John Bishop

Marketing-director turned comedian John Bishop made his name last year with a slice of confessional stand-up that won many over with its frank and honest approach. Bishop certainly has a natural charisma and laddish charm, and judging by the number of tonight’s punters lingering to shake the shaggy-haired Scouser’s hand, it’s clear he also has some genuine comic talent.

This year’s show is loosely based around Liverpool’s successful bid for European City of Culture, which is used as a springboard for a series of autobiographical forays into Bishop’s own experience of culture. Growing up in inner city Liverpool, such encounters were pretty limited, he explains and, like most boys in his area, the only cultural aspiration Bishop ever had was a burning desire to play for Liverpool FC. In fact, he very nearly got there, completing a number of trials before being cruelly denied by a series of knee injuries, or so he says. He seems to be making up for it tonight, though, donning the kind of gloriously garish purple suit only a footballer could sport.

Indeed Bishop’s strengths are much to do with his confident demeanour and delivery, and at times he uses this to paper over some significant structural cracks, as well as falling back, at times, on some pretty crass material.

Recommended for those who like their comedy "with a human face," Bishop is nevertheless a genuinely likeable comic, and, without giving too much away, finishes tonight’s show with a memorable final flourish.