Revealed: How Hollywood superstar Bradley Cooper’s new film is based on the life of British comic John Bishop – and earning rave reviews in the process

The 12-time Oscar-nominated Tinseltown actor and the most famous this side of the pond, a veteran Scouse stand-up actor, might seem like an unlikely combination.

But it’s this unique Venn diagram of people that is at the heart of a new comedy-drama movie that’s getting rave reviews from critics.

Directed by Bradley Cooper, Is This Thing On? stars Arrested Development’s Will Arnett as fledgling comedian Alex and Laura Dern as his soon-to-be ex-wife Tess.

The couple are amicably approaching the end of their years-long marriage, but Alex’s newfound hobby threatens to shake up their plans.

The creative team behind the film, which premiered at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, have revealed that the plot is based on the life of John Bishop.

The Liverpudlian comedian got his start in 2000 when he signed up for an open mic night at a comedy club to cheer himself up after splitting from wife Melanie.

Despite not knowing what he was volunteering for, which he only did to avoid paying a £4 entry fee, he achieved great success in front of a modest crowd of seven.

The Everton-born star has been encouraged to return every week as he jokes about his ongoing divorce case and it has proven therapeutic for him.

The creative team behind the film, which premiered at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, have revealed that the plot is based on the life of one John Bishop (pictured at a film screening earlier this week)

After his wife watched one of his shows that reminded him of the man she married, the two talked and made up. They are still together now.

Kris Thykier, producer of Is This Thing On?, said: Independent She heard this incredible story when she met Bishop at a movie premiere after party in 2016.

The Danish producer, who is married to Claudia Winkleman, said: ‘You know, in a nightclub two old white men were saying: ‘Well, how long are we going to stay?’

‘And I asked him how he got into comedy because I hadn’t really heard the story. He told me about it and I said, “Okay, it’s a movie.”‘

Thykier, who also took part in the 2021 war movie Operation Mincemeat, soon acquired the rights to turn Bishop’s life into a movie, which he started developing.

He explained: ‘I always thought it would probably be a good idea to bring it to America, so – with all due respect John – it became something more universal, rather than a very small British story.’

Is This Thing On? It marks the third film directed by Cooper.

This follows the 2018 romantic film A Star Is Born, in which he starred opposite Lady Gaga, and a starring role in the 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro.

The actor’s tenure in the director’s chair has been a remarkable shift in tone compared to the types of films he once starred in.

His filmography includes raucous, childish American comedies like The Hangover trilogy and Wedding Crashers, as well as cheesy romantic comedies like Silver Linings Playbook.

Many people began to question his credentials when Cooper recalled a director asking him at an awards season party in 2022: ‘What kind of world do we live in when you have seven nominations? [Gaga has] There are only three?’

But Is This Thing On? Although next year’s awards are already known, Cooper may have the last laugh.

“You say, ‘I have big dreams and I feel them.'” Is it all wrong, he previously told The New York Times?

‘Like, shame on anyone who would tell you who you are.’

And in his latest film, Cooper added a new spin to the arc by playing Alex’s best friend, serving as director, producer and actor, as well as camera operator.

He also co-wrote the script with lead actor Will Arnett and veteran British sitcom writer Mark Chappell.

The film follows a couple amicably approaching the end of their years-long marriage – but Alex’s newfound hobby (pictured) threatens to shake up their plans

Cooper told the ESPN podcast The Pat McAfee Show earlier this year: ‘Filmmaking is really a lot like sports – team sports.

‘It’s very, very similar to football in particular. If one in 11 breaks, everything will be messed up. It’s the same thing on a movie set.’

‘Anyone who has made films knows that the camera operator, the carrier handler, the sound mixer and the first AD are key positions that are as important as the actors or anyone else.’

Bishop has previously described the moment that inspired Cooper’s latest film, when his marriage ‘didn’t work’ and he separated from his wife.

he said Irish Times: ‘What killed me was seeing the kids only on weekends.

‘When they returned to their mother on Sunday night, I would go out for a drink. That’s actually why stand-up started.’

As momentum built in the weeks and months after that first fateful evening and his marriage got back on track, he left the high-flying job in marketing in his late thirties to pursue a career as a funny man.

The comic explained: ‘I was married with kids, I had a great job, I had a mortgage, I had a retirement plan and I had BUPA health insurance.

‘There was a company car, credit cards and all that stuff, but I walked away from it all, stupidly, because I had this crazy idea that I could make strangers laugh.

‘Yes, my friends at the bar told me I was funny, but that wasn’t good enough for me and I had to give up my life and start from the bottom rung of the comedy ladder to prove it to myself.’

Bishop quickly began winning awards, including BBC Radio Merseyside’s best new actor award in 2004 and the North West Comedy Award for best stand-up in 2004.

He appeared in Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Promotional Tour in 2009, before a turn at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

And soon there were TV appearances, including British comedy classics such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, the BBC’s Live At The Apollo and Have I Got News For You.

Bishop is also a vegetarian, a long-time supporter of the Labor Party and a proud supporter of LGBT rights.

In 2018, he touched the hearts of the audience with an emotional speech about his gay son while accepting the Ally of the Year award at the NatWest British LGBT Awards.

Bishop, who attended with his wife Melanie and sons Joe, Luke and Daniel, said: ‘I was delighted to be nominated.

‘I brought my whole family, my wife and my three sons, whom I love very much and am proud of.

‘Like all parents, we have problems with them. One of my sons has a tattoo on his ankle that is supposed to be African but looks like Australia, one of my sons purrs, and one of my sons is gay.

‘I’ll be honest, there were many nights where my wife and I would sit and worry and worry and worry.

‘What do we do if he doesn’t stop purring?’

He also called for same-sex marriage to be legalized in Northern Ireland, but this only became possible two years later in 2020.