Landing punchlines in the home of kung fu

Last year Des Bishop: Breaking China aired on Irish television as a six-part series that was a mix of comedy, reality show and travel documentary.

His inside look at China played to sold-out audiences at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and received warm reviews.

"People love it. They could understand it because of the way the show was written. I used a lot of images and pictures about the things I encountered in China. A lot of jokes are about explaining. All funny and interesting, not only for Chinese people who live abroad, but even for English people.

"It shows some of the wonderful and fun things about China. I just talk about everyday life. That helps people have a bit more understanding of China for sure. The best thing about comedy is that it makes you laugh about things and actually helps you understand things better."

This year Bishop did an hour-long show in Chinese in Auckland, New Zealand, for Chinese people living abroad.

In the future he wants to try and visit cities around the world that have large Chinese populations, including the big Chinese cities, to do stand-up comedy.

"I am also working with Dashan," he says. Dashan, literally translated as Big Mountain, is the stage persona of Mark Rowswell, a tall Canadian who is China's most famous homegrown foreign entertainer. "We are open to doing stand-up comedy tours in cities such as Toronto."

More people are doing business with China and are getting to know a bit more about China for different reasons, he says.

"Doing the show all over the world, that is the long-term goal," he says.

Zhang Qi contributed to this story.