). And then the film is how he kind of finds himself again through stand-up comedy and how that through a weird series of events leads him to finding his wife again.”

The £4 open-mic that changed everything

The starting point for both John's career and Alex’s journey begins in a small comedy club - which John recalls was the Frog and Bucket in Manchester, and was a Monday night, with a £4 entry fee.

He hadn’t gone as a comedy obsessive, but as a newly separated dad trying to fill a lonely evening: “I was 34 years of age and it was just, it was just the fact that we were split up and Monday was the day I gave the kids back. So I was depressed and I was looking for something to do on my own. So I thought I’d go to a comedy club and it was 4 pounds to get in.”

A throwaway offer at the door changed his life. “The guy just said that unless you put your name down. And I didn’t know what that meant. I said, put my name down for one. He said, it’s an open mic night. I said, what does that mean? He said, that means if your name gets called out, you go on stage, but it also means you don’t have to pay the four pounds entrance fee. And because I was getting divorced, I thought, well, that’s four quid. She’s not getting.”

John assumed the odds were safely in his favour. “I literally put my name down thinking I’m going to go in and there’s going to be 100 people, I’ll never get called out.” Instead, he walked into a near-empty room. “And I went in and as it happened, there was seven people in there and I got called out second. And so that whole series of events could never have, you know, I could never have plotted it, I could never have thought about it.”

The opener didn’t exactly help his nerves – but did give him a strange kind of confidence. “The first guy went up before me, literally just did chicken impressions,” he laughs. “I was looking at this fella, he was right, he was a Geordie going, right, like, have you ever seen a chicken drive a van? And I was thinking, oh my God, I’m coming here because I’m depressed. I thought I was going to get cheered up. And then my name got called out.”

In another timeline, a better act might have scared him off. “Now the truth is, if he would have been brilliant… I might have bottled it and said, I don’t want to do this. But because I just, I just thought I’ve got to be better than a chicken, I kind of walked up. And so that, broke the ice for me. And similarly with the character Alex in the film, he puts his name down, thinking it just means he doesn’t have to get the charge and then finds that he’s got to walk on stage.”

Watch John Bishop's full interview on Greatest Hits Radio below:

The first joke and the moment he “just started talking”

Asked if he remembers what he said when he finally faced the lights, John doesn’t hesitate. “I did. I said something about the lights being bright and so there’s a little reference to that in the movie.” From there, his first proper joke came from a conversation earlier that day. “French farmers were objecting to something. So they were blocking the borders, dumping stuff on the borders so no one could cross the borders into France… So I’d mentioned it to my mate in the day and I’d said something that made him laugh.”

That line became his debut gag. “So when I walked on stage, the first joke I ever said on stage was, oh, have you seen those French farmers blocking the borders so that no one can get into France? Wouldn’t it have been handy if they’d have done that in 1939? That’s not a bad joke, is it? I think that’s all right. That was the first joke I said, but I only said it because I said it to me, mate. So it was kind of in me memory.”

After that, there was no carefully crafted routine to fall back on. “And then I just had nothing. And then I just dried up and I just meant, I think I’m getting divorced. And then I just started talking.”

That mix of vulnerability and off-the-cuff honesty is baked into Is This Thing On?, where the stand-up stage becomes a place for the character to unravel and rebuild in real time.

Why anyone would chase stand-up, Simon wonders...

Simon admits that, as the parent of a stand-up, he finds the whole idea terrifying, even as someone used to fronting huge live events. “In front of 20 people to go up, stand up and do stand up. That’s the most, I mean, partly it’s a father-son thing. But as a parent, it’s the most terrifying thing in the world. Why would anybody think that their redemption is up on that stage with that microphone?” Simon asks.

For John, the answer lies in a single good moment cutting through all the bad ones. “It’s so difficult to get your head around,” he says. “It’s just that when you, and your son will tell you the same thing, that when you get there, you know, you can be bombing for 10 minutes and then you get one laugh. And it’s like that one shot in a round of gold where you think, and you just go back for it. It’s such a gratifying feeling.”

Sometimes, he says, the people around the comic are more on edge than the act themselves. “But often it’s the people around you who are more nervous than you. And therefore, I remember my brother coming to see me, one of my first gigs in Chester, and someone heckled and he got up and wanted to argue with him. I’m like, no, that’s part of it. I’ll do that. So then I’m on stage telling him to sit down and trying to deal with the heckler because everyone’s more nervous for you.”

He suspects Mayo’s presence at his son’s gigs adds its own layer of pressure. “And your son will be enjoying it. And I think probably, to be fair, if he’s got you coming, that’s another pressure. You know what I mean?" “What you’re saying is I’m not helping,” quips Simon. To which John laughs off but still maintains, if one person's nervous then everyone's going to be nervous.

Will Arnett as Alex, and Laura Dern as Tess

Although the film grows from John's story, it’s Will who has to embody a rookie comic on screen. Asked if The LEGO Batman Movie's voice-actor makes a convincing stand-up, John says: “He is. He’s got the chops for Alex Novak, who’s playing as soon getting into it. So that was another conversation that we had. You know, he can’t go on and be a stand-up who feels arenas. He’s a man starting it. So he’s OK, but you see he’s got a bit of potential.”

The other crucial piece of casting is Tess, based on John's wife Melanie and played by Laura Dern. “What did she think of Laura Dern kind of playing her?” Simon asks, to which John reveals Laura made a point of seeking Melanie out.

“When Laura got cast, (she) reached out to Melanie and arranged to meet Melanie and then sat with her and said, tell me your side of the story. So Tess Laura’s character very much is based on what Melanie said," explains John.

One of the film’s most affecting scenes comes directly from their real life. “There’s a scene in the movie, which is one of the most moving scenes, which is where they’ve got headlights and they’ve got to check each other for headlights,” John explains.

When Simon observes, “Every family squints at that point,” John confirms it’s a moment ripped straight from their past. “Yeah, and that happened to us. We were apart, but we had to check each other for headlights. That really happened. And you know, that came from Laura talking to Melanie.”

Bradley Cooper looked after "something precious"

By the time John sat down for this interview, he and Melanie had already screened the film three times with no respite from promos, but a more recent red carpet event finally allowed them to slow down with the people who made it. “So (Monday 26th January), there was another red carpet screen where we went and all the cast and crew, you know, the major cast and crew were there. And Bradley was there and we did the red carpet thing, but then when the film went on, we went for a dinner. And so it was the first time that me and Melanie have been able to spend a lot of time with everybody who’s in it, because in film, some people are there one day and not the next day. And just to sit and relax.”

It was there that Melanie found the words to describe what the film means to them. “And Melanie was able to sum it up. She just said to Bradley, you know, we gave you something precious. and you looked after it. And if somebody would have asked me how you would want to see that part of your life, she said, that’s the film that I would want to see.”

Music also plays its part in telling that story, with one classic track looping through John's head. Asked to pick a song, he chooses one that’s in the film: “Well, there’s a song that’s in the film that sort of sums the film up, because I saw it the other day, but it’s in your head, you can’t get it out, it’s under pressure.”

"I’ve only got one story in me life like this"

After all the premieres and red carpets, John is adamant that he sees Is This Thing On? as a one-off rather than the start of a Hollywood takeover. When Simon asks what’s next and whether he’s got “the taste of Hollywood,” John jokes first: “Yeah, I’m going to do a sequel where I play for Liverpool.”

On a more conclusive note, he wraps up the chat. “No, listen, this has been brilliant, but I’ve only got one story in me life like this. I’m a stand-up comedian, so you know I’m going to go back on tour next year and do my job, and let the people in Hollywood do theirs.”

How to listen to Simon Mayo

You can listen to Simon Mayo every weekday afternoon from 4pm on Greatest Hits Radio. Download our free Rayo app for iPhone or Android.

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