Review: John Bishop's Christmas Show
17th December 2013
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Comedian John Bishop has hand-picked his favourite performers and he’ll be showcasing them to the nation in his BBC1 Christmas special, aired on Monday 23rd December 2013. With a fantastic line-up of comedians, singers, and dancers, it’s going to be an absolute treat. I managed to get tickets to the filming. You won’t be disappointed...
Red Santa hats were draped over each and every one of the Lyceum Theatre’s 2,100 seats. What you will see next Monday is no illusion – we all wore Christmas hats, we all sang along in chorus to your favourite festive melodies, and we all laughed our absolute heads off at the true genius of British comedy. Then again, with a line-up like this, that probably goes without saying.
The show started off with John Bishop striding onto the stage. There was no grand opening like you’d expect to find in a West End theatre, for this was a different affair. We were involved with the production of a new show, essentially becoming the BBC’s laugh-machine for the evening. Nobody was complaining. As soon as Bishop opened his mouth, everyone was put at ease. This witty scouser was just ‘one of the guys’; the whole evening was incredibly informal. He told us exactly what was going on, and we found ourselves being asked to applaud on cue whilst he introduced an imaginary comedian to the stage. The performers didn’t do their routines in order, and many of them were telling the producers to “take that out” when they stumbled upon a word or encountered a joke that didn’t go down too well. The magic of television is just fascinating, and it should be interesting to see how the polished product ends up on Monday.
The crowd fell silent as the stage manager organised everyone on stage. But then, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, Olly Murs just walked onto the stage and began helping out.
Hushed whispers of “is that Olly Murs?!” spread around the room. Bishop noticed him after a few seconds, and then gave him the Hollywood welcome. I was completely shocked. He hadn’t been advertised on the schedule, and he was one of our “surprise guests” for the evening. This was getting better and better by the minute.

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