If you asked me what I have yet to experience that I have missed the most since the first lockdown in 2020? Then I would tell you it has to be the joyous atmosphere of being in a full room for a stand up show. I have done my fair share of YouTube rabbit hole trips watching stand up comedy, but nothing beats the visceral electric feeling of being at a live comedy show.
It will be nearly exactly two years to the day since I was last at a sell-out show when I saw the comedy legends Martin Short and Steve Martin on March 11th 2020 at the last show at 3 Arena in Dublin before the first lockdown. It has been a long two years and we are surely due some fun as the world gets back to some normality.
My Travel Tales with Fergal Podcast guest this week is the brilliant Irish American comedian Des Bishop. I ask my guests every week on my Travel Tales with Fergal Podcast to tell me about the five places that most influenced them from their travels. Des Bishop shares his time now between New York and Ireland so it was not surprising that he would pick a couple of places from those two countries.
The first place Bishop chose on the podcast was Connemara which might not come as a surprise to many of his fans because his show on RTE “In the Name of the Fada” in 2006 which was based in Connemara. This was where Des immersed himself in the local culture and learned Irish and where he discovered he had a talent for learning languages. Bishop showcased his ability for fish-out-of-water observations of life in Ireland with great wit and insight. As he said on the podcast It also gave the native New Yorker an even deeper love and appreciation for Ireland and its people.
Bishop was catapulted into the top tier of Irish comedians after his breakthrough show on RTE, The Des Bishop Work Experience in 2004 where he explored low-paying jobs. This was then followed by Joy in the Hood in 2006 which was inspired by people he met during his recovery from addiction. Bishop was only 17 when he attended his first AA meeting and these experiences helped shape him as a socially conscious comedian.
When Des started AA he became aware of the Buddhist Meditation centre and hostel called Dzoghen Beara in Cork and this was Des’ second pick on the podcast. Dzogchen Beara is a Tibetan Buddhist retreat centre on the Beara Peninsula near Allihies in West Cork in Ireland established by Sogyal Rinpoche in 1987. Des describes a place of the remotest peninsula in Kerry as a place full of peace and tranquillity and a great escape from his hectic life of touring.
When Bishop discovered he had a talent for languages he pitched the idea of going to Beijing in China to learn Mandarin for a year and he loved that experience so much he ended up staying on for an extra year. It was no surprise when he chose China as his third location and he goes into detail in the podcast why he loves that country so much.
Des picked one of his first adventurous trips abroad to Rio de Janeiro as his fourth choice. He talked about his love of Brazilian people, culture, food, landscape and music. He talks about a moment of pure contentment in Brazil as he swam in the sea off an almost completely empty beach backed by a tropical forest.
The final destination picked by Bishop was Westhampton Beach in Long island in the USA. Des has spent most of the last two years in lockdown there as a family home beside the beach. This beach house was originally bought by his parents and it is a place where he is constantly reminded of his mother who is the source of the show Mia Mamma.
Mia Mamma is a comic and dramatic exploration of his mother’s passing. Bishop tells the podcast that death is a theme that is often ignored by comics but is in fact a topic we all experience. The show explores sadness and grief through humour. It is a show that explores a serious topic but one that Bishop hopes is a cathartic experience for the audience. The show is also an elegy to the Irish mammy – that most celebrated and most important member of every family.
Des Bishop is the guest this week on the Travel Tales with Fergal Podcast available on all platforms now.
