John Bishop has revealed he recently got his first ever ear piercing, at the age of 52, because he thought he would be “cool”.

The comedian said that his wife was so amused by his new addition, she could not stop laughing and attempted to pull it out several times.

The stand-up star told The Jonathan Ross Show that he had it done “the other week”, adding: “I’ve never had a piercing before. I thought I’d be cool.

“I was in Wexford, Ireland. I was doing gigs and someone said ‘You’ve got to go for a walk around Wexford’ so I left the hotel and I walked down both the streets in Wexford and I was back in seven minutes … I kept on walking past this piercing shop.

“I thought, ‘Why have I never had a piercing?’ I’d never had a piercing because I’d just always thought it was not a thing for me to do and I thought, ‘Why not?’ so I just went in.”

Asked if his wife Melanie approves, Bishop said that “she pissed herself”, adding: “I mean literally for about eight minutes just kept (laughing) she couldn’t believe it.

“She tried to pull it out four times!”

The Jonathan Ross Show
Suzi Ruffell, left to right, Paul Hollywood, Jonathan Ross, Naomi Ackie and John Bishop (ITV/PA)

Talking about getting older, Bishop said that one of the most difficult things was “the fact you don’t recover”, adding: “I had a big operation last year on my knee and that took me ages to recover.

“That and the fact that you’re always fat. There are degrees of fatness but you’re never ever slim again … You thicken up. How do you get fat on your back?”

Bishop – who was recently announced as the host of a new weekend show on ITV, in which he will dissect the latest news in his comic style – was joined on Ross’s show by The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood, Star Wars actress Naomi Ackie and comedian Suzi Ruffell.

The Jonathan Ross Show airs at 10.10pm on Saturday November 16 on ITV.