Since moving from Queens, New York to Ireland in his mid teens, Des Bishop has carved out a highly successful career in stand up and is one of the most enigmatic forces on the international comedy circuit. He has a number of acclaimed television series on RTÉ including The Des Bishop Work Experience (2004), Joy in the Hood (2006), the award winning six episode comedy documentary series In the Name of the Fada (2008) and most recently, Des Bishop’s Election (2016). In 2011, RTÉ broadcast a critically acclaimed documentary made with his terminally ill father, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond.

In 2014 Des spent a year living in China learning Mandarin, as depicted in the six part documentary series broadcast on RTÉ, Des Bishop: Breaking China.

Des has released five stand-up DVDs including Des Bishop Live (2005), Tongues (2008), Desfunctional (2009) and Made in China (2015), which all secured top ten positions. Des has also written two stage plays, Rap Éire and Shooting Gallery, in collaboration with Arthur Riordan. His first book, My Dad Was Nearly James Bond, a family memoir, was published by Penguin in October 2011.

As well as National and International tours, Des has performed at a variety of international festivals including the Montreal Just for Laughs and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as well as at Kilkenny Cat Laughs and the Vodafone Comedy Festival in Dublin.