Published in 2009
311 pages
Josephine “Jo” Grace Brand is a BAFTA winning English stand-up comedienne, writer and actress. Commencing her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand up scene and early performances on Saturday Live, she went on to appearances on The Brain Drain, Channel 4’s Jo Brand Through the Cakehole, Getting On and various television appearances including as a regular guest on QI. In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.
What is this book about?
Jo Brand is one of Britain’s funniest and best-loved stand-up comics, with a distinctive voice and “quite amusing” jokes according to a few posh students she’s met. But what attracted her to a career in the harsh, unforgiving spotlight of stand-up?
From “nice little girl” to teenage nightmare, to psychiatric nurse, Jo spills the beans. She talks about her unconventional mum whose independent spirit inspired her and wound her up in equal measure; the traumatic teenage romance that foundered at least four times a month; the loveable patients who, even so, tested her patience; and the horror of her first gig which marked the beginning of a career as that rare species – an incredibly popular female stand-up… according to her family.
Look Back in Hunger is Jo’s candid account of the friendships, the loves, the laughter, the people and the pints that have defined the life of a woman who never takes anything lying down, although she does quite like lying down.
