Jo Brand's first job was at Dr Barnardo's home - following in the footsteps of her social worker mother. After this, she moved to London and famously became a psychiatric nurse - the daily parade of drug addicts, alcohol abuse and the clinically depressed, giving her the sense of humour and bravado to deal with any comedy audience.

Jo Brand was a pioneer of the alternative comedy scene, she started performing at the age of 29, in 1987, under the name The Sea Monster, it only took her two years to be able to turn pro. Jo was central to the British alternative comedy movement, working London alternative comedy clubs, and appearing initially on the UK Saturday Night Live television show. In 1993, her transition into the mainstream was confirmed when she obtained her own series on Channel 4, Jo Brand Through the Cakehole.

Jo's material, about her weight and men, made here a bete noire among those who despised the rise of alternative comedy, most notably The Sun's TV critic Garry Bushell.

With a shaved head and Doc Marten boots, her image (and comedic material) for most of the 80s and 90s was inspired at least in part by radicalised feminism but, despite rumours to the contrary, she is not lesbian. She was for a while romatically involved with Malcolm Hardee, who had initially persuaded her to become a comic. Jo is currently married with two children.

More recently her humour has softened and she has been a guest on such television shows as Have I Got News For You, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and QI. She has had several solo television series, and presented shows such as Jo Brand's Commercial Breakdown. She also appeared on StarSpell, a spin off from HardSpell, during 2004.

In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.

She showed a whole different side to her talents on Celebrity Fame Academy for Comic Relief in 2003, and has proved herself an un-willing fashion victim on the BBC1 special What Not To Wear On The Red Carpet!

Jo has now written two books, A Load of Old Balls and A Load of Old Ball Crunchers, about leading men and women of history. Her first novel, Sorting Out Billy was published in 2004 and she now has a second, It's Different for Girls out now.