JOHN Bishop can’t believe his luck. The likeable Scouser is a household name and Britain’s highest earning comedian but still hasn’t quite got used to it.

After all, 12 years ago he was a rep for a pharmaceutical firm – a regular football-loving dad-of-three-from the North West. It was only when his stumbling attempts at stand-up started earning admirers and awards that he finally quit the day job and took the plunge for a career in laughs.

“I still can’t believe that I do this as a job!” he admits. “I still think, ‘This is amazing!’ I wrote a book four years ago about that very feeling – that’s why it was called, How Did All This Happen?

“But now I realise this is the reality. It’s not going to go away. There is no chance that I could never ever go back. Whatever life I had in the past, I’m now officially in showbiz. I will retire from showbiz, or it will retire me!”

That sense of a man who can’t quite believe his luck is John’s calling card, and it strikes a chord with us Brits.

We don’t warm easily to entitlement, arrogance or smug self-satisfaction. By contrast, 50-year-old John, with his cheeky smile, broad Liverpudlian accent and self-deprecating sense of humour, is one of us – a suburban parent who admits to having had a rocky marriage, and whose passions are, not fast cars and glamorous parties, but family and his beloved Liverpool FC.

That sense of an honest man slightly out of his depth informs the name of his new live show, called Winging It.

“You have to come up with a title for every tour,” he says. “I was in my promoter’s office one day, and he said to me, ‘We need a title so we can start selling this tour. What are you talking about in the new show?’ And I replied, ‘Nothing. I’m just winging it.’ ‘That’ll do!’”

Perhaps it is because he came to it so late, that he appreciates it all so much. He has never become jaded about his career as a stand-up and still possesses an infectious passion for the job.

Despite establishing an extensive TV career, he says stand-up is still his first love.

“I sometimes I feel that maybe I don’t need TV. But I can never see myself not wanting to do live stand-up,” he says as he powers through this, his fifth tour, which reaches Oxford’s New Theatre on Wednesday.

He describes the thrill of getting on stage in front of a room of strangers. “There is probably a real scientific explanation for it,” he says. “I was recently reading a report about how people are hung up on social media. We get a dopamine rush when we get so many ‘likes’ on Facebook. Being on stage is the same.

“When you say something funny on stage, you get your judgement instantly. You get joy and affirmation straight away. You don’t have to think about it. It’s either funny or not.

“You’re only ever four words away from joy or the fear that nobody will laugh. You’re always only four words away from success or failure. That’s a brilliant tightrope to walk. That gives me an absolutely huge buzz.”

John, who is happily married to Melanie (they had a short separation starting in 2000 – something which galvanised his resolve to succeed as a stand-up), has also made his maek as a decent actor with straight roles in Fearless, Accused and Route Irish.

He reveals what subjects he will be covering in Winging It.

“The show has three themes,” he says. “I start by talking about being 50. It never struck me as being a big thing before, but now I realise that being 50 is like being five.

“At five people say things like ‘that’s good for your age’, they start saying that to you again when you’re 50. ‘That’s good for your age, you can carry your own bag, well done that’s good for your age.’

“The second part of the show is about all the kids leaving home. I admit, that was hard.

“We’re suddenly living in an empty nest, and it’s really strange. I was surprised as I wanted them to leave forever, but when they did actually leave, I went into an odd sort of depression. I thought, ‘That’s over now. I can’t ever be a dad again. I’m just a bloke who they know.’

He goes on: “We’ve adjusted to it now, but there is still part of you that thinks, ‘Wow, you only get one go at being a dad, and that go was their childhood.’

“As a parent, you’re busy building a nest to share with the kids, but sometimes you wish you’d done more sharing and less building. I really wasn’t expecting to have those feelings.”

And there’s an even more sobering aspect top the show.

“The third theme is mortality, which is a thing you think about when you know you have already passed half way in your life,” he grins.

And what will fans get out of it? “I hope that if people come in harassed, they soon forget their daily troubles and leave feeling a lot happier,” he says.

“The essence of comedy is to make people feel better. It’s not complicated.

“You’re not trying to change the world – you’re simply trying to make people feel a lot happier.”

When not making us laugh on stage, he is cutting a dash as a talk show host in his show John Bishop: In Conversation With. Stars to have had the Bishop treatment include Joan Collins, John Cleese, David Williams and Katie Price.

“I really enjoy shows like Inside the Actors’ Studio and Desert Island Discs, where you have no idea who is coming on each week,” says John.

“I wanted to make something with that intimacy and a guest list you couldn’t necessarily predict. I’ve absolutely loved doing it.

“What really counts is the fact that I am one of them.

“There is an immediate empathy there because I’ve been through some of the things we’re talking about. And because we just sit and talk for an hour and a quarter, everyone relaxes into it.

“There is no agenda behind it. I don’t have any questions written down, and there is no producer talking into my ear piece. The second question is based on the answer to the first. It just flows. That’s why it is a genuine conversation.

“It’s a complete joy to make.”

Winging It, is John’s first national tour for three years, and, he says, he can’t wait to re-establish his rapport with his loyal fans. “I’ve built my career on not being someone from the showbiz world,” he says.

“Even at this stage, I spend most of my life doing normal things, and I am still learning this job. I’m very fortunate that people of all ages come to my shows. It’s great to have a relationship with them.

“The key is to remain plugged into the normal world. Once you start being removed from that, you run out of things to talk about.”

As an example he shares the story of a recent encounter with a fan. “I got on a flight and was sat next to an older woman and her husband had the window seat. ‘I thought you would be on a private jet,’ she said and I just laughed and said, ‘they all get there just as quick’.

“She smiled and said, ‘I knew it would be something like that, he said you were just tight’.”

He adds: “But I still get the tube in London and I still have the same season ticket at Anfield that I’ve had for years.

“There are only so many things in my life that have changed. There’s not a lot in my life that I’m unhappy with.

“People think there is a planet called ‘Celebrity’, where everyone has a tan and white teeth, but I don’t live there!”

  • John Bishop’s Winging It comes to the New Theatre Oxford on Wednesday. Tickets from johnbishoponline.com