Katy Brand does Lily Allen on Scott Mills.

This was played out on the Scott Mils show on Radio 1 and features comedian Katy Brand doing her version of a Lily Allen song

More Katy Brand videos

Katy Brand started her comedy career writing and performing with live sketch shows, including the acclaimed Ealing Live collective of character comedians.

It led to her one-woman show, Celebrities Are Gods, which she took to Edinburgh in 2005, and the following year he wrote and performed her own Channel 4 Comedy Lab, Slap!

In 2007, Brand was given her own ITV2 programme Katy Brand's Big Ass Show, which earned her the best female newcomer award at the 2008 British Comedy Awards.

She has also made brief appearances in Peep Show, Hyperdrive, Tittybangbang and Casualty.

Katy Brand's Big Ass Tour
Live Review
Churchill Theatre Bromley

The promoters of Katy Brand’s first tour seem to have grossly overestimated the pulling power of her ITV2 sketch show. On a quiet Sunday night in Bromley, around 300 fans rattle around in a theatre built for 785. It doesn’t make for much of a sense of occasion.

To add to the subdued atmosphere, Brand’s performance can also come across as flat, especially in her underpowered singing. This is a show that requires a ‘big ass’ personality to pull off – the frequently pedestrian writing certainly won’t carry it – yet Brand isn’t always the beacon of confidence she needs to be. When the impish side to her personality does shine, the show flickers into life… but it’s a fragile thing, too easily extinguished.

Her portrayal of celebrities has earned her plenty of column inches from the tabloids who obsess about the real thing, but they are the least interesting parts of the show. She usually makes no claims for accuracy in her impressions, instead fabricating a personality trait from the public image, such as Kate Winslet’s desire to be seen as ‘normal’ – an initially funny running joke that wears thin by the fourth video insert in a 90-minute show.

Brand’s Lily Allen spoof Song Of My Life has certainly perfectly captured the spirit of the original, but the song parodies are generally lazy, for example having a wasted Amy Winehouse sing not about Valerie but valium – hardly the product of a hard-working writer. That said, her Mariah Carey, warbling theatrically through I Know A Song That’ll Get On Your Nerves is a real highlight, and proof of what could happen if Brand had more faith in her voice. Plus, it’s nice to see another comedian do Joe Pasquale’s material for a change.

Her own characters tend to offer more, although again, not consistently so. She captures comic drunkenness with the skill of a female WC Fields in her portrayal of tipsy office girl Caroline, choking back the vomit after a Bailey’s binge; while Captain Rosie Fielding, her butch Army type with no empathy for anything feminine is an aggressive delight, goading a female member of the audience for her soft ways. Such crotch-grabbing machismo reinforces the show’s running theme of unladylike behaviour – from the gruff Queen speaking like an East End publican to the sweary, no-nonsense Charlotte Church.

Away from that idea, the nun who can’t keep a straight face when supposedly delivering the solemn good news is also a favourite, her giggle that cannot be stifled proving hugely infectious, and again showcasing Brand’s mischievous side. It’s a shame this is only depicted on the giant cartoon TV which comprises Brand’s set, rather than in person, but the costume changes have to be covered somehow.

But against that engaging character, we have an American cable news journalist, a character so sketchily drawn it’s impossible to see resemblance to any real person. Improbably reporting on Bromley, she exchanges clunky banter with a prerecorded newsreader, desperately resorting to gratuitous swearing (the news network is called CNT, for example) in a bid to make this in any way interesting. The bid fails.

It’s a real mixed bag of a show, and Brand doesn’t have the presence to hold it together – although she is still frequently better than her material. In an intimate arts centre, where expectations might be lower and auditoria fuller, this would probably work better. But as it is, there’s a sense Brand, though she has her moments, isn’t yet ready for the big stage.

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She claims to be a comedian? Now THAT is funny!

Dan, June 2012

Just how did she ever get on TV? Bewildering.

Richard, January 2012

Beyond shocking. I do not understand what this woman's talent is. The material is poor, the impressions are unfathomable and yet she gets re-commissioned and now apparently warrants a tour. There are more talented open spots up and down the country. turn off your telly and go and see them. Appalling...

Peter Tennant, April 2010

Not original, funny or interesting. Has to announce who she is 'impersonating' (because despite dressing up it's impossible to tell)rnrnPointlessly obvious and painfully unfunny digs at Lily Allen (who has some talent) How on earth did this talentless no-mark get two series?

Delboy, December 2009

I don't think this woman for one moment should be referred to as a comedian. It baffles me how she actually got this far, why would anybody give her money to make one series let alone throw more money away to get her to make a second series? It's not going to be any better.

Ceb, October 2009

Shite . About as funny as an orphanage on fire.

bn, June 2009

Very funny woman. Should have a BBC1 show.

The_Ping_Gwyn, September 2008

Her TV show does have a spark of genius with some of her characters and has all the freedom to do more with them if she chooses. Her alchoholic character has potential to fall into a comedy drama in itself. But she's not doing herself any favours with the Kate Winslet sketch. It just doesn't work - and overcrowding her programme with the sketch kills the joke . I was stunned by her version of Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse and i think this is going to be her trademark. Her other characters have got potential and she can get some laughs but she should go with observational comedy, particularly with everyday stuff.

C. Stevens, December 2007

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