"Said the actress to the bishop" is an informal (and usually vulgar) exclamation, said for humour in the form of a punch line after an inadvertent double entendre. The equivalent phrase in North America is "that's what she said". Both phrases are examples of Wellerisms, a literal "turn" of a phrase, changing its meaning. The versatility of the phrase and its popularity lead some to consider it a cliché.
On occasion, the gender may be swapped, as in "said the bishop to the actress", or "that's what he said".
Famous quotes containing the words actress and/or bishop:
“An actress must be a woman whose emotional perceptions are true, and to make them so, she must have a fine contempt for any art or thought that betrays them for something false.”
—Nance O’Neil (1874–1965)
“It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)