Trivia of Joey Bishop

Trivia of Joey Bishop (3 February 1918 - 17 October 2007)

*Dropping out of high school at 18, he started out in the humor business in vaudeville as part of a comedy act with his brother. Billed as "Joey Gottlieb" at the time, he later joined a comedy group that called themselves "The Bishop Trio" and kept the last name for himself after the team broke up.

*Joey Bishop’s brother, Maury, also had an interest in comedy. In order to gain confidence, Joey and his brother Maury did comedy routines together. The pair would use one other in their acts. This helped Joey get his start in comedy with the comfort of his brother beside him on stage. This allowed Bishop to star on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1950. He also appeared on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show in 1957, along with countless cameos in TV programs, especially during the early days of television.

*In 1958, Bishop made his feature film acting debut in "The Deep Six", a World War II naval drama starring Alan Ladd.

*In the 1950s, he started a friendship with Frank Sinatra, which resulted in Bishop's inclusion in the Rat Pack a group of entertainers consisting of Sinatra, Bishop, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Peter Lawford. Although Bishop's celebrity profile was far lower than that of Sinatra, Davis or Martin, Sinatra called Bishop "The Hub of the Big Wheel" citing him as the originator of most of the group's comic material and the one who anchored their stage presence. He and Dean Martin were also said to be the only members who could tell jokes at Sinatra's expense.

*On April 1967, he hosted The Joey Bishop Show.The show was created to challenge The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which Bishop frequently guest hosted in its early seasons.Other members of Rat Pack like Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr and Peter Lawford occasionally appeared on his show, sometimes as unbilled surprises, though Frank Sinatra never did.The show ended on December 1969, with Bishop leaving after his monologue, declaring that this was the last show.

*Throughout the 1970s, Bishop continued to perform in nightclubs and became a mainstay on the TV game show circuit, regularly seen on daytime offerings like "The Hollywood Squares" (NBC, 1965-1982), "Celebrity Sweepstakes" (NBC, 1974-1977) and "Match Game" (CBS, 1973-1979).

*Bishop was the only member of the Rat Pack to work with members of a younger group of actors dubbed the Brat Pack, appearing (as a ghost) in the film Betsy's Wedding (1990) with Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy.His final appearance in a film was a non-speaking role in Mad Dog Time (1996), written and directed by his son, Larry.