JO BRAND: Why Every Chapter of Your Life Teaches You Something | GREAT MOMENTS

Jo Brand is a laugh a minute. As a comedian, writer and actress, she has been making the nation laugh for decades. I wanted to revisit my conversation with Jo because, beyond the laughs, she's so wise and knowledgeable about the world. There’s something in our conversation for everyone to take away. In this Great Moment, Jo opens up about how being a psychiatric nurse helped her as a stand-up comedian, and how she was able to hilariously heckle her hecklers. Listen to the full episode HERE https://open.spotify.com/episode/2BHk5fGEZ5E5goLlXelj6T?si=JNGL051kSsuhqS7sh3Zn0w! If you enjoyed the show, you can also follow us: Instagram-@greatcompanypodcast https://www.instagram.com/greatcompanypodcast/# TikTok -@greatcompanypodcast https://open.acast.com/networks/611e511b4ec6dc00134bced2/shows/65d737dfdc02e00016c413b2/episodes/www.tiktok.com/@greatcompanypodcast And if you've got thoughts, questions and comments, you can email us at: [email protected] THE CREDITS Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins Video: Josh Bennett Social Media: Laura Coughlan Snr Producer: Helen Burke Exec Producers: Ewan Newbigging-Lister & Jemima Rathbone Great Company is an original podcast from JamPot Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at go.o.gle/workspacewithgemini. That's go.o.gle/workspacewithgemini.

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• 2:09Speaker 03

  Hi, folks. This is Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman. And I'm here to suggest that you host Thanksgiving with industry-leading quality standards from Whole Foods Market. There are, as usual, no antibiotics ever in their meat department. So carve up turkey and spiral cut ham with peace of mind. Shop organic sides like stuffing mix and cranberry sauce from 365 Brand. And guess what? All of their fabulous, delectable pies are made with no high-fructose corn syrup. Where else are you going to find that? Gourmet Thanksgiving flavors with the quality you want, only at Whole Foods Market.

• 2:55Jamie Laing?

  Hello, everyone. I'm Jamie Laing, and this is Great Moments.

• 3:01Jamie Laing?

  Hey, guys. Welcome back to Great Moments. Now, this week, I want to look back at one of my conversations with the legend that is Jo Brand. Honestly, Jo is one of the funniest people I know. She's so kind and so funny and just so incredible, probably one of the funniest people in the UK. And Jo was also one of the first guests on the show. So I owe her a lot. And it's such a brilliant conversation. I knew I had to share a little slice of it for you today. Now, if you like this episode, all you've got to do is click on the show notes and it'll take you to the full episode. So go and do that if you like this little snippet. So sit back and enjoy this great moments with the one and only Jo Brand.

• 3:38Jamie Laing?

  When did you first realize that you were funny?

• 3:43Speaker 05

  Well, I thought I was funny as a child, but then I saw an interview. For some reason, they went to talk to my granddad. He said, I was very grumpy and I had no idea. So yeah, it's difficult to say. I think I was the middle child and I had two brothers. And they were like complete pranksters and would torment me, basically. And I think my favorite episode with them ever was where we lived in the middle of nowhere in Kent and we used to go and play in the woods all day like you were allowed to in those days.

• 4:18Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 4:20Speaker 05

  And I remember once I trod in a wasp's nest and like this massive swarm of wasps sort of came out. And my brothers ran one way and I ran the other. And they chased my brothers and stung them really badly. I was so delighted at the time. I was only seven.

• 4:35Jamie Laing?

  But it's true. It's funny when you, I think also growing up with brothers, because I had sisters and I had a younger sister and I gave her a hard time.

• 4:44Speaker 05

  Did you?

• 4:44Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, I did give her a hard time, but in a sort of loving way. And

• 4:48Speaker 05

  How do you give someone a hard time in a loving way?

• 4:50Jamie Laing?

  I don't know. I used to, I used to do all sorts of things. Like she had a horse and she had a horse. Trying to make it relatable. She had a horse, she had a pony called Teazle. And every single time we had an argument, didn't matter where in the world it was, I would then go and pick up a stone and say, this is going to kill Teazle and throw it. And she would hate it. But what it

• 5:12Speaker 05

  I'm not surprised she would hate it.

• 5:13Jamie Laing?

  She would hate it. But I think when you have that sort of relationship, especially maybe with brothers, it gives you, my sister definitely has this sort of, I don't know, this sort of inner confidence as well in a strange way. I don't know if your brothers gave you that.

• 5:30Speaker 05

  Because you sort of learned how to deal with it?

• 5:33Jamie Laing?

  Yes.

• 5:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I suppose you're just trying to make yourself look good there. But I taught my sister inner strength. Oh, well done. No, I'm joking. Yeah, I suppose so. I kind of got, I mean, they were awful to me.

• 5:49Jamie Laing?

  Were they really?

• 5:50Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, I once was sat on a five-bar gate and my brother, my little brother Matt pushed it and it swung shut and I fell off the back. And as I fell off, my arm got sort of ripped open on barbed wire. And what did my brothers do? Pissed themselves laughing. I had half my arm hanging out and I had to walk home on my own. And then, of course, my mom and dad were, and you know, we went to A and E and everything. Yeah. But it was sort of, it was kind of a bit like that, really.

• 6:21Jamie Laing?

  But were you, were you, because did you become a rebel? Were you a bit of a rebel?

• 6:26Speaker 05

  Event, yes, well, I say eventually, yes, I was. I mean, I got chucked out of home when I was 16.

• 6:31Jamie Laing?

  What was that for?

• 6:32Speaker 05

  Well, for having a boyfriend who was a local drug dealer. And also my parents hate, my dad was like very left-wing when he was younger. And this boyfriend was extremely posh. And he, he brought me home quite late one night. And of course, my dad loved doing that kind of like old man brand thing where he said to me, what do you mean by bringing my daughter home at this time? And all this kind of thing. And this guy said to him, but my dear chap, right?

• 7:03Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 7:04Speaker 05

  Which my dad, you know, hated that sort of thing and thought it was patronizing. And he said, don't say anything like that to me again or I'm going to hit you. And so he went, but my dear chap, the fool. So my dad hit him and knocked him out.

• 7:20Speaker 05

  You know, yeah, absolutely.

• 7:23Jamie Laing?

  What?

• 7:24Speaker 05

  And the thing, and the thing with my dad, just to say, is that my dad suffered from quite severe depression. And I think that was the big part of his temper and his violence. He was violent on occasions, so.

• 7:37Jamie Laing?

  Was he?

• 7:37Speaker 05

  He was, yeah.

• 7:39Jamie Laing?

  Towards, towards you?

• 7:40Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:41Jamie Laing?

  Jo.

• 7:42Speaker 05

  It's all right. It's all right. I'm over it.

• 7:44Jamie Laing?

  Are you sure?

• 7:46Speaker 05

  I am.

• 7:46Jamie Laing?

  You could talk to me. We're here. We could talk to you.

• 7:48Speaker 05

  Thanks.

• 7:49Jamie Laing?

  But that's, that's, because I did, I heard, well, I read that you, your father was undiagnosed. And he, if I'm right in saying, he had depressive episodes. And you said that though he would go through these episodes a lot. And that must be tricky because as a kid, you don't really understand what's going on.

• 8:10Speaker 05

  No, you just think they're being horrible.

• 8:12Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 8:13Speaker 05

  Yeah. Yeah, he was for a long time. He didn't, he wouldn't go and see anyone about it. My mom tried to persuade him for years. And then eventually he did when he was in his mid 50s. And he was prescribed antidepressants and it absolutely changed his life and it changed him.

• 8:30Jamie Laing?

  Did it really?

• 8:31Speaker 05

  It really did, yeah. And as an ex-mental health nurse, I wouldn't say antidepressants are the answer to every type of depression. But certainly with him, it was, you know, life-changing, really. It was really interesting.

• 8:45Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, I, someone said to me, there are side effects to antidepressants. But the side effects to depression is suicide. So why wouldn't you give them a try? And I kind of really agree with that. And it, so it completely changed his life for the better. He became, he dealt with life much easier then.

• 9:03Speaker 05

  Yeah, and he was very different. He was like much more relaxed, more humorous, you know? It really made a huge difference to him. Yeah, yeah.

• 9:12Jamie Laing?

  But was that hard growing up?

• 9:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, it was very hard. It was very hard because, because he was, he had kind of odd ideas as well. He was very strict about, particularly me because I was the only girl, you know? About me going out, about me going out with blokes, about, about all that sort of thing. And I really, I remember they let me have a 16th birthday party. And you can imagine what that was like. They said, we'll go out and we won't come home till midnight. And of course, it all went like it does. And they came home an hour early and a friend of mine, who was really pissed, opened the door and threw up on my dad's feet. So that didn't bode well.

• 9:57Speaker 05

  And then he just kind of rampaged around the house, shouting and threatening everyone and found some guy asleep in the car outside. And went, right, give me his parents' number. And so rang the father up and said, will you come and get your drunk son who's asleep in his car? This poor guy was obviously used to his son being drunk and going to sleep in the car and really didn't want to get up at night, half 12 at night.

• 10:23Jamie Laing?

  Have to go.

• 10:23Speaker 05

  Yeah, I know. So, yeah, it was, it was like that. I mean, God bless him because he's not around anymore. But in our village, because we lived in a little village, probably from up until when I was about 11 or 12, in the village, he was known as Old Man Brand. And I worked out how old he was at the time. He was 37 when someone called him that. Because he would, because we had a war memorial opposite our house.

• 10:50Jamie Laing?

  It's nearly my age. That's hilarious.

• 10:54Speaker 05

  You're thirty seven.

• 10:54Jamie Laing?

  I'm thirty five, so nearly that, yeah.

• 10:56Speaker 05

  Well, we, there was a war memorial and so like some kind of like biker types would go and hang around and make loads of noise. And he would go out and run at them and shout at them and wave a stick at them. You know, it was.

• 11:09Jamie Laing?

  But you then move into, so you go and work as a nurse and you're specialising in sort of mental health.

• 11:16Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 11:17Jamie Laing?

  And the, the interesting thing about that is that the culture, as we said back then, was totally different to it is now.

• 11:21Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 11:22Jamie Laing?

  You know, so when, when people come in for diagnosis, whether they are depressed or anxious, or they are going through a schizophrenic moment, whatever it is, how has that changed to when it was then to when it is now? Cause now people come in and everyone's very empathetic, very, and understanding, whereas before.

• 11:40Speaker 05

  Oh, we were empathetic.

• 11:41Jamie Laing?

  Were you?

• 11:42Speaker 05

  You're thinking too far back to one fly over the cuckoo's nest.

• 11:44Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, when you and Shutter Island.

• 11:47Speaker 05

  No, it wasn't like that, not at all. And, um, it was, you know, I, I worked on a selection of different types of wards when I was training. So general psychiatry wards, adolescents. I worked on the locked ward. So I got a very good experience, but I ended up full time on the walk-in twenty-four hour emergency clinic, which just was a fantastic service, which shut down years ago where, at the hospital I was at, where anyone literally could walk off the street who was worried about their mental health and see someone. It was like A and E really, um, for people with mental health problems.

• 12:28Jamie Laing?

  But was it called mental health?

• 12:29Speaker 05

  No, it was called psychiatry.

• 12:31Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 12:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, it was called, you know, I was called a psychiatric nurse, not a mental health nurse.

• 12:36Jamie Laing?

  But the juxtaposition is so interesting because you're doing all of that and you're working in that space. But then you're doing comedy as well at the same time.

• 12:44Speaker 05

  I did them both for two years.

• 12:45Jamie Laing?

  That is wild. How, so that is the, cause that's quite, that's very heavy. One side you're doing, and I'm sure there, there's some interesting moments, but then you have this completely opposite side. And what I, what I find your stage name to begin with, and I'm hope I'm getting this right. Please say I'm getting it right, was Sea Monster.

• 13:07Speaker 05

  The Sea Monster.

• 13:08Jamie Laing?

  The Sea Monster. So, and what I find amazing is when is that first moment that you go, you know what? I'm going to give this a go.

• 13:19Speaker 05

  I think I probably wanted to do it for quite a long time because I, I, I loved comedy when I was a kid, you know? And I think, I suppose I somehow in thought in one form or another, the world's a miserable place. And if people can laugh for a bit, it makes it better, even if it's temporary. I suppose I thought that. So that's in a way, another side to being a nurse, if you like, to make people laugh and feel better for a bit.

• 13:44Jamie Laing?

  Cause you were doing that, weren't you? All the time within being a nurse, you were trying to cheer people up.

• 13:49Speaker 05

  Yeah, in a, in a, in a therapeutic form, might I add. Oh, I did sort of have laughs with people. Because another thing that people think, I think because, you know, in the olden days, people with mental health problems were so dehumanised by the press or by, you know, the way that people would talk about them. A lot of people would think, oh, I can't talk to them because either they'll pull out a machete and try and kill me, or, or they'll be so weird that I won't be able to talk to them, you know? And obviously there's a proportion of people who are very ill and they've lost touch with reality. And yes, they're not that easy to talk to or identify with in any way.

• 14:31Speaker 05

  But, but that's what your nurse training is for. Um, and, and, and you know, with me, I just found, I, like I said, you know, you said, I like people and I liked being in, in that job where we could try and, try and help.

• 14:47Jamie Laing?

  But it's interesting because you then, the comedy on the side you're doing it, because you were hit with a lot of criticism to begin with. You know.

• 14:53Speaker 05

  Oh, that's still going on. I won't worry about that. I've had that for nearly forty years.

• 14:57Jamie Laing?

  But I had stories or I.

• 15:00Speaker 05

  Say anything you like. Honestly, I can't, you know, I, there is nothing in, I know what, because the weird thing about.

• 15:07Jamie Laing?

  You would spat at or throw drinks at or.

• 15:10Speaker 05

  I've had drinks thrown at me, yeah.

• 15:12Jamie Laing?

  Shouted names, calling you net cow and all these different.

• 15:15Speaker 05

  Much worse than that.

• 15:17Jamie Laing?

  What, what is the worst thing that people were shouting? You'd, on stage and one person, I heard one of your first gigs. Someone was just the whole time heckling you the whole way through, calling you something.

• 15:24Speaker 05

  That was my first ever gig and someone started chanting. And actually it was a comic who, who, who did it. And he, he was pissed and he just started shouting, fuck off, you fat cow, over and over again, until I fucked off.

• 15:42Jamie Laing?

  But that is, because I just, where do you get that resilience? Because any normal individual going to give it a go for the first time would just go, do you know what? Fuck this. I'm not doing this. I don't, I don't, I don't care about this. You know, I don't want these, these drunk idiots to just to be calling me these names. I just can't. What, how, what is the resilience?

• 16:03Speaker 05

  I think there were several aspects. So one was me, you know, and my upbringing. And I, you know, I'd had a lot of issues with my dad. So I wasn't kind of out of touch with people sort of being horrible to me. Cause my dad, not all the time, but had been horrible to me. And we'd had to all learn to live with that, us kids. So there was that. There was also working as a nurse, um, and in, in the, the emergency clinic. People's emotions were very heightened. So they would be quite abusive. And particularly towards me because I was in charge. So I was the one who was always wheeled out to say, I'm sorry, we're not going to admit you, or I'm afraid we can't give you any valium, or I'm sorry, you're too drunk to be assessed, you'll have to leave.

• 16:48Speaker 05

  So I was like, I was like the head of that cohort that headed towards them. So I was used to really getting some much better abuse than I got when I was a comic, to be honest with you.

• 17:01Jamie Laing?

  Really?

• 17:01Speaker 05

  Much more imaginative and much more cutting.

• 17:04Jamie Laing?

  What do you mean cut? Like.

• 17:06Speaker 05

  Well, so like, for example, when someone just said, fuck off, you fat cow, it, it wasn't like, you know, I hadn't heard it before.

• 17:15Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 17:15Speaker 05

  And I kind of heard it before better, you know, that would be accompanied by a side dish of how they were going to kill me. Or they were going to rape me or whatever it was. So no one's ever said that. Well, they've said quite bad things in an audience, but you know, on the whole, there was never anything as bad as I got when I was a nurse. And I got hit when I was a nurse. No audience members ever hit me.

• 17:39Jamie Laing?

  Wow.

• 17:40Speaker 05

  I've had beer thrown at me, but you know.

• 17:42Jamie Laing?

  That is insane. Cause that is, I mean, that is, that resilience is huge. Cause normally you, that's, you just able to get through it and not worry about it too much and just say, well, these are just words. It doesn't really matter. I've seen it before.

• 17:54Speaker 05

  So you understand that the vast majority of those people that do that are ill.

• 18:00Jamie Laing?

  Yeah.

• 18:00Speaker 05

  You know, and so it, it, it's not their fault. They need help rather than.

• 18:05Jamie Laing?

  Yeah, but there's an excuse that, and I get that. You can, you can sort of put that in a corner and say, right, they're ill. But when you're in the comedy circuit trying out and then people are saying it to you, you're just like, hang on a second, what's going on here? I, I, for me, I would, maybe I'm too sensitive at times.

• 18:19Speaker 05

  Well, I think you're probably the normal one. I think, I think everyone is sensitive really. And it's a question of how you deal with it. I mean, with me, like with the fat thing, my thing was that I would always go on and try and be funnier about my weight than they were. And it was very easy because they weren't very funny about it, the audience, because they always used to say the same thing. You know, it was that they didn't sit at home and write really witty heckles. Whereas I sat at home and tried to write heckle put downs.

• 18:51Jamie Laing?

  So what was your best heckle you had?

• 18:54Speaker 05

  I, heckle put down or heckle?

• 18:56Jamie Laing?

  I want to hear both, if you go.

• 18:57Speaker 05

  Right. Uh, what was my best heckle? Well, I, I used to like the sweet heckles, to be honest, you know? And I think if someone heckles and it's really funny, you should just acknowledge that. Um, because that they've said something really funny.

• 19:13Jamie Laing?

  So if I was to shout at you, I'd go, get off your fat cow.

• 19:17Speaker 05

  Well, if I had a particular fat one that I, and I would say something like, oh, I, don't worry. I deliberately keep my weight up. So a tosser like you won't fancy me. So that would get a bigger laugh than the original heckle. So you kind of knew one, you know?

• 19:53Speaker 01

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• 20:59Speaker 00

  Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, emails, spreadsheets and our shared Google Doc, the headline hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalised AI for the way we work.

• 21:18Speaker 07

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