Why Des Bishop likes to bang drums

BRIDGET JONES

Bridget Jones meets comedian Des Bishop ahead of his show "Des Bishop likes to bang".

"American confidence, with Irish self-deprecation."  That's how New York-born, Ireland-raised comedian Des Bishop describes himself.

But when your show is called Des Bishop Likes To Bang, you have to wonder what the balance is between those two extremes.

Bishop's show is about drums. Drums and hip-hop - his two great passions at the moment. And while music has never been far from his shows, the instrument is all new.

"I used to do a lot of raps in my show, but that can be a little bit tokenistic and gimmicky, but in this situation, it's less about the rap and more about the audience and I creating something live on stage together. So it's a bit of an interactive, hip-hop comedy experience."

Each night, Bishop says he tailors the lyrics to the "big issue of the day", but he admits he is worried about finding fresh material during his New Zealand run.

"In New Zealand, it will be more like the issue of the year - there's just not a lot of news here. It's great that New Zealand doesn't have a lot of strikingly big news stories which means everything is nice and smooth, but for writing topical raps, there's just a lack of something.

"I came here a few months ago to film 7 Days, and one of the big issues was Kim Dotcom, so this morning I asked someone 'what are the big issues at the moment' and they said 'Kim Dotcom'. I see, I see," he laughs.

Bishop says, like all comedians who call on audience participation, there have been some nightmare moments, but more often than not the feedback is positive - he even gets emails saying how much getting to sing on stage meant to people.

"But that's not what this show is about.  I've done shows before that are like heart-warming, this show is deliberately not that - that's why it's called Des Bishop Likes To Bang - but it's nice that people have had that experience.

"I just wanted to be very clear, just in case people came and brought their parents, saying 'oh this guys show is so heart-warming, it's about family' and then it was about period sex.  It could be awkward."

Bishop is right to make the differentiation. His last show was My Dad Was Nearly James Bond - a show written and performed around his father's battle with cancer, a fight he lost in February last year.

Considering Bishop himself has had a brush with the illness - he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2000 - you would think the circumstances would make it hard to be funny. He disagrees.

"It doesn't make it harder...There's a lot of conflict and high energy and high intensity going on and that does lend itself to observations of things going on that people might identify with. So the hospital drama that we were having with my dad, you go 'oh it's quite funny how nurses are or the way doctors are a bit distant'.  

"You start to notice funny things and then maybe you try that on stage and a lot of people have been through that so they kind of nod and go 'oh that's the way it was for me'...You don't have people say 'oh we've heard that before'.

"What is hard is not getting bogged down in the emotions. It's about getting the balance right."

Des Bishop Likes To Bang
May 8 - 12 at the Herald Theatre, Auckland

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