Jo Brand

Jo Brand

Date of birth: 03-05-1957

Jo's first job was at Dr Barnardo's home - following in the footsteps of her social worker mother.

After this, she moved to London and famously became a psychiatric nurse - the daily parade of drug addicts, alcohol abuse and the clinically depressed, giving her the sense of humour and bravado to deal with any comedy audience.

A pioneer of the alternative comedy scene, she started performing at the age of 29, in 1987, under the name The Sea Monster and it only took her two years to be able to turn pro.

Her material, about her weight and men, made here a bete noire among those who despised the rise of alternative comedy, most notably tabloid TV critic Garry Bushell.

Read More

Jo Brand joins Boom Radio

Comic interviews guests about their life through TV

Jo Brand is joining Boom Radio for a new interview show.

In each of the four episodes, the 66-year-old comedian will be  joined by a different guest to talk about their life and career through the prism of the television they watched.

They are former TV executive Michael Grade, crime fiction author, Lynda La Plante, actress Lesley Joseph and poet Pam Ayres.

The news comes as the station  launches a £500,000 TV advertising campaign, with a commercial featuring a listener recalling a Beatles concert she attended in 1963.

The digital station is aimed at older ‘Baby Boomer’ listeners and has an weekly reach of  627,000 listeners, more than 500,000 of them over 55. Presenters include Simon Bates, David Hamilton and Nick Horne.

Read More

Published: 14 Apr 2024

The headliners |   O'Briain to host new topical quiz

The headliners

Dara O’Briain is to front a new BBC2 satirical…
26/04/2005

Comedy rules |   UKTV Gold plans laugh marathon

Comedy rules

Digital channel UKTV Gold is to dedicate its schedules…
13/03/2005

Cheers, Malcolm

Malcolm Hardee’s final send-off was completed…
21/02/2005

Fast relief

The DVD from next Tuesday’s mammoth Comic Aid…
17/02/2005

Best of the fests

The line-ups for the Newcastle and Birmingham comedy…
1/09/2004

Skip to page

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.