Katherine Frances Brand is an English actress, comedian and writer, known for her ITV2 series Katy Brand's Big Ass Show and for Comedy LabSlap on Channel 4.
Early life
Brand attended St Clement Danes School. 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 at Keble College, Oxford, she then lost her religious beliefs while a student. Interviewed for the Evening Standard 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".
Career
After graduation, Brand did not work as a performer, gaining employment in television production instead, but her social encounters with university contemporaries ultimately convinced her to try working as a comedian. In 2008, she collaborated with Katherine Parkinson, one of her friends from university, on a BBC Radio 4 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 ". 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 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 also guest hosted a Children in Need special episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In December 2012 she participated in the 2012 Christmas Special of the dance show, Strictly Come Dancing. Her partner was Anton du Beke; they came second to last. Katy currently presents the Penguin Podcast for Penguin Books, recently interviewing authors such as Sir Michael Morpurgo, Markus Zusak and Gabourey Sidibe. Katy published her debut novelBrenda Monk is Funny in 2014. 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 will be published by HaperCollins Publishers in October 2019. In March 2020, she took the role of Miss Hedge in the hit West End musicalEverybody’s Talking About Jamie.
