Bradley Cooper’s new film is based on the life of John Bishop, one of its stars has revealed.

The film, Is This Thing On?, stars Will Arnett as a newly divorced man who develops a love for stand-up.

And the story certainly echoes how Bishop got into comedy. In 2000 he wandered into the open mic night at Manchester’s Frog and Bucket as he had separated from his wife Melanie and was simply looking for something to do. 

Comedian Chloe Radcliffe – who plays a stand-up in the film – revealed the inspiration on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast.

She said: ‘Bradley Cooper is directing a movie starring  Will Arnett and Laura Dern. Their relationship goes south, they split up, and Will Arnett discovers stand-up comedy.

‘It is based on the life of John Bishop. I promise you. I think Will and John sat next to each other at a dinner ten years ago  and Will heard his story was like, "That rules, I want to do that someday.

‘So anyway that's the movie that I just wrapped on…

She explained: ‘I’m playing the stand-up who like believes in him’.

Cooper directs the film and plays the best friend of Arnett’s character Alex. The pair have been long-term pals in real life too, with Cooper crediting the Bojack Horseman star Cooper with helping him address his substance abuse and seek therapy.

The star-studded cast also includes Ciarán Hinds, former NFL star Peyton Manning, comedian Amy Sedaris and Will and Grace’s Sean Hayes along with his husband, Scott Icenogle.

Bishop is listed as an executive producer on the film. The movie was billed as being based on the life of the Liverpudlian comedian when it was announced in 2023, but that fact seems to have flown under the radar until now.

Earlier this year, Bishop – who later reconciled with Melanie – explained how his life changed on that night at the Frog & Bucket, when he was still working as a pharmaceutical salesman.

He told Graham Norton: ‘So, I'd split up with my wife, it was a Monday night. I had the kids all weekend, and on a Monday I was just depressed, so I thought, "I'll do something that you can do on your own." And it was either a comedy club or lap dancing. 

‘I was 34 coming on to 35 and I was just looking for something to do.  I walked up to the door thinking it would be a full comedy club, and the guy on the door said to me, "It's £4 to get in, but it's free if you put your name down." "For what?". He said, "It's an open mic night." And I genuinely didn't know what that meant. 

‘He said, "That means you put your name down, and if your name gets called out, you get on stage." And because I'd only been to two comedy clubs and it'd always been full, I thought, "Well, there'll be 200 people. They'll never get to me."

‘And, you know, it was four pounds. I was going through a divorce. I thought, "Well, that's four pounds she’s not getting." 

‘ I put my name down, expecting never to be called out, and I walked in and there was seven people in the place, and five of them had put their name down

‘I got called out second. If I’d have been called out third, I might have already left. So I got called out second after a Geordie fella doing chicken impressions. 

‘Then he [compere Mick Ferry] called my name, and I walked on stage, I’d never been on a stage.  I’d done sales presentations and stuff like that. I remember the lights in my eyes and saying something about the lights being bright, and then  I thought, "What am I doing here? This is just ridiculous." Like, I’d never thought of doing this.

‘Then I thought, "Well, what’s my choice? I’m going to go home to an empty house, not living with the woman I want to live with, not living with my kids. I'll just go home to a bottle of wine, and what have I got to lose? There’s only seven people here, and one of them thinks he’s a chicken. 

‘So I literally started talking. I said some half joke, and then I had nothing to say, I had no joke, so I just went, "I'm getting divorced." And I started talking about getting divorced.

’In comedy clubs, when your time’s up, there's a red light that flashes, I didn't even know that. So I remember going, "Oh, your light's broke," and I just carried on talking. 

‘I was meant to do seven minutes but because there was no one there they let me carry on I did about 25 minutes.

‘When I walked off I remember Mick the compere and and the fellow who ran the place, Dave Perkin, coming up to me and saying, "Where have you been doing your stand-up?"

‘I said "I've never done it in my life", and he said, "Well some of that was really good, some of that was fun. Bit  the bit where you started talking about getting divorced and started crying. Don't do that again. But come back. We’re here every Monday. 

‘It’s like counselling,’ concluded Bishop, whose current tour marks his 25 years since that life-changing night.

Earlier this week, Chortle reported howIs This Thing On? had recently wrapped with Maestro star Cooper seen shooting outside the Comedy Cellar in New York, wielding a camera to shoot some of the secondary, B-roll footage – as pictured at the top of the page.

Radcliffe was on Herring’s podcast to promote her one-woman show Cheat, which  plays London’s Soho Theatre next month.