Katy Brand
Katy Brand

All About Me

I started writing and performing at home and at school when I was very young.  My first memory of making someone laugh was doing an impression of Margaret Thatcher for one of my Dad's work colleagues - I didn't know who Margaret Thatcher was, but I knew she had a silly voice and that was enough for me.

 

I sang and took dancing classes, taking part in concerts at school and in local theatres.  I also won several awards for creative writing.

 

I got a place at Oxford University to study Theology, and there I joined OUDS and the Oxford Revue, writing and performing comedy, musicals and straight plays. After graduating, I worked in TV production for around five years, running, researching and APing on many different shows.  

 

I decided in 2004 to get back into performing and wrote myself a comedy monologue.  I booked myself a few open spots in pubs in London and got the chance to join a group of sketch comedians to write and perform a weekly live sketch show at the Ealing Film Studios, called Ealing Live!  

 

In 2005 I took my debut Edinburgh show ‘Celebrities Are Gods’to the Fringe, which was immediately picked up for a Comedy Lab for Channel 4 (‘Slap’).  

 

This later became my award-winning ITV sketch show, Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show’,which I devised, wrote and starred in. It ran for three series, and later became a nationwide live tour.  I won a British Comedy Award for the show in 2008, and was also nominated for an RTS Award.  During this period, I wrote Mouthtrapwith Katherine Parkinson which ran for two series on Radio 4.  The pair also performed in the show.

 

Since then I have written for and appeared in numerous radio and TV shows from Radio 4’s News Quiz to Channel 4’s Peep Show, and has also undertaken script editing work.  These include ‘Katy Brand’s Christmas Cracker’ for SKY and ‘Common People: Eleanor’ for Baby Cow and SKY.  

 

I also developed a feature script ‘Settle Down’ with Emma Thompson with funding from the BFI and Scott Free.  This led to further script work for others including most recently Vertigo Films, and Fudge Park (the company owned by Inbetweeners creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley) on their upcoming feature ‘The Festival’.   

 

I have also acted in a wide array of TV, Film and Radio shows, alongside regular live work.  These include 'Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang', 'Peep Show', 'Grandpa's Great Escape', 'Annually Retentive,' 'Mongrels' and 'Psychobitches'.

 

My debut novel published ‘Brenda Monk is Funny’ (‘essential reading’ – Irvine Welsh) was published by Unbound in 2014.  

 

In 2016, I took my first stand-up comedy show 'I Was A Teenage Christian' to the Edinburgh Fringe ('intelligent story-telling...she makes us hang on her every word' - The Times; 'The church's loss is comedy's gain' - Evening Standard) and later toured with it nationwide.  I returned to the Fringe in 2017 with the follow-up show, 'I Could've Been An Astronaut' ('Laugh out loud funny' - The Skinny).

 

My debut play ‘3Women’starring Anita Dobson opened at Trafalgar Studios 2 in May 2018 (‘it has heart and lots of laughs’ The Daily Mail, ‘sharp and convincing’ The Guardian, ‘witty and insightful – I really recommend this’ Woman’s Hour BBC Radio 4), and is published by Samuel French.  

 

I present ‘The Origin of Stuff’ on BBC Radio 4, a show which looks at the history, science and design behind everyday objects.

 
I currently host the Penguin Podcast, where I interview leading authors about their latest book.

 

My new book 'I Carried A Watermelon', part memoir-part homage to 'Dirty Dancing' will be published by HQ Harper Collins on October 24th, 2019.

 

 

 

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Hi there, thanks for visiting.  I am an award-winning comedian, writer and actor, known for Katy Brand's Big Ass Show, which ran on British TV for three series.  I have appeared in films, TV shows, radio programmes and live on stage.  I have also written for other people's shows and for magazines and newspapers.

 

My novel, Brenda Monk is Funny, is available from Unbound, Amazon and both good and bad bookshops.

 

My play, 3Women, is availble to buy from Samuel French Ltd.

 

Lots going on, so please do check back for regular updates.

 

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