Des Bishop's 'Coming Home'

The funny man is back on Irish soil after an interesting time in China

From the Glen to Beijing and back home again.

Des Bishop’s ‘Coming Home’ tour left audiences with tears rolling down their cheeks as he performed his hilarious, sold-out gig in Cork last weekend.

His stand-up show garnered impressive reviews at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last summer and, having brought it back to The Everyman for two nights this year, it’s easy to see why.

‘Coming Home’ tells the entertaining, amusing and laugh-out-loud account of Des’s two years living in China where he challenged himself to learn one of the world’s most up-and-coming languages.

Having already spent a year in the Gaeltacht in a bid to learn cúpla focal and speak as Gaeilge, Des decided to set the bar even higher and try his hand at Mandarin.

Our tickets for the show last Friday night.

Without giving too much of the show away, I can tell you, if you’re lucky enough to see this performance it will leave your cheeks hurting and stomach aching from laughter. Des’s anecdotal stories of working in a local restaurant as a ‘welcomer’, attending match-making fairs, learning to play ancient Chinese instruments with the locals and, finally, making an appearance on the Chinese version of ‘Take Me Out’ are guaranteed to entertain you.

The problems he encounters along the way, the inevitable difficulties he has with the language and the differences he experiences with the culture are all told in brilliant, comedic fashion by the much-loved Irish-American.

His recount of his time on Take Me Out is one for the books as he recalls how he got the audience clapping along to ‘Come Out Ye Black and Tans’ while also yapping away in Mandarin AND trying to woo the ladies for almost half an hour. Talk about multi-talented!

However it was just a fleeting visit to his old haunt in Cork as the New Yorker returns to his home city next where his ‘Made in China’ tour, as it is known outside Ireland, hits the Barrow Street Theatre for a three-week run.

Having spent years laughing over his jokes and eagerly waiting to finally see him, Des Bishop did not disappoint, and, if this show is anything to go by I can’t wait to see the next!

Picture c/o: desbishop.net

Not-So-Smart Phone

They have fast become an addiction in recent years; a gadget we can't seem to step outside without, get panic attacks when we can't feel it in our pocket and rarely leave out of our hands.

Can we even remember a time without a smartphone; when Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter didn’t exist? When you actually had to sit and talk to people without constantly glancing down at your phone for fear you might miss something.

We have become obsessed with our phones and have blurred the line between needing and wanting. We have become addicted, rude, disrespectful and clearly lack any kind of self-control. 

Is it really too much to ask to leave the bloody phone down when someone is trying to have a conversation with you?

Here are four of the most annoying things I've noticed...

Using your phone when someone is talking to you

This is possibly one of my biggest pet peeves. There is absolutely nothing worse than someone scrolling through their news feed while you are trying to have a conversation with them. They are oblivious to what they're doing and it's obvious they're not interested in one word you have to say so, what's the point? Seriously. If you’re going to be that anti-social why do you bother hang out with real life people where, God forbid, you might be subject to real life interaction?

Checking your phone every two seconds

Now don’t get me wrong, smartphones are essential for reminders, alarm clocks and to-do lists but the endless stream of notifications can also be annoying. A status update from Facebook or a notification from Pinterest to tell you you have a new follower are hardly essential updates or justify the need for you to check your phone every two seconds. As well as the ‘ping’ noise becoming super annoying, looking at your phone all the time is anti-social, distracting and can prevent you actually living in the real world.

Bringing your phone everywhere

Seeing people out walking with their phones yapping or texting away irks me like no other. Isn’t one of the main purposes of exercise to relieve stress and disconnect from the world for half an hour? As well as that how many times have we all had someone bang into us because they weren’t looking where they were going because they were too busy with their mobile phones? Just leave the phone at home already!

Using your phone when dealing with a cashier

Working in a shop for the last few years I have dealt with this one too many times. Would you wait in line then as soon as you get to the top of the queue wait a little bit longer while the person serving you takes a call or answers back a text message? I doubt it. Newsflash! You are not the only person in the queue. Other people are waiting, I have a million and one other things to do than wait for you to finish your conversation so stop being ignorant and get off the phone.



Photos c/o: Wordpress, hercampus.com and greenbot.com