Katherine Frances Brand (born 1979), known as Katy Brand, is an English actress, comedian and writer, known for her ITV2 series '' Katy Brand's Big Ass Show'' and for Comedy Lab ''Slap'' on Channel 4.

Early life and education

Brand was born in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

, England, in 1979, and enjoyed making people laugh with her impressions as a young child. Brand attended

St Clement Danes School St Clement Danes School is a mixed academy school in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire. Admissions St Clement Danes is a partially selective school, providing education to students aged 11 (Year 7) through to 18 (Year 13). Most students are admit ...

in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire. Following a summer holiday at 13 with friends who were evangelical Christians she embraced their faith and attended church five times a week. Motivated to read

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, t ...

, she then lost her religious beliefs while a student. Interviewed for the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' in 2007, she commented: "After about a year, I realised it was mostly rubbish and that things are never as simple as they seem when you are 13". While at Oxford, she started to write and perform comedy, musicals and serious plays, joining the

Oxford Revue The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists. The Revue ...

and the university's dramatic society. Brand won '' Celebrity Mastermind'' in an edition broadcast in May 2021.

Career

After graduation, Brand did not work as a performer, gaining employment in television production for five years instead, but her social encounters with university contemporaries ultimately convinced her to try working as a comedian. In 2004 she wrote a comedy

monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

, performing it around a few pubs in London before joining Ealing Live, a weekly live spot. Brand established her name with her solo stand-up act at the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 2005. In 2008, she collaborated with

Katherine Parkinson Katherine Jane Parkinson (born 9 March 1978) is an English actress. She appeared in Channel 4's ''The IT Crowd'' comedy series as Jen Barber, for which she received a British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 and 2014, and was nominated twic ...

, one of her friends from university, on a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

series called ''Mouth Trap''. Brand performed in ''Katy Brand's Big Ass Tour 2010''. She also competed on '' Let's Dance for Sport Relief'' in 2010, in which she danced to Beyoncé's " Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Also in 2010, she made a guest appearance on the song " Stop Giving Me Verses" by The Hoosiers, which was an attempt to break the world record for the longest single ever released. In 2011, Brand took part in the BBC Learning project "Off By Heart Shakespeare", where she played the role of Titania from '' A Midsummer Night’s Dream'' and delivered a performance of the speech "Out of this wood do not desire to go". In 2011 she guest-hosted a '' Children in Need'' special episode of ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hoste ...

'', and has participated in several other episodes of the show. In December 2012 she participated in the 2012 Christmas Special of the dance show, ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

''. Her partner was Anton du Beke; they came second to last. Brand presented the

Penguin Podcast Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapte ...

for Penguin Books until February 2021, which included interviews with authors such as

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as '' War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storyte ...

(''War Horse''),

Markus Zusak Markus Zusak (born 23 June 1975) is an Australian writer with Austrian and German roots. He is best known for '' The Book Thief'' and '' The Messenger'' (US title: ''I Am the Messenger''), two novels which became international bestsellers ...

(''The Book Thief'') and Gabourey Sidibe. She published her debut novel ''Brenda Monk is Funny'' in 2014, a story about a woman trying to establish a career as a comedian. Her debut play ''3Women'' starring Anita Dobson opened at Trafalgar Studios 2 in May 2018 and is published by Samuel French. Her latest book ''I Carried a Watermelon'' was published by HarperCollins Publishers in October 2019. In March 2020, she took the role of Miss Hedge in the West End musical '' Everybody's Talking About Jamie''. , the comedy

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande ''Good Luck to You, Leo Grande'' is a 2022 sex comedy-drama film directed by Sophie Hyde and written by Katy Brand. The film stars Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack. The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on 22 Janu ...

'', scripted by Brand, starring Emma Thompson and directed by

Sophie Hyde Sophie Hyde is an Australian film director, writer and producer based in Adelaide, South Australia. She is co-founder of Closer Productions and known for her award-winning debut fiction film, '' 52 Tuesdays'' (2013) and the comedy drama ''Anim ...

, is in the

pre-production Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content st ...

stage. It has since been completed and aired on Hulu.

Awards

In 2008 she won "Best Female Newcomer" in the 2008

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

. and was also nominated for a Royal Television Society Award the same year.

Filmography

References

External links

Official Katy Brand Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Katy 1979 births Living people Alumni of Keble College, Oxford English film actresses English impressionists (entertainers) English radio actresses English television actresses English television writers English voice actresses English women comedians People educated at St. Clement Danes School British women screenwriters British women television writers