John Bishop comes to Blackpool Opera House next month with his Right Here, Right Now tour

The Liverpool funny man is delighted to be back in place on stage with his first love: stand-up comedy and he says relishing the prospect of once again enjoying the shared experience of a show.

The 54-year-old said: “Laughter is so important, and there's not been enough of it. I won’t say there is an impending mental health crisis or anything like that.

"But we all know that we've got to flush out more of the consequences of what's been going on.

“One of the things we have to deal with is the fact that as human beings we have lost the art of normal interaction. My wife Melanie and I managed to get away on holiday to Mallorca recently. On the fourth day, she said to me, ‘this is ridiculous. Just look at you. You've lost the ability to eat in public. You've got food all over your face.

"I sensed that as well at the few gigs that I have done. People reconnected to a memory that they could sit next to someone they didn't know without social distancing or face masks or sanitising. That’s a big step for people to take now.”

Among the subjects John will be covering in “Right Here, Right Now” is Covid-19 but he stresses it will not be dominating the night out experience.

He added: “It’s got to be mentioned because it's a universal experience. Like anything else that you've all been through, you've got to acknowledge it.

“I’ll be talking about the experience of being at home and realising stuff about yourself. You’ve got to start being honest with yourself and admit, 'I'm probably never going to learn the piano because I had loads of time lately, and I still haven't done it. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought that piano!'"

"We all want to move on from Covid now. I think the audience also want to be reminded of life before and after the pandemic.

"The news agenda for 18 months has been so depressing, so any lightness we can bring that moves away from that is going to be good. Having performers come on stage and just create new energy benefits everyone.

’ Audiences don’t need a life lesson, and they don't need to decide to change anything about their world.

“They just need to be able to be in a room with other people enjoying the freedom of laughing and the companionship of laughing at the same thing at the same time with somebody else.”

Tickets from £35

https://www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk/whats-on/john-bishop-right-here-right-nowTickets also on sale from JohnBishopOnline.com