I’ve never, ever had people being aggressive to me in public or abusing me, and actually quite a lot of men do say to me, ‘You’re quite good’ – though they can’t bear to go, ‘You’re great.’ – Jo Brand
Over the years I attempted to make my style a bit more relaxed ’cause the initial style you couldn’t watch for more than ten minutes without wanting to kill me. – Jo Brand
There are 10-20 times more male comics than female comics; it’s something to do with the social structure of society. – Jo Brand
I wouldn’t say I was organised at all. I just have to prioritise. Is it more important for them to be organised, or to have their dinner, do you know what I mean? – Jo Brand
My father was an engineer and my mother was a social worker, and they met as young socialists. That probably tells you everything you need to know about my attitude to money – I’ve never really been bothered about it. – Jo Brand
What they did was to make a pilot and it may well go to series at the next festival but I don’t have any news on that. It’s already been on Paramount actually, but as it’s on Paramount it’ll probably be on several more times… hopefully. – Jo Brand
I can honestly say I’ve never sold any arms to a repressive foreign regime while reassuring everyone at home that the weapons will be used for nice things. – Jo Brand
People are so different in reality from the picture created of them on TV. So it’s all a creation; everything is made up. – Jo Brand
I have friends who vote Tory, and I’m appalled, but that’s not to say they’re not great people in so many other ways. – Jo Brand
I have big friends who won’t go swimming because they’re too embarrassed about it. I feel that’s such a shame, because actually people should be encouraging fat people who are exercising to do it, not pointing and laughing. – Jo Brand
I used to do bell ringing in Benenden church. It was really good fun, actually. My best friend’s dad was the local vicar, and so it was expected as her best friend that I would go to church every Sunday with her. – Jo Brand
I used to get a lot of people saying ‘Oh, you are such a lucky granny.’ But the fact of the matter is you can be a grandma at 35 these days. – Jo Brand
I like to read my diary occasionally to remind myself what a miserable, alienated old sod I used to be. – Jo Brand
I used to get nervous about three weeks before a gig… now I’ve managed to condense it down to a manageable ten minutes. – Jo Brand
It’s inevitable that if you do okay on something like that you don’t just annoy people, that it will make a difference because it seemed like such a lot of people so, yes I would have to say that it has done. – Jo Brand
I had always fancied a go at the comedy and when it started to go reasonably well and the opportunity arose for me to move into it full time, I just couldn’t turn it down. I just took the risk, and I just wanted to see if it would work and thankfully it did. – Jo Brand
I tend to think the world is a bit of a miserable place, so anyone who can add to people’s optimistic, cheerful side is doing a good job, which is what I hope I’m doing. – Jo Brand
If I am totally honest, I would have to say that ‘Allo ‘Allo!’ was not my cup of tea, even though lots of people loved it. For that reason, I find comedy fascinating. There is a huge difference between what people find funny. – Jo Brand
I’m not a flag waver for obesity. It’s not healthy, and you have a crap life because there is such a downer on it. – Jo Brand
My mum and my husband are from Irish backgrounds, so we have a lot of potatoes. Chips, mashed, boiled, new potatoes, I love them all. Even the slightly wonky ones like Duchess potatoes that go up in a little spiral. – Jo Brand
One thing lots of Christians do have in common is that they can’t help coming across as smug. This winds lots of people up, particularly because famous Christians pronounce on the life of the poor from their very lovely affluent homes filled with their very lovely families and attractive pets. – Jo Brand
The funny thing is, I don’t actually think of myself as fat at all. I don’t think I am. Not really. – Jo Brand
Who do I like? I am a big fan of French and Saunders – not that that they are particularly stand-up I have to say, but I think they have been great for women and they are of themselves just incredibly funny whether they are male or female. – Jo Brand
There are comics who treat women fairly appallingly. But I can be great friends with them because I don’t tend to do that ticking of boxes: it can make life too simplistic. – Jo Brand
I love everything about books. I love the content, the way they look and even the lovely way they smell. I think a book collection says something about you as a person, and certainly my books are something I’d want to pass on for future generations. – Jo Brand
I still get blokes who say, ‘Oh you hate men, don’t you?’ And I say, ‘No, I just hate you.’ I really love doing that, just to see the look on their faces. – Jo Brand
I think it’s difficult, if you’re a quite private person like I am, to write about your life very intimately. – Jo Brand