John Bishop on 'sliding doors' comedy club moment

John Bishop said he had gone to the club "looking for somebody to make me laugh" but ended up on stage himself

Comedian John Bishop has returned to the venue he says he owes his comedy career to.

"If this place didn't exist, to be honest with you, I wouldn't be a comedian," the Liverpool-born 58-year-old said as he went back to The Frog and Bucket comedy club in Manchester.

He first took the stage there 25 years ago, and has since become one of the UK's most successful comedians.

"I came in just looking for somebody to make me laugh and then I ended up getting on stage and everything led from that," he said.

Bishop said getting up on stage at the venue was a "sliding doors moment", in reference to the 1990s romantic comedy examining how different a woman's life might have been had she not caught a train on a particular day.

He said he would be returning to play the Frog and Bucket, exactly 25 years on from his first performance there, the day after he plays to a crowd of about 10,000 people in Leeds as part of his 25th anniversary tour.

"I've never taken it for granted. I still pinch myself that I've got these opportunities," he said.

Bishop said one of the highlights of his career was playing what was the Echo Arena in Liverpool for the first time, when his mother and father brought along his aunts and uncles.

He said it had be nice to share the moment with his mother, who died in 2023.