0:00:03 > 0:00:10This programme contains very strong language.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27And now, one of the funniest women in Britain. Please welcome Jo Brand!
0:00:27 > 0:00:31In the 1980s, after a decade working as a psychiatric nurse,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Jo Brand entered stand-up comedy, where she first stood out
0:00:35 > 0:00:39for her gender and dimensions, both of which gave her much material.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I'm just going to start actually by moving the microphone stand
0:00:42 > 0:00:46because you won't be able to see me otherwise, will you?
0:00:48 > 0:00:50She was rapidly viewed as remarkable for her talent.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54She was equally in demand as a host of TV shows,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56including Jo Brand's Commercial Breakdown
0:00:56 > 0:00:58and Jo Brand Through The Cakehole.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Serve with custard, ice cream and no friends
0:01:01 > 0:01:06and garnish with bars of chocolate and a large pork pie.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10And as a guest,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13on panel shows including Brain Drain,
0:01:13 > 0:01:15Have I Got News For You and QI.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17I always thought testicles were the perfect environment
0:01:17 > 0:01:20to test anti-ageing cream.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24She challenged and matched the men who dominated the genre.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28She drew on her nursing years for the dark medical comedy
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Getting On, written with co-stars Vicky Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlon.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36And between stand-up tours, she sat down to write three novels
0:01:36 > 0:01:40and two memoirs, covering her early years in Look Back In Hunger
0:01:40 > 0:01:44and her comedy career in Can't Stand Up For Sitting Down.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50One of the quotes I underlined in Look Back In Hunger,
0:01:50 > 0:01:51your first autobiography, is,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54"I knew that I wanted to do stand-up,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57"compete with men, and come out, if not ahead of them, at least equal."
0:01:57 > 0:01:59I was fascinated by that.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Do you still see comedy as a competition with men?
0:02:02 > 0:02:07I see everything as a competition with men, I'm afraid.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11But I think that what that's about is the fact that
0:02:11 > 0:02:16I am the middle child of three and I'm surrounded by brothers,
0:02:16 > 0:02:21who really spent an awful lot of my early childhood just hitting me
0:02:21 > 0:02:25or teasing me or tormenting me in some way.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31And I suppose I developed this competitive element to me
0:02:31 > 0:02:35because I knew how great it felt when I got my own back on them.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41And so throughout our childhood, it just turned into a competition
0:02:41 > 0:02:43and I suppose that's just carried on, really.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47But each, as you know each, erm...
0:02:47 > 0:02:50sort of phase of my life that I've gone onto, I've learned
0:02:50 > 0:02:53a bit more about gender relations. I did Psychology
0:02:53 > 0:02:58and Sociology at university. I read up a lot of stuff.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02I read Germaine Greer when I was 12 or 13.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07So I'm constantly adding to my fountain of knowledge.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09And, erm...
0:03:09 > 0:03:11You know, I don't think I'm kind of competitive
0:03:11 > 0:03:13in a particularly aggressive way.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15I know a lot of people would disagree with that.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20But I certainly am very aware of the
0:03:20 > 0:03:24problems that there are surrounding male and female equality, and it
0:03:24 > 0:03:28means a lot to me to think about it and to try and change things.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31But the fact that you went into comedy,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33I mean, you would be particularly competitive with men
0:03:33 > 0:03:38because it was, some people would say still is, so male dominated.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Yeah, I mean, I think the thing about comedy is,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46what annoyed me about comedy was that people, and they still do say it
0:03:46 > 0:03:49today, they either say women aren't funny, full stop...
0:03:49 > 0:03:51- Someone said it on the radio just a few weeks ago.- There you go.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55- They still say it, yeah.- Yeah. Or women aren't as funny as men.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58So there's now a bit more of a grudging acceptance
0:03:58 > 0:04:01that if we try really hard, we can be mildly funny,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04but we're still not up there with the men, you know.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06And I find that really irritating
0:04:06 > 0:04:09cos I think that simply isn't true.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11But I wondered about that, because that quote about wanting
0:04:11 > 0:04:12to compete with men there,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16there isn't equality in comedy, is there, in most people's eyes?
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Well, there isn't equality of numbers.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22And I think until there is, you know, we won't be competing
0:04:22 > 0:04:25on a level playing field, so how will be able to tell?
0:04:25 > 0:04:28But the other problem, of course, with comedy is that you have
0:04:28 > 0:04:32so many different types of comedy that someone might say to you,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35"Well, Eddie Izzard's not funny," and millions of people would
0:04:35 > 0:04:38disagree with them because that's the sort of comedy they like.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44Um... So, you know, I can really understand why a lot of men
0:04:44 > 0:04:46don't like the sort of comedy I do
0:04:46 > 0:04:49because it is gender-based
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and it's taking the piss out of men.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55And, you see, on the very rare occasions that
0:04:55 > 0:04:58I do actually get a bloke in a room, on his own, it just seems to
0:04:58 > 0:05:03good an opportunity to miss just to punch him in the bloody gob, frankly.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07I'm not kind of attacking them as individuals per se. It's kind
0:05:07 > 0:05:11of a very generalised sort of thing, but I find it very hard to explain
0:05:11 > 0:05:15it to some men who are really angry with me about my attitude.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19But don't you...? You enjoy that anger, don't you?
0:05:19 > 0:05:22I enjoy winding people up, yeah.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Yeah, particularly blokes, I suppose, who have that attitude.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28I mean, I know it's a very long time ago now, but if we take
0:05:28 > 0:05:31someone like Garry Bushell, who actually, interestingly, he...
0:05:31 > 0:05:34He, we should explain, was TV critic of The Sun
0:05:34 > 0:05:37- and then The Daily Star, I think? - That's right.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Initially, actually, liked what I did, because my first
0:05:41 > 0:05:47appearance on TV, I think, was on The Wogan Show, and he said something
0:05:47 > 0:05:50very positive about me and that my jokes were good, and blah, blah.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52And then, I think, the next time I was on TV,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54I did an anti-Thatcher joke,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57and then he completely changed his tune
0:05:57 > 0:06:00and started to attack me.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03I mean, along with a huge raft of other women, it wasn't just me.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Um, eh...
0:06:05 > 0:06:09But... So I kind of liked to have a go back at him
0:06:09 > 0:06:10when I got an opportunity.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12And you mention critics.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13I was very struck at the beginning of one
0:06:13 > 0:06:16of your DVDs, The Barely Live Tour.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Um... It's recorded in London and you say at the beginning,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21"I don't often perform in London," at that stage,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24"because of the critics." And I was interested that you admitted that.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28It suggests that you were...you were sensitive about what they said
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Well, yeah, I suppose.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I mean, wouldn't anybody be? You know, no-one...
0:06:33 > 0:06:36But most people don't admit it, though, particularly in showbiz,
0:06:36 > 0:06:37- do they?- No.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39But... And I think that's foolish,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44because I think actually the more you kind of admit a certain
0:06:44 > 0:06:48sort of vulnerability, the more human, hopefully,
0:06:48 > 0:06:49you seem, really.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53I mean, I know, I had this reputation at the beginning,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56I was just this kind of foul-mouthed, man-hating
0:06:56 > 0:07:00lesbian, because obviously, by definition,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I must be a lesbian if I'm having a go at men.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Um...um...
0:07:05 > 0:07:09But I think it... The problem with the way that
0:07:09 > 0:07:14you as a performer can be interpreted by the tabloids,
0:07:14 > 0:07:19tabloids or by critics or whatever, it's so one-dimensional.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22And these days everyone is a critic or able to be so
0:07:22 > 0:07:25because of Twitter and online stuff.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27People have to make a decision on that.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Do you look at the stuff that's out there about you?
0:07:30 > 0:07:33No, I don't look at the stuff that's out there about me
0:07:33 > 0:07:38because I feel, why would you want to make yourself miserable?
0:07:38 > 0:07:40You know, I have the sort of effect on people,
0:07:40 > 0:07:44it's either very positive or very negative.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49I tend not to get a mild kind of "Oh, she's all right" type reaction.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54So I knew that there'd be a lot of really unpleasant stuff
0:07:54 > 0:07:57on Twitter, and I think it's been borne out, really, how
0:07:57 > 0:08:03much misogyny women on Twitter get by recent events.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05But as you well know, you've written about...
0:08:05 > 0:08:07One of the great gender divides is appearance, because whereas
0:08:07 > 0:08:11some male comedians... Greg Davis for example, he does self-mocking
0:08:11 > 0:08:14stuff about his appearance, most men don't on the whole.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18You... From very early on, you always did do that.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20That didn't just start when I started doing stand-up,
0:08:20 > 0:08:25that had...that had been a modus operandi for many,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29many years for me, and I think it is for many women who aren't
0:08:29 > 0:08:34kind of traditionally beautiful or...or attractive.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38But I kind of thought, with my stand-up, I should just clear that
0:08:38 > 0:08:41out of the way and go, "Yes, I know I'm fat. Here's a very funny joke,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43"hopefully, about me being fat.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46"Let's move on and talk about something else,"
0:08:46 > 0:08:49almost as a way of kind of sweeping that out of the way.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52I would like to take a pill that would make me six stone,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55then I could eat my way back up to ten.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59What a bloody brilliant weekend that would be, wouldn't it?
0:08:59 > 0:09:02And other things that struck me in the first autobiography,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Look Back In Hunger, is you give only a few lines to the decision to
0:09:05 > 0:09:08go into comedy, which retrospectively,
0:09:08 > 0:09:09has been quite a huge decision.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13You say, "My mother knew that I fancied working in the Arts,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15"and by that time, I had considered comedy."
0:09:15 > 0:09:19But you don't really describe how you got to that decision.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22To do comedy?
0:09:22 > 0:09:26That's cos I never think very profoundly about anything.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30I'm the sort of person that I do make decisions without thinking
0:09:30 > 0:09:34about them properly. And I didn't... I always just thought in a very
0:09:34 > 0:09:38surface way, "I'd love to have a go at comedy," and that was
0:09:38 > 0:09:44for no other reason other than I think the world is a bit of a shit
0:09:44 > 0:09:48place and that having a laugh is a good thing to lift you out of that.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50So, in a very generalised way,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53I come from a family that likes having a laugh.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56You know, we had lots of sort of family jokes.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00My older brother is really a funny person.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03And they used to play tricks on me.
0:10:03 > 0:10:09And April Fool's was always a very important day of the year.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13So I just... I like laughing and I like making people laugh.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Looking at your childhood, there's another quote that leapt
0:10:16 > 0:10:19out from the book. "In order to become a comic, I had to create
0:10:19 > 0:10:23"my own emotional disturbance rather than have it imposed upon me,"
0:10:23 > 0:10:26which is about those people who have suffered in childhood and
0:10:26 > 0:10:29they, politically and religiously, and turn it into comedy.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33That's an admission of a basically happy childhood.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Yes, absolutely. Yes, it was, really.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Probably up until about the age of ten, I would say,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and then it all kind of... It went a bit wrong. And the reason it
0:10:42 > 0:10:45went a bit wrong, really, was because of my dad's
0:10:45 > 0:10:52mental health, deteriorating at sort of round about when I was that age.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54Until then, he was just... You just thought he was a bit...
0:10:54 > 0:10:57He was grumpy and angry a lot of the time.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Yeah, he had a sort of hair-trigger temper, really,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03all throughout my childhood so, erm...
0:11:03 > 0:11:05But I think things got worse.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07I think, obviously, my mum knew about it
0:11:07 > 0:11:11right from the kick-off, but it's the sort of thing that you
0:11:11 > 0:11:15wouldn't discuss with children because they're not really, you know,
0:11:15 > 0:11:20mature enough to deal with it. So it was never discussed at all, really.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23And there's a sketch of your mother as well in the autobiography,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Joyce, who was a social worker.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30You describe her as a pre-feminist, by which I think you mean
0:11:30 > 0:11:35that she was clever, strong, feisty, but didn't have as much
0:11:35 > 0:11:38chance to fulfil herself as women of later generations might have done.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43No, well, interestingly, and she recently told me this, she was
0:11:43 > 0:11:48offered a place at Oxford University and chose to marry my dad instead.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54So I think that was a very hard decision for her to make, really.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00She was pretty young at the time, I think she was 17, 18.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Um...
0:12:01 > 0:12:06But she...she was always kind of very feisty and, I mean, I think
0:12:06 > 0:12:10women in the '50s were
0:12:10 > 0:12:13so much more straight jacketed, you know.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17She's got a lovely of photo of her with all her friends,
0:12:17 > 0:12:22all arranged in a line. And they've all got exactly the same hair,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26exactly the same shaped dresses and exactly the same shoes on
0:12:26 > 0:12:28and it's really hard to tell them apart.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32And I think in those days, women were expected to be much more
0:12:32 > 0:12:34conformist than they are now.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37There are some quite savage lines about your parents,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40- particularly your mother...- Really? - Yes, in some of the stand-up stuff.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43But they've been to the shows, presumably, have they?
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Not really. I mean, my mum came to see me in Brighton at the Dome.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50And when the compere said...
0:12:50 > 0:12:54She took some Valium cos she was really scared that
0:12:54 > 0:12:57someone would be horrible to me and then when the compere said,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01"Please welcome Jo Brand," she ran out and didn't come back in.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04I think she just couldn't have stood it
0:13:04 > 0:13:07if someone had heckled me. I think that's what it was about.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Your childhood really divides between two counties,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13very different, Kent and Sussex.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Something happened at your comprehensive school in Kent
0:13:16 > 0:13:19which makes it amazing to me you ever became a performer,
0:13:19 > 0:13:21which is the violin incident.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Yeah, well, at primary school, I was learning the violin,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and I was doing OK. And I understand that what happened was that
0:13:28 > 0:13:32when I moved to the comprehensive school,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35they spoke to my violin teacher and said
0:13:35 > 0:13:39they wanted to encourage more kids to play the violin at the secondary
0:13:39 > 0:13:43school. So without telling me, he arranged for me,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46on a day I thought I was just coming in for a lesson at school,
0:13:46 > 0:13:48so I had my violin with me,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52to play in front of everybody at assembly in the morning
0:13:52 > 0:13:56to somehow try and demonstrate,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59"Look, here's a little girl who's just started here
0:13:59 > 0:14:05"and she can do it, so you could all in theory learn to play the violin."
0:14:05 > 0:14:08But, I mean, as you can imagine, I was like 11 years old
0:14:08 > 0:14:11and there was this huge comprehensive,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14I don't know, 1,000 pupils
0:14:14 > 0:14:17sort of up to the age of kind of 17 or 18,
0:14:17 > 0:14:22mixed schools, so there were boys as well, me on stage kind of sawing
0:14:22 > 0:14:28desperately away, sounding awful, and then just making a series of
0:14:28 > 0:14:34prrtt type noises, you know, taking the piss, kind of humiliating me.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36It was...it was awful, really.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37I was so embarrassed.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41And to the extent that I went home
0:14:41 > 0:14:42that day and I just said to my mum,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45"I don't want to do the violin anymore,"
0:14:45 > 0:14:47and I gave it up because I was so angry
0:14:47 > 0:14:49with that guy for doing that,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51springing it on me like that.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Because if he'd asked me, I would've said no,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56because it would've just been so traumatic.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59So, yeah, it was awful, really awful.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Although despite the violin incident, you learned to play
0:15:02 > 0:15:04the organ for a TV programme.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07I did. I learned to play the organ
0:15:07 > 0:15:12and ended up playing in front of, I think, 8,000 people at
0:15:12 > 0:15:14the Albert Hall, with my mum there,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17which was like another added horror.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Why did you put yourself through that?
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Well, because, actually, to be quite honest,
0:15:22 > 0:15:27I really wanted to learn to play the organ, because I think it's...
0:15:27 > 0:15:29I think actually it all stemmed from...
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Not from church, but from Monty Python.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35When Terry Jones used to sit there with no clothes on. And it just...
0:15:35 > 0:15:37I just used to think it was a hilarious
0:15:37 > 0:15:39kind of comedy instrument, really.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41And it sounds amazing.
0:15:41 > 0:15:47And it's so... It's so massive and glorious.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10I auditioned for drama school when I left university and
0:16:10 > 0:16:14the first audition was so humiliating I cancelled all
0:16:14 > 0:16:19the others. And it was at Mountview Theatre School and we had to mime
0:16:19 > 0:16:22playing an instrument so everyone else is kind of going like that with
0:16:22 > 0:16:24a flute or, you know, with a recorder,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27so I mimed playing the organ.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31And then they said, "Now, can you fold up your instruments?"
0:16:31 > 0:16:32So they were like this
0:16:32 > 0:16:36and there's me, like, 20 minutes later, you know, like this.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37And...and I think...
0:16:37 > 0:16:40And they were just all pissing themselves laughing,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42the people who auditioned us.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46And I think, actually, that's when I started thinking,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49"Yeah, I've got to do comedy, really."
0:16:52 > 0:16:54I thought I'd do the Cosmo quiz,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57though, because I like those quizzes and I think they really do
0:16:57 > 0:17:00tell you quite a lot about yourself, don't they?
0:17:00 > 0:17:05This particular quiz was called Are You A Fat Old Bastard?
0:17:10 > 0:17:12And surprisingly enough...
0:17:15 > 0:17:17I got top marks.
0:17:18 > 0:17:221986, first comedy gig at the Soho Club.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Now first gigs are often very difficult, but yours was, wasn't it?
0:17:26 > 0:17:27It was.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30It was such a weird combination of things like that because first
0:17:30 > 0:17:35of all, it was in a nightclub, which is a very bad venue for comedy.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38It's very low ceiling and alcoves everywhere
0:17:38 > 0:17:40so people couldn't see properly.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43It was actually a benefit. So there was that.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48Secondly, all the acts that were on before me died on their arse,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51so how I thought I could go on at midnight
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and do any better, I don't know.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56And they were actually very experienced comics,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58like Johnny Immaterial. I don't know if you remember him.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Who I loved, actually, and he was a really funny guy.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04But the audience just looked at him like he was, you know,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06a complete nana.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11And so I went on at midnight, by which time I'd had about six or
0:18:11 > 0:18:15seven pints of lager, and I was so drunk I could hardly stand up,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18really, so how I thought I was gonna deliver my jokes...
0:18:18 > 0:18:21So there was all that going on and then I got on stage
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and there were two comics at the back who were very well known
0:18:24 > 0:18:27on the circuit at the time. And as soon as I got on stage,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31one of them just started chanting, "Fuck off you fat cow," at me.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34And he didn't just say it once, he just chanted it over and over
0:18:34 > 0:18:37again all through my act,
0:18:37 > 0:18:42which, as you can imagine, was abbreviated because of his chanting.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47And I think I probably got off stage after about
0:18:47 > 0:18:49a minute and a half, two minutes.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Because it's impossible to try
0:18:51 > 0:18:55and do anything with someone just chanting continuously.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57And then some of the audience got pissed off
0:18:57 > 0:18:59and they were going, "Shut up, give her a chance,"
0:18:59 > 0:19:05you know, until it was just chaos, really, and just pointless, really.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07And in the book on stand-up comedy, you say,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09"Much of my early comedy was designed to shock people."
0:19:09 > 0:19:12- I mean, that was a deliberate decision.- It was, yeah.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Because I felt at the time there were
0:19:15 > 0:19:17so few women around
0:19:17 > 0:19:21that I had to do something
0:19:21 > 0:19:23to make them go...
0:19:23 > 0:19:26"Oh, do you remember that woman that was on the other night
0:19:26 > 0:19:30"that said that really awful thing about the Church or whatever it was?"
0:19:30 > 0:19:34So, yeah, that was deliberate, really, and lots of swearing, too.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37And also lots of stuff about women's bodily functions,
0:19:37 > 0:19:39which no-one likes listening to.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Well, I was going to say because there are people now
0:19:42 > 0:19:44who claim that you only make jokes
0:19:44 > 0:19:47about menstruation, whereas in fact it's quite a small part of the act.
0:19:47 > 0:19:53I had one joke about menstruation in my entire first set.
0:19:53 > 0:19:54Was it the shocking one?
0:19:54 > 0:19:57It was the one about euphemisms for periods.
0:19:57 > 0:19:58Yes, go on, well let's...
0:19:58 > 0:20:02The BBC duty office and lawyers will go on to...
0:20:02 > 0:20:05will cancel all leave. Do this joke.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Right, well, I said, you know,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11people are very embarrassed about periods so you hear
0:20:11 > 0:20:14a lot of euphemisms for periods like,
0:20:14 > 0:20:16"I've got the painters and decorators in,"
0:20:16 > 0:20:18or "Arsenal are playing at home."
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Whereas I prefer the one, "I've got a vast amount of blood
0:20:21 > 0:20:23"squirting out of my cunt, vicar."
0:20:25 > 0:20:27And what sort of reaction did it get the first time you did it?
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Well, I always used to finish on it.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33So that if I had to get a cab, I could.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Um... Oh, total shock, really. Yeah.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41Just people would just not believe I'd said it, really,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44which is great, you know.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47And I think actually they would...they would talk about it.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51So, you know, that thing that it doesn't matter what they're
0:20:51 > 0:20:54saying, at least if they're talking about you, they've noticed you,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58kind of cliche, I think, is true to a certain extent.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02But that didn't mean that I could just surf on that for my whole
0:21:02 > 0:21:06career, but I had to have some jokes that were funny as well.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10But, you know, it helped doing that sort of material, I think.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13And do you still write jokes very carefully?
0:21:14 > 0:21:17I do... I do a mixture.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20I wrote...I write some jokes very carefully
0:21:20 > 0:21:25because I think they need to be overwritten to make them funny.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30If they're jokes with kind of some sort of word play or jokes
0:21:30 > 0:21:35where you're exaggerating something, or jokes where you want to use...
0:21:35 > 0:21:39deliberately use sort of loads of very unusual adjectives
0:21:39 > 0:21:40or something like that.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44But also I... If you did that, it would drive you mad, you know,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and you'd only have, like, five minutes of new material every
0:21:47 > 0:21:49two years or whatever.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53So I write routines as well that are much looser
0:21:53 > 0:21:56and kind of based on reality.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Every so often there are these rows about where the line
0:21:59 > 0:22:02is in comedy, and whether there should be taboos.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07Do you...do you have a line in your head that you won't cross?
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Well, um,
0:22:09 > 0:22:14I do...I do have a line, but it's not that I won't cross it,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18it's just that I would never dream of doing jokes
0:22:18 > 0:22:21that are racist, for example.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Um... I just wouldn't.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Because, we tell this story carefully
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and stress that you were not, you accidentally were thought
0:22:29 > 0:22:32to have made a racist joke early in your career, yeah.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Yeah, that was a very bizarre set of circumstances as well.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41I was working in Bradford on a Sunday night doing a benefit.
0:22:41 > 0:22:47And at the same time that we were working there,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49The Sooty Show had been on,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53but wasn't on on Sundays because that's when the theatres closed.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58And all The Sooty Show paraphernalia was in the dressing room nearest
0:22:58 > 0:23:01to the stage so that, I think it was Matthew Corbett at the time,
0:23:01 > 0:23:03could access the stage easily.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07So that was the set up. So we got to the theatre,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10I was on with a comic called Jeff Greene and some other comedians.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13And when I got there, the manager said to me,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17this friend of mine who's a Zimbabwean, he's a singer,
0:23:17 > 0:23:19can he do a couple of songs at the beginning of the show?
0:23:19 > 0:23:25So I said, "Of course." And so I was announcing the acts from back stage.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28So this Zimbabwean guy did a couple of songs.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30We were in a dressing room right down in the basement
0:23:30 > 0:23:33because The Sooty Show people were in the nearest dressing rooms
0:23:33 > 0:23:36to the stage, and it was locked, we couldn't get in there.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41So I heard this guy finish on the public address system.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44And so I went running up to the stage to announce him off
0:23:44 > 0:23:47and get the next act on. Because it was such a long way,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49I was really out of breath running up the stairs,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53so I thought, "I need a joke to explain why I'm breathless."
0:23:53 > 0:23:58So on the mic I said, "I'm really sorry that I'm so breathless
0:23:58 > 0:24:01"and I can't speak properly, I've had to run miles up to the stage
0:24:01 > 0:24:04"cos that fucking Sooty's got the best dressing room."
0:24:04 > 0:24:06Um... Tumbleweed.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10At which point, I realised they thought I meant the Zimbabwean
0:24:10 > 0:24:16- singer that was on stage, and that I was calling him...- Wow.- I know.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Because I actually... it didn't really occur to me,
0:24:19 > 0:24:20and I remember saying to Jeff Greene,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23"Why aren't they laughing? I thought that was a really funny line."
0:24:23 > 0:24:27And he went, "Because they don't think you mean Sooty the puppet."
0:24:27 > 0:24:31Cos they hadn't realised that The Sooty Show was on.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34So that's, that...
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Although, as football managers say, to take the positives,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40it's impressive that a Bradford audience at that time...
0:24:40 > 0:24:43- Absolutely.- ..wouldn't laugh at what they thought was a racist joke.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Absolutely, I totally agree with you.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50And the weird thing was, afterwards there was a...
0:24:50 > 0:24:53So I remember I was doing Top Of The Pops with Mark Lamarr
0:24:53 > 0:24:57and Roy Chubby Brown had a number one, I think,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00and he came up to me and went,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03"Oh, I thought your Sooty joke was hilarious."
0:25:03 > 0:25:08You know, so there was a bit of that went on afterwards, yes.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13And for anyone writing a PhD on taboos in comedy, you have a great
0:25:13 > 0:25:17example of this which relates to the Jennifer Lynch film Boxing...
0:25:17 > 0:25:20- Helena.- Boxing Helena, yeah.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Which I think is fascinating because it shows where...
0:25:23 > 0:25:25what an audience will and won't take.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28It was a film about a woman who'd had her arms and legs
0:25:28 > 0:25:31chopped off and she was being kept in a box.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34And so I would describe this and say to the audience,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37"God that must have been weird, you know, just having no arms
0:25:37 > 0:25:41"and legs and being in a box. What about when she had her period,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44"wouldn't that have made, like, a terrible mess all over the box?"
0:25:44 > 0:25:46And they would go, "Ohhhh,"
0:25:46 > 0:25:49like that, as if I'd said something, like, really disgusting.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52And then I would say, "Well what are you like, you didn't mind
0:25:52 > 0:25:55"the fact that she'd had her arms and legs chopped off and she was put in
0:25:55 > 0:25:58"a box, you're just going "Ugh" about periods, what's the matter with you?"
0:25:58 > 0:26:02But I think that was actually a very, you know,
0:26:02 > 0:26:07interesting point to make cos I do think our sensitivities
0:26:07 > 0:26:10are very skewed sometimes, you know.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13And it always...it worked every time.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17I never had a situation where
0:26:17 > 0:26:19they kind of went "Ugh" at the arms and legs,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22they just kind of accepted that, "Oh, yeah your arms and legs off,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25"yeah, yeah. Periods, oh." You know? It was really fascinating.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Absolutely, and one of the questions of being a stand-up is dealing
0:26:28 > 0:26:31with hecklers, and you refer in one of the books to
0:26:31 > 0:26:35having your ascending collection of prepared put-downs.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37I do, yeah.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40I think it's important to have put downs for a start-off
0:26:40 > 0:26:44because it's a bit like going on with a shield, you know.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47It kind of protects you, if you like.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Because I think, like particularly with women,
0:26:50 > 0:26:56men think they're going to say something unpleasant about them
0:26:56 > 0:27:00and that women will just fold and, "Oh, my God, I can't cope," you know.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03So to be able to come back with something that puts them down,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I think, is really important, you know.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11I mean, I have heard some absolutely vile heckles,
0:27:11 > 0:27:17not just towards me, but towards lots of other women comics.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Can you say...what's the worst?
0:27:20 > 0:27:26Well, I was at a student gig and this... There was a rugby club in...
0:27:26 > 0:27:27My fave!
0:27:27 > 0:27:32And one of them just shouted out
0:27:32 > 0:27:35"If you don't shut up, I'm going to shove a table leg up your cunt!"
0:27:35 > 0:27:39You know? So that's the sort of, like, misogynist heckling
0:27:39 > 0:27:41that women get on occasion.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43But how do you feel or how do you react
0:27:43 > 0:27:45when you get that kind of stuff?
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Well, actually, weirdly, when I got that table leg one,
0:27:48 > 0:27:53I was slightly hormonal, so actually I started crying.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55It was very early on, I think
0:27:55 > 0:27:59I'd been doing comedy for about seven or eight months,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and I was a bit PMT-ish,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04and a little bit kind of anxious,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06and they were a very difficult audience,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09it was lunchtime, you know, and people get far more drunk
0:28:09 > 0:28:12at lunchtime when they drink than they do in the evening.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Really, really drunk.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18They were a bit sort of like touchy grabby as well.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21And the whole thing was just really unpleasant, and then
0:28:21 > 0:28:25he said that and I just... I actually didn't cry onstage, I just walked
0:28:25 > 0:28:29off at that point. And then when I got in the dressing room, I cried.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32But actually, funnily enough, that is the only time I've ever cried
0:28:32 > 0:28:37when I've had a bad gig, so that's not a bad average.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40And how many prepared put-downs do you have ready?
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Well, I probably got about six or seven, you know.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48And I have sort of nice, whimsical ones at the beginning.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51So, can we have the top and bottom of the scale?
0:28:51 > 0:28:56Well, let's say that the nice ones would be something like...
0:28:56 > 0:28:59They're not that nice, but they're not...
0:28:59 > 0:29:01Like if someone goes, "Oh, you're fat," you know,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04I would go, "Yeah, well, I deliberately keep my weight up
0:29:04 > 0:29:06"so a tosser like you doesn't fancy me."
0:29:06 > 0:29:09That's kind of quite nice, friendly, you know.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14And my nuclear one, I'm afraid,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18and if this doesn't get them, then I have to go home, is...
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Because what you tend to get at comedy clubs is sometimes you get
0:29:21 > 0:29:26really drunk people that just can't shut up cause they're very drunk.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29And I would say,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32"If you don't shut up, I'm going to sit on your face,"
0:29:32 > 0:29:35and then I would say, "No actually, I can't be bothered
0:29:35 > 0:29:37"cos I haven't got my period at the moment."
0:29:37 > 0:29:40And if that didn't shut them up, "Goodnight."
0:29:40 > 0:29:44- How often have you had to use that one?- Loads of times.- Really?
0:29:44 > 0:29:46- Yeah.- I mean it does work, does it? - Yes.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48It works very well, surprisingly.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51But in what way? It just shuts them up or they leave or...?
0:29:52 > 0:29:55It shuts them up, and the reason it shuts them up is
0:29:55 > 0:29:59cos they can't believe that a woman's been prepared to
0:29:59 > 0:30:02say something so horrible, that is sort of along the lines
0:30:02 > 0:30:06of the kind of thing men say to women, do you know what I mean?
0:30:06 > 0:30:10I accept it's absolutely horrible and revolting,
0:30:10 > 0:30:15but it's kind of matching horror for horror in a way, you know.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18And you, I think you would, well, you might not be,
0:30:18 > 0:30:23you wouldn't be surprised probably by how awful audience
0:30:23 > 0:30:25members can be sometimes, you know.
0:30:25 > 0:30:32I did a gig in Belfast years ago at one of the universities,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34I can't remember which one it was.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37But I went onstage and I didn't do any material at all.
0:30:37 > 0:30:43I just had half an hour of mainly, well all blokes just abusing me
0:30:43 > 0:30:47in an ever more threatening way. And it's so, it's so weird.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50I mean, I shouldn't have stayed on,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53but sometimes I'm just in the mood for it.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57And it's a bit sort of masochistic, I suppose, in some ways.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00So what did you do, just answer them back for half an hour?
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Yeah, I just parried the blows. And I did what teachers used to do
0:31:04 > 0:31:08when I was a kid, which is, you single out the ringleader
0:31:08 > 0:31:14and you try and make them have a complete personality breakdown.
0:31:14 > 0:31:15While everyone else is watching.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18It doesn't always work, but it does sometimes.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22And have you ever, you talk about terrible gigs like the one
0:31:22 > 0:31:25in Belfast, have you ever lost your confidence as a comic?
0:31:26 > 0:31:29I thought you were going to say have you ever lost your cool.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32- And I have.- Well no, we'll ask that next. Confidence first.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Have I ever lost my confidence? Yeah, definitely.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39I mean I think, you know, it's such a cliche but
0:31:39 > 0:31:42people in comedy occasionally say, you know,
0:31:42 > 0:31:46you're only as good as your last gig. But actually, it is true.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51And if you have a really bad one, you do feel not as if
0:31:51 > 0:31:56you know my career's over, but you feel miserable
0:31:56 > 0:32:00until you've done another one...
0:32:00 > 0:32:04that's OK, really.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06Yeah, I've had loads of really awful ones.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08And have you ever lost your cool?
0:32:08 > 0:32:12I've lost my temper and just started shouting abuse,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15which is not a very good thing to do.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20Because as soon as you lose your cool, they've won, really.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22I have also...
0:32:22 > 0:32:25Well, actually it was that someone got me
0:32:25 > 0:32:29round the throat once by my clothes, and so I hit them.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Which is not a good thing to do either.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35No, you could end up in court but you didn't for that.
0:32:35 > 0:32:36No, no.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40But I think, actually, this guy who did it to me,
0:32:40 > 0:32:46he was really drunk, and I think his friends realised that, you know,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50that he was...that he started it, if you like.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53And there was one at Loughborough as well where,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55weirdly, one of the security guards -
0:32:55 > 0:32:57who did appear to be a bit of a psychopath -
0:32:57 > 0:33:02started heckling me with quite kind of gynaecological threats,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05as if he was a part-time serial killer.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07And I lost my cool.
0:33:07 > 0:33:13I went and got a bottle and I was going to bottle him.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Probably not a great idea.
0:33:15 > 0:33:21And on that occasion, Mark Lamarr stopped me and made me be sensible.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25Some comedians in the past, they've been nervous of TV
0:33:25 > 0:33:28because it uses up material so fast and so on.
0:33:28 > 0:33:29But I think for your generation,
0:33:29 > 0:33:32I mean, really you had to be on TV, didn't you?
0:33:32 > 0:33:35I think so, yes. It's gone in generations really.
0:33:35 > 0:33:40Certainly when I started doing TV, it did put bums on seats.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45But these days, it kind of puts bums on seats in arenas
0:33:45 > 0:33:47if you're really popular, you know,
0:33:47 > 0:33:51and you can do these massive 12,000-seater tours.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56So, it seems to be coming ever more important in a way.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58CROWD APPLAUD
0:33:58 > 0:34:00It is I, John Sergeant.
0:34:00 > 0:34:01LAUGHTER
0:34:01 > 0:34:02Hello.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09I was very interested on the DVD of the highlights of
0:34:09 > 0:34:10Jo Brand - Through The Cakehole.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13There's a little note from you saying all the sketches
0:34:13 > 0:34:16you've left out because they weren't good enough.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18And in fact, I think there are only eight on the DVD.
0:34:18 > 0:34:24Was that ironic or was that very tough quality control?
0:34:24 > 0:34:27Very tough quality control, I think.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33I think the weird thing about TV is you know...
0:34:33 > 0:34:36like, comedians are kind of desperate to get on TV.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41And let's talk about if you do a series which is sketch shows.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44You kind of chip away at them and chip away at them,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47and eventually they go, yes, you can have a six part series
0:34:47 > 0:34:50and we're going to film it in three months' time.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52And you suddenly go, oh, my God, you know?
0:34:52 > 0:34:58I've got to write 15, 20, however many sketches per show.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01And the quality inevitably suffers.
0:35:01 > 0:35:07You cannot write top quality sketches in that short amount of time,
0:35:07 > 0:35:08I don't think.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11And produce six episodes
0:35:11 > 0:35:15which are all of the same consistent quality.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17I just don't think you can.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20So kind of looking back at some of the stuff that I did,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23I am a kind of a bit embarrassed by it
0:35:23 > 0:35:27because I know that it was something that was done too quickly.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31Do you sometimes just know that something is a very good idea...
0:35:31 > 0:35:33Because male prostitute is one of my favourite ones,
0:35:33 > 0:35:36where there's a woman who has hired this male prostitute
0:35:36 > 0:35:40but she wants him to behave exactly as her husband does sexually.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Right, on top or underneath?
0:35:49 > 0:35:54I wonder if you could actually just put this stained vest on for me.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56LAUGHTER
0:35:56 > 0:36:01And if you could sort of cough in a kind of pleghmy sort of way.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09Well, see, it's the only way I can get turned on. It's like my Colin.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12And also perhaps you could fart a couple of times.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Presumably there's some times when you have the idea
0:36:15 > 0:36:17and you just know that is funny?
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Yeah, and it, it does work like that and also with jokes.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24You just know a joke is going to really storm it.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28You can just, you can just feel it before you do it, you know.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30And the thing is actually,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33that doesn't happen as often as you want it to.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37And a lot of what you do end up doing is...
0:36:37 > 0:36:42let's say slightly above average padding, if we're honest.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47And that's why, you know, a lot of sketch shows don't last
0:36:47 > 0:36:53for very long, because it's so easy to run out of ideas quite quickly.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58And I mean, the thing I kind of found, I had to
0:36:58 > 0:37:01sort of pretend that it wasn't my sketch show, because it just
0:37:01 > 0:37:06felt too much responsibility to me, that all this money is being spent,
0:37:06 > 0:37:11all these people are being employed at your behest, you know.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16And so, if it fails, then you're responsible for that.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19Right, let's get the safety routine over with.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21There are two exits at the front.
0:37:21 > 0:37:22They're ours.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24And one at the back.
0:37:24 > 0:37:25That one's yours.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28A line of lights will guide you to the exit
0:37:28 > 0:37:32and a line of urine will guide you to the bogs.
0:37:32 > 0:37:33LAUGHTER
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Commercial Breakdown is a curious thing...
0:37:36 > 0:37:37Way-hay, Commercial Breakdown.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40We wouldn't normally expect you to be in the same list as
0:37:40 > 0:37:44Jasper Carrot and Jim Davidson, but you were sandwiched between them.
0:37:44 > 0:37:45- Was I really?- You were, yeah.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47How uncomfortable.
0:37:47 > 0:37:48HE LAUGHS
0:37:48 > 0:37:52To be honest, I - and I hate to hear myself saying this -
0:37:52 > 0:37:55sometimes I do things because I think they'll be easy.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58There we are, I've said it.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00I was interested in that, though that's why you've done
0:38:00 > 0:38:03so much guest and so much guest host stuff,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06because it's that, it's not entirely down to you?
0:38:06 > 0:38:08That's right. That's right.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Because it doesn't give me a massive sense of satisfaction
0:38:11 > 0:38:16for my own personal little show to be a success.
0:38:16 > 0:38:21If I go on TV and people say, "Oh, I saw her on that
0:38:21 > 0:38:24"and she was very funny," that's enough for me, really.
0:38:24 > 0:38:29And actually... I know people think I'm a weirdo,
0:38:29 > 0:38:33but I don't really care about winning prizes either.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37I'd much rather people just thought I was funny
0:38:37 > 0:38:39than I won a prize for something, you know.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42I don't know if you've read any of the books or
0:38:42 > 0:38:45seen any of the many documentaries about Morecambe And Wise,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48but that's an interesting case where just the pressure they were under.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51I mean, everyone says that once they'd finish one Christmas show,
0:38:51 > 0:38:54they literally started worrying about next year's.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56- Oh, yeah. - And could they make it the same way.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59And to have it all resting on you is a huge,
0:38:59 > 0:39:00huge weight in comedy, isn't it?
0:39:00 > 0:39:02I think it is really, you know.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04And if I...
0:39:04 > 0:39:07That's not much of a life to me,
0:39:07 > 0:39:11to immediately start worrying about the next thing you've got to do.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13I think that that's, that's stressful
0:39:13 > 0:39:15and it's not enjoyable, you know.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19And you may say yes, but look they're on the telly,
0:39:19 > 0:39:21everybody loved them, you know,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25everyone laughed uproariously at them and they loved Eric Morecambe,
0:39:25 > 0:39:29and so on. But if you're not happy
0:39:29 > 0:39:32or you're anxious or you're stressed about it,
0:39:32 > 0:39:37what good is that success to you really, because you don't enjoy it.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41You know, and I know a lot of comics that spend their lives
0:39:41 > 0:39:44being pissed off about the thing that's just happened,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46or the thing that's just about to happen.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49And they get to where they wanted to get
0:39:49 > 0:39:51and then they realise it's not
0:39:51 > 0:39:54quite as great as they thought it would be before they got there.
0:39:54 > 0:40:00And I would much rather I was kind of doing what I like,
0:40:00 > 0:40:02feeling relaxed about it and enjoying it,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05rather than feeling stressed all the time about
0:40:05 > 0:40:07whether something's going to work, really.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Good evening. Welcome to Have I Got News For You.
0:40:13 > 0:40:14I'm Jo Brand.
0:40:14 > 0:40:15In the news this week...
0:40:15 > 0:40:18In the gardens at Balmoral, there are suspicions
0:40:18 > 0:40:22that the sculptor may have run off with the cash as the queen unveils
0:40:22 > 0:40:24a statue of her favourite corgi.
0:40:32 > 0:40:33Olympic news...
0:40:33 > 0:40:35And in East London,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39cycling officials test out the new system to discourage false starts.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44LAUGHTER
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Which, for you, are the best and worst panel shows to do?
0:40:47 > 0:40:48Erm...
0:40:51 > 0:40:55I love doing Have I Got News For You, but only
0:40:55 > 0:40:57since I've been hosting it, really.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Because the thing is, being a host gives you natural,
0:41:01 > 0:41:07natural authority and as a panellist, you don't have that, really.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11And Ian and Paul have been on it for so long
0:41:11 > 0:41:14that they're just so comfortable with the way that it runs.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16It's quite hard as a guest,
0:41:16 > 0:41:18particularly if you've never done it before,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22to break their patter, if you like.
0:41:22 > 0:41:23To, you know, intervene.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26And it's very hard as a comic if you say something
0:41:26 > 0:41:29and it just falls completely flat.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32And the audience just look at you like you're a piece of crap.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35It doesn't encourage you to keep going, you know.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38And that's why sometimes you'll watch a show like that
0:41:38 > 0:41:42and a guest will hardly say anything for the first ten minutes.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45And I can really understand how that happens.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47I like doing QI.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50The reason I liked doing QI is because Alan Davis is a very
0:41:50 > 0:41:55good mate of mine, so it's kind of like semi-socialising for me.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59I feel kind of more comfortable that someone I know very well is there.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Jo, what would you say is in fact the main
0:42:02 > 0:42:03difference between men and women?
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Is that men are really great and women are really shit?
0:42:07 > 0:42:09LAUGHTER
0:42:09 > 0:42:11- Oh now, Jo. - Sorry that's the wrong way round.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13LAUGHTER
0:42:13 > 0:42:17I think it's that men are rubbish at multi-tasking
0:42:17 > 0:42:19and women are very good at it.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22LAUGHTER
0:42:22 > 0:42:25And on the male/female balance in comedy business,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Danny Cohen, the BBC Director of television said recently that
0:42:28 > 0:42:32every panel show, comedy panel or current affairs panel
0:42:32 > 0:42:35must have at least one woman on it in future.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39Do you think those sort of quotas matter or have any effect?
0:42:40 > 0:42:42I... SHE SIGHS
0:42:42 > 0:42:43I think it's a very difficult one
0:42:43 > 0:42:45because I think all panel shows are different.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48He's lumping them all in together, or maybe he's not,
0:42:48 > 0:42:50but they do get lumped in together.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52And actually, some are much easier to do than others
0:42:52 > 0:42:55because some are much more democratic,
0:42:55 > 0:42:57some are much more welcoming.
0:42:57 > 0:42:58For example, if you take Mock The Week,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02I've done Mock The Week with male performers who absolutely hated it
0:43:02 > 0:43:05because they are mild mannered, sweet, polite people
0:43:05 > 0:43:10who don't like elbowing their way into other people's jokes -
0:43:10 > 0:43:12which is what you have to do on that show.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16So again, it's a far more complex problem, I think.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20And just adding a woman into the mix, it might work but I would say
0:43:20 > 0:43:25you should add two in because then they can support each other.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29And feel a bit more comfortable there's another woman there.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32I think the problem with Mock The Week is there's too many panellists.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36There's three comics on each panel and they don't
0:43:36 > 0:43:39ever have anyone on, that's not a comic.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42So, you know, all comics are quite competitive by their nature,
0:43:42 > 0:43:43they have to be in a way.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46But also you've got Dara as their host
0:43:46 > 0:43:48and he's a stand-up as well.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51So, you know, that's seven comics competing.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53It's too much really, I think.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55And I think that's the problem with it.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58You mentioned earlier accepting some stuff because it's easy,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01but would that apply to the talent show judging,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04The Speaker and Splash?
0:44:04 > 0:44:11Well, I think I accepted Splash because...
0:44:11 > 0:44:15not just because it was easy, but because I do like to venture in to
0:44:15 > 0:44:18arenas that I'm not terribly used to.
0:44:18 > 0:44:25And I'm certainly not used to early evening ITV family shows.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29So that is a bit of a challenge to me, not to do swearing,
0:44:29 > 0:44:35not to be rude and just to kind of come across in a different way.
0:44:35 > 0:44:40And what I liked about it, yes, was the lack of responsibility
0:44:40 > 0:44:44to some extent, although because I was sandwiched between two serious
0:44:44 > 0:44:48judges, I knew that I had to do jokes and that they had to be funny.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51So I did have some responsibility, but it's a responsibility
0:44:51 > 0:44:55that I'm used to, so I was kind of happy to take that on.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58It was just hugely enjoyable. I love doing it.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01But also as a judge, it seemed to me,
0:45:01 > 0:45:05you set out to be constructive, not to be the cruel one.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07Yeah, I...
0:45:08 > 0:45:11I think I was hopefully constructive
0:45:11 > 0:45:15and I don't particularly like being...
0:45:15 > 0:45:17- Simon Cowell.- No.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21No, that's right. I don't like being Simon Cowell. I don't...
0:45:21 > 0:45:25I have a huge ambivalence towards those shows
0:45:25 > 0:45:28like the X Factor and particularly Britain's Got Talent because
0:45:28 > 0:45:32I think they wheel people on who have mental health problems,
0:45:32 > 0:45:34for people to laugh at, you know.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38I feel very angry about that, really.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42So, you know, it's easy for all of us
0:45:42 > 0:45:47to take the piss out of someone who thinks they can sing
0:45:47 > 0:45:49when they can't, you know.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52And I think that's very cruel. So...
0:45:52 > 0:45:55But I'm interested in, you have the professional expertise
0:45:55 > 0:45:57and lots of people say this, but when you watch those kind
0:45:57 > 0:46:02of shows, you do think that person is genuinely mentally ill?
0:46:02 > 0:46:06Well, I mean the whole field of mental illness
0:46:06 > 0:46:10is kind of quite complex in a way, because you, you know,
0:46:10 > 0:46:15as well as people actually having a mental health issue
0:46:15 > 0:46:17like say schizophrenia or depression,
0:46:17 > 0:46:22there are lots of other different shades of mental health problems.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25So someone might have a personality disorder,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29they might have something called a schizoaffective disorder,
0:46:29 > 0:46:32you know, it's all, there are shades and shades of it, but sadly...
0:46:32 > 0:46:33Delusions as well presumably,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36which clearly some people have on those shows, don't they?
0:46:36 > 0:46:40Absolutely, but you know sometimes delusions can be a symptom
0:46:40 > 0:46:43of some schizophrenia or someone can just be delusional,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46but not necessarily be a symptom of mental illness
0:46:46 > 0:46:48about a talent that they might have.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51And I think in some ways that's equally sad.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55And I don't really understand why their families can't tell them
0:46:55 > 0:46:59the truth, or are they so socially isolated
0:46:59 > 0:47:03they haven't got family and friends to tell them the truth?
0:47:03 > 0:47:08But I think that's actually more and more a feature of society really,
0:47:08 > 0:47:14is holding people up to ridicule for one reason or another.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16And Splash got hammered by the critics, as you may know.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20- Yes, it did. - Did that upset you?
0:47:20 > 0:47:22No, mainly because I don't know what they said
0:47:22 > 0:47:25because I didn't read it, but also...
0:47:25 > 0:47:30I'm kind of a bit used to being hammered by my critics.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34You know, and in fact, if I get a nice review,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37it's always a pleasant surprise.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40No, I didn't mind at all.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43Are there any shows that you won't appear on?
0:47:43 > 0:47:45Erm...
0:47:45 > 0:47:47Oh, I don't know. No, I don't think so.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49You've never said no to a show?
0:47:49 > 0:47:51No, that's terrible, isn't it?
0:47:51 > 0:47:52HE LAUGHS
0:47:52 > 0:47:54I'm such a tart!
0:47:54 > 0:48:00But my thing is say yes to everything and then if it's awful
0:48:00 > 0:48:03don't do it again. Try everything.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07Although you say in one of the books that your agent tells you the truth.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09She comes to everything and she tells you
0:48:09 > 0:48:10whether it was good or not?
0:48:10 > 0:48:12Yeah, my agent and my husband.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15I think there are some stars that are so big that it's very
0:48:15 > 0:48:18hard for people to say that they're a bit rubbish.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21- You have named Madonna in this context.- Right, what did I say?
0:48:21 > 0:48:23- You said, when you...- She's too big for people to tell her...
0:48:23 > 0:48:25- When you get to the level of Madonna...- Oh, I see.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28- ..people just say you're great. - You're great. Yeah.
0:48:28 > 0:48:29Well, I think that's true.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32And I think that's bad luck on Madonna, you know,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35because we all need someone to tell us.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38I'd be quite happy to tell her, but she's never asked me.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40No, but you see, Madonna needs your husband and your agent.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43- That's the answer. - She's welcome to them!
0:48:43 > 0:48:46HE LAUGHS No, I'm joking.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50A great artistic endeavour, I think, Getting On, which must be one of the
0:48:50 > 0:48:53most satisfying things that you've done, isn't it?
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Yes, it is. I mean, it's...it's...
0:48:56 > 0:49:01it was a real team effort, Getting On. From a lot of people.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04From Jo and Vicki, who I have to say...
0:49:04 > 0:49:07We should just explain, because you wrote and co-starred
0:49:07 > 0:49:09with Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11That's right, and they wrote it as well.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15And they did a huge amount of donkey work because
0:49:15 > 0:49:20it sort of transpired, again, it was one of those things where we
0:49:20 > 0:49:24pitched it and they went, "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know...
0:49:24 > 0:49:27"Oh, yeah, all right. But can we have it in two months?"
0:49:27 > 0:49:33And I was chock-a-block, and so they ended up having to do
0:49:33 > 0:49:39most of the research, going to speak to Unison, all that sort of thing.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43So, I mean, they are hugely responsible for the
0:49:43 > 0:49:45brilliance of the scripts.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48And, of course, great in it as well.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50So Unison, the health union?
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Yes, because we consulted about...
0:49:53 > 0:49:58Because we all thought it was very important that it was very accurate
0:49:58 > 0:50:00and very up to date.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03I told you, you can't operate it by yourself.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05She was going to do a shit in the bath.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07Better a shit in the bath than a stitch in the chin.
0:50:07 > 0:50:08Well, thank you, Confucius.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11Look, what are you going to put on the critical incident form?
0:50:11 > 0:50:13Shall I say that Pippa distracted me?
0:50:13 > 0:50:14Yeah, definitely.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Why don't we say that Hilary should have gotten the hoist mended.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21We had to use all the hoists, didn't we, because we had fulfil...
0:50:21 > 0:50:22That's right.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25Because all the patients, they had complaints about them stinking.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28Look, I mean, it's definitely Hilary's responsibility.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30He's your boyfriend, why can't you go and butter him up,
0:50:30 > 0:50:32or whatever it is he likes, and get us off the hook?
0:50:32 > 0:50:34He does owe me...
0:50:34 > 0:50:36£13.70. So...
0:50:36 > 0:50:38Yeah, OK. If I get the timing right, I think
0:50:38 > 0:50:40he might not take any further action.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42We're getting on brilliantly at the moment.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45- He tried to grope me outside the MDT this morning.- God, I feel sick.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48OK. Deep down he is nuts about me.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50He's certainly nuts.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52You'd done a bit of geriatric nursing, hadn't you?
0:50:52 > 0:50:54Yeah, but in the 1980s.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59And although the process of it is not that different these days,
0:50:59 > 0:51:03the structure of the NHS and the whole tiers of management
0:51:03 > 0:51:07are totally different. So, we kind of needed to know all that.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11But the drudgery and, you know, miserability, if that's a word,
0:51:11 > 0:51:16which it's not, of it all were exactly the same really, yeah.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20And the writing of it, you wrote it the three of you,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22you were physically there together?
0:51:22 > 0:51:24No, what we did at the beginning was,
0:51:24 > 0:51:27they wrote together and then sent me the scripts
0:51:27 > 0:51:32and I layered stuff on top or moved stuff around or whatever it was.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37Until series three, when we each wrote two episodes.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40I mean, they did want us to do more,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43and I think the door is still open if we want to.
0:51:43 > 0:51:48But Jo and Vicki have gone off to do a series about dog walkers,
0:51:48 > 0:51:49I hate animals.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52The dedication of Look Back In Hunger, the first memoir,
0:51:52 > 0:51:56is "To anyone out there who hasn't done what they want to do yet"
0:51:56 > 0:51:57which I was very struck by.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00It's hard to imagine other lives, but did you ever think about
0:52:00 > 0:52:04if you'd have stayed being a psychiatric nurse,
0:52:04 > 0:52:07whether you could or would've been happy?
0:52:07 > 0:52:10I do think about that a lot.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13And I think that I would've been happy.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16I don't think it would've been particularly because I was
0:52:16 > 0:52:20a psychiatric nurse, it would've been because I'm quite a happy person.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23I like people, I get on with people
0:52:23 > 0:52:26and I think I could pretty much do anything
0:52:26 > 0:52:28and be fairly contented.
0:52:28 > 0:52:34And I always think if my career fell apart and I, you know,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37I lost all my money, how would I feel?
0:52:37 > 0:52:40I'd feel all right really because I'd find something else to do.
0:52:40 > 0:52:46You know, I've done ridiculously awful jobs, like menial jobs,
0:52:46 > 0:52:50I've worked in a TB hospital clearing up poo,
0:52:50 > 0:52:52I've been a nurse, you know,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55I've done everything that most people would not want to do.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59And I would be happy to do any of that. It wouldn't bother me.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01You have been quoted as saying that whereas some women
0:53:01 > 0:53:04and indeed some men, they want to be parents,
0:53:04 > 0:53:07that's what they want, they imagine that happening,
0:53:07 > 0:53:10that it wasn't something you'd craved.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13No, I don't...
0:53:13 > 0:53:17I have friends, for example, who used to say to me,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20"I want a husband," right.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23And I would go, well it's not like going to a shop
0:53:23 > 0:53:25and getting a settee.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30It is a kind of developing situation, so you might get a husband
0:53:30 > 0:53:33and then after six months, they might have an affair with someone.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38Or they might not like you any more, or you might be bored by them.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42You know, you can't just want things for the sake of some fantasy
0:53:42 > 0:53:46image in your head that you think sounds great.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49Now, after puberty you left the oral phase.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Ooh, sounds fruity. What's the oral phase?
0:53:52 > 0:53:55This is when the mouth is the chief organ of pleasurable experience.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Don't think I ever left that phase.
0:53:58 > 0:53:59LAUGHTER
0:53:59 > 0:54:02You then entered the genital phase.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05In the genital phase, the mouth is...the mouth is...
0:54:05 > 0:54:06no longer important.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08Not as far as he's concerned.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10LAUGHTER
0:54:10 > 0:54:14And soon, of course, you'll be entering the anal phase.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16Oh, dream on, matey.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18LAUGHTER
0:54:21 > 0:54:23Two books of memoirs, which are striking for the fact that
0:54:23 > 0:54:26you say almost nothing about your husband and children.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28Was that deliberate?
0:54:28 > 0:54:31Yeah, that is deliberate.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Because I think if you're a so-called celebrity,
0:54:34 > 0:54:39the part of the world in which you can live in comfortably and privately
0:54:39 > 0:54:43shrinks ever inwards, really.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47Until it gets to your house, shall we say.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50And that's why for example, I don't...
0:54:50 > 0:54:54I don't tend to like doing interviews for tabloids.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56I don't really... I don't do Twitter,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59I don't do Facebook or anything like that.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02It may well be because I'm an elderly woman and I'm a bit
0:55:02 > 0:55:07of a luddite, but also it's because I just feel I want somewhere in
0:55:07 > 0:55:12my life I can go that's private, that I don't have to talk about, really.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15Do you keep your family away from showbiz?
0:55:15 > 0:55:17Well, my, I, you know...
0:55:17 > 0:55:20I believe that old showbiz adage, which is
0:55:20 > 0:55:22there's no such thing as a free lunch.
0:55:22 > 0:55:29And so, that, to me, involves situations where, you know,
0:55:29 > 0:55:33sometimes I get some really amazing invitations.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Like would I like to go down the Thames
0:55:36 > 0:55:39on a dragon boat with my children?
0:55:39 > 0:55:41And my children would love that, you know,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44and then go to the premier of some Disney film after they've
0:55:44 > 0:55:48stuffed themselves with E numbers on a dragon boat.
0:55:48 > 0:55:49HE CHUCKLES
0:55:49 > 0:55:53But the problem to me, with that is that you've got to pay them back
0:55:53 > 0:55:56for their favour. And what that means is
0:55:56 > 0:56:02me and my kids appearing in photos for OK Magazine.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05Now a lot of people go, "Well, what's the problem with that?"
0:56:05 > 0:56:12Why do you care that your kids are on show
0:56:12 > 0:56:15to anyone that wants to look at them?
0:56:15 > 0:56:18Well, because I do care, because I don't want everyone
0:56:18 > 0:56:23to look at my kids and sort of look at my family group,
0:56:23 > 0:56:27or to look at my house and where I sit down and watch TV or where I eat.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31Because I just think, well why is that anyone's business except mine?
0:56:31 > 0:56:35And I just simply don't understand the leap
0:56:35 > 0:56:39from privacy to throwing the whole lot open.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43I don't understand the people that do that and why they do it
0:56:43 > 0:56:45and why they think it's all right.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48And particularly, people that actually,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52like the Kardashians or people that do reality shows
0:56:52 > 0:56:57like the Osbournes, you know, they may argue that they're doing
0:56:57 > 0:57:02a kind of version of their reality and it's not really what it's like.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07But to me, once the cameras are rolling you are doing a version of
0:57:07 > 0:57:12you because everybody forgets that the cameras are there eventually.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15And everybody is themselves, I think.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18So far, as we've discussed in this interview, it's been stand-up,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22TV, books, is that how you would see it going in the future,
0:57:22 > 0:57:24a combination of those things?
0:57:25 > 0:57:30Yeah, I mean my favourite is stand-up really,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34and I'd be perfectly happy just to tour round small theatres
0:57:34 > 0:57:39for the rest of my time as an employed person.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43But, you know...
0:57:43 > 0:57:50I never had a kind of five year plan, or a ten year plan or whatever.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55I just assessed stuff as and when it came along, really.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00And that's kind of what I've always done and I think
0:58:00 > 0:58:03A, if you're a woman, and B, if you've got a family,
0:58:03 > 0:58:06that's the only way you can do it, really.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11Because I think pursuing a comedy career to the
0:58:11 > 0:58:15exclusion of everything else, which is what some comics do,
0:58:15 > 0:58:20which sadly means the exclusion of their family as well,
0:58:20 > 0:58:24is it doesn't lead to a satisfying existence, really.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27So I tend to put the family first
0:58:27 > 0:58:30and, if the comedy stuff fits in, great.
0:58:30 > 0:58:32But if it doesn't then I wouldn't do it.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35- Jo Brand, thank you very much. - Thank you very much.
0:58:35 > 0:58:37# From loving you
0:58:37 > 0:58:44# I can't stand up from falling down
0:58:44 > 0:58:50# I can't stand up from falling down, oh. #