John Bishop's devastating split from wife and how morbid joke reignited their love

Scouse funnyman John Bishop credits his wife Melanie with getting him back into the comedy circuit - and says they would've gotten divorced if it wasn't for one morbid joke

Comedian John Bishop fell in love with his wife all over again after performing a joke in a comedy club.

The Scouse funnyman, 57, is celebrating a massive 25 years in the industry with a brand new tour coming up next year - including huge arenas, the O2 and Manchester's Co-op. John, who is also a successful actor, has previously told how his regular spot at the Frog and Bucket saved his marriage to his wife Melanie.

Back in 2000, John and Melanie - who share three sons - separated for 18 months and were at the final stages of their divorce when she attended his comedy club and heard him tell a joke about how much he missed her. The couple had been married since 1993 and after, quite literally, laughing it off, they got back together.

John told The Mirror in 2014: "There was no huge fight or revelation about someone else. We just grew apart. Maybe it had something to do with having three kids so quickly. For six years there was always someone in the house in nappies. Our marriage just faded.

"You realise that the person you wanted to spend your life with no longer wants to be with you, or you with them. Suddenly it felt like walking round the house with drawing pins in your shoes." He even said that the marriage had grown so cold that he shaved all of his hair off one night to see if she would notice - but if she had noticed, she never commented.

The couple parted ways but John was left devastated by the idea of her going on to meet another man who would play a pivotal role in his sons' lives. He said: "The realisation cut me in half. I couldn't stop the tears from falling as I tried to get wellies on the lads. No man wants to cry in front of his sons but it's even worse when you don't know why you're doing it."

They managed to bring back the spark in their marriage in an unexpected way after separating. Melanie visited the Frog and Bucket 18 months after their split to discover her husband telling jokes about killing her and keeping her head in the fridge. He joked: "I knew I'd miss her".

John explained: "We met up after the show and she said seeing me up there reminded her of me as I used to be. When I was a good laugh." The couple went on to have counselling and are still together now. Two years ago, Melanie convinced him not to walk out on his comedy career.

Speaking to the High Performance podcast, John said: "I was so close a couple of years ago to saying 'I've had enough'. Financially, were were ok. I said 'I don't have to do this'." But he said he found that sitting at home was not good for him.

"I just atrophied. I just found my relationship with the world getting smaller and smaller. And it was Melanie that just said, 'Go and do a gig, don't do a gig because you're thinking of doing a tour, just go back and do a gig, because you're a miserable git'. And honestly the zest I've got for it now is exactly the excitement I had when I began. I found myself again."