Comedy
One Brand not made en masse Jo Brand reveals her charitable side to Chris Beanland. Just about.
26 Scout London scoutlondon.com
who manages the careers of Britain’s top comics through his Off The Kerb agency. He’ll also be producing this show through his TV offshoot, Open Mike Productions, responsible for (among other things) the wonderful Jack Dee vehicle, Lead Balloon. But how did Jo Brand get involved? “I’d like to say an owl flew into my bedroom with a letter in its beak, but I have done several events for Great Ormond Street Hospital in the past and was asked to take part by the organisers,” she explains, before slyly adding: “Sorry, it’s a bit of a boring story.” “What I like about the gala is that there are loads of different acts on, doing very short sets,” Brand tells us. “So if you don’t like someone, they’ll disappear in five minutes. Also the calibre of acts is very high, so you get a tip top evening’s entertainment. Except for me, of course. I’m just there to show older women are still managing to get on the telly.” Speaking of telly, I ask Jo whether there’ll be another series of her BBC panel show, Jo Brand’s Hot Potatoes. Her effortless reply: “Are you taking the piss?” It’s this no-nonsense approach that endears Brand to her fans. On that subject we’re also keen to know how much comics have to tone
down their routines for galas like this. After all, an arena-sized charity get-together peopled by the great and the good is rather different to a drunk, rambunctious Soho comedy club crowd. “I tend not to swear quite so much or do my rather more rabid material,” Brand explains. “But I don’t go as far as talking about knitting or flower arranging.” Good. The C4 Comedy Gala is not only one of the best comedy bills all year, it’s also worth seeing it live because you can bet your bottom dollar that in these jumpy times, Channel 4 will inevitably slice out all the rudest and most inflammatory material before they broadcast a somewhat neutered version on TV. After all, who can forget how much hot water the live screenings of the British Comedy Awards has got broadcasters into over the years? If not with Hot Potatoes, Brand has been busy lately with other projects: “I’ve just finished filming a new series of Getting On and am working on new stand up material which I’m hoping to tour with,” she tells us. What else is on Brand’s to do list this summer? She laughs. “Learning to wing walk.” The Channel 4 Comedy Gala, May 11, The O2, £40-£100
Piers Allardyce
W
hile the bill for this year’s Channel 4 Comedy Gala might look maledominated, Jo Brand is flying the flag for female comics. But are women in comedy getting a fair deal yet? “I wish I had enough time to write a 2000word essay about it for you, but I haven’t. It’s a very complex thing, which I can’t make a throwaway comment about, but I admire any woman who makes it in comedy,” deadpans Brand. As recently as the 1980s, when Brand broke through with her ice-cool demeanour and total lack of fear while discussing anything and everything that was near the knuckle, the standup scene was still incredibly laddish. Now, with Watson & Oliver on TV, Bridesmaids succeeding at the cinema, Lena Dunham’s acclaimed new show, Girls, and the likes of Sarah Silverman and Tina Fey becoming true power players, funny women no longer have to put up with the chauvinistic put-downs. Which fellow female comics does Brand admire right now? “I love Kathy Burke, Dawn French, Liza Tarbuck, Sarah Solemani and Sharon Horgan,” she tells Scout London. “And Edwina Currie makes me laugh for the wrong reasons.” We can all empathise with that one. There should have been more women on the bill for Channel 4’s annual Comedy Gala a fundraiser for Great Ormond Steet Children’s Hospital. Still, the line-up is one which certainly whets the appetite. Jonathan Ross, Jack Whitehall, Sean Lock, Micky Flanagan, Seann Walsh, Jon Richardson, Lee Nelson (aka Simon Brodkin) and Michael McIntyre will all be doing a (very) short turn on stage of 10 minutes or less. It’s an impressively solid bill and if you’re wondering how the channel managed to get so many big names together in one place it’s because uber-agent, Addison Cresswell told the comedians they had to turn up. Cresswell is the strongman who famously negotiated his mate Jonathan Ross’s £18m salary with the BBC and