1 Born on a council estate in Liverpool, John Bishop only got into comedy in his mid-30s while working in middle management in a pharmaceuticals company and going through divorce proceedings. He has subsequently admitted that his comedy career saved both his sanity and marriage.

2 Not only does Bishop perform a certain kind of 'blokey observational' comedy, he clearly likes going to see it as well. In the just-released DVD of Jason Manford's First World Problems, filmed at Liverpool Empire, the camera alights on Bishop chortling away like a loon.

3 He might be an arena-filling comedian these days, but he clearly also fancies himself as a bit of an actor. In Ken Loach's Route Irish, a Scouse squaddie Fergus (Mark Womack) copes (or not) with life after his tour of duty in the Middle East. The Bish got a fairly chunky role as a guy whose mysterious death in Baghdad still haunts Fergus. Sounds impressive, eh? Then again, Jim Davidson played a zookeeper's assistant in Peter Greenaway's A Zed and Two Noughts.

4 He has been tipped to appear in a new ITV reality show, worryingly entitled Bear Grylls: Celebrity Survivor. Should Bishop accept the challenge, he'll be trekking through some of the world's most terrifying jungly terrain for ten days early next year. Almost as scary as him making heat mag's top ten 'Weird Crushes' of 2014.

5 If you're not a fan of him, strap yourself in: he wants to be doing stand-up when he's 90.

The Hydro, Glasgow, Wed 26 & Thu 27 Nov.