As a stand-up comedian in the Nineties, Jo Brand used to do a gag to let all the blokes in the audience know she wasn’t on their side: ‘The best way to a man’s heart is…through his hanky pocket with a bread knife.’
It can at least be said that her incendiary joke on Radio Four’s right-on debate show Heresy on Tuesday was not out of character. Commenting on the fad for flinging sticky drinks at politicians, she said, ‘Why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?’
But to fans of her appearances on family shows such as Countdown or The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice, such bile must seem inexplicable. Why would such a well-loved figure, regarded as an outstanding comic writer as well as genial performer, say something so irresponsibly vicious?
Jo Brand appears on a Comic Relief special version of Bake Off in January 2013 – her recent comments about hurling battery acid are at odds with her more jolly television outings
Brand performing at Sadlers Wells Theatre in London, in 1995. The comedian refused to apologise for her comments on BBC’s Heresy outside her home on Thursday
Jo Brand performing as the Genie of the Ring at a pantomime version of Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre in December 2013
Brand pictured very early in her career performing on Friday Night Live in the 1980s
The answer, as anyone who has followed the 61-year-old’s career since she broke through on Channel Four’s anarchic Friday Night Live in the Eighties will know, is that Brand has always had two sides to her public persona – cockily confident and savagely defensive. She can veer in a blink from Bake Off to *@&% Off.
Among the left-leaning luvvies, she is revered. Earlier this year Alan Yentob presented a full-length profile of her on the BBC1 Imagine slot, called No Holds Barred – an honour that implies Auntie’s seal of approval on all she says and does.
Brand looked embarrassed throughout, and was only really comfortable when chortling over some smutty seaside postcards (while Yentob looked on, utterly bemused).
Three years ago, after she trekked 150 miles across Britain from Hull to Liverpool to raise funds for Sport Relief, fans began to refer to her as a national treasure. ‘I’d rather be a national disgrace,’ she quipped.
Her resistance to such accolades is rooted in a difficult childhood that left lasting mental scars. In her memoir Born Lippy, published last year, she remarked mordantly that the poet Philip Larkin’s line, ‘They f*** you up, your mum and dad,’ had deep resonance for her.
‘Depression, cruelty, apathy, racism, sadism, inability to be a good friend/partner, deceitfulness and many other qualities can be traced back to one’s parents,’ she wrote darkly – adding: ‘Thank God organisations like Childline exist. They certainly didn’t when I was growing up.’
Brand eating a banana and clutching a cigarette in 1994. After her controversial remarks fellow comedian Lee Hurst defended the remarks as comedy rather than incitement
In her own family, her father’s furious eruptions, sometimes accompanied by bursts of violence, made her desperate to flee her home. On one occasion, he punched her hard enough to knock her out, but it was the unpredictable verbal assaults that caused the deepest trauma.
‘He was on an incredibly short fuse and I’d incur his wrath for playing music too loud, being rude or coming in too late,’ she said.
The fractured relationship eventually shattered when she was 16 and fell in with a group of older hippyish friends where she lived in Hastings, including a man four years her senior whom she calls ‘a posh junkie’.
One evening, she slipped out, telling her mother she was going to study at a friend’s house. Instead, with her hippy gang, she went to see the X-rated Last Tango In Paris at the local cinema.
Brand hosting the BBC’s current affairs comedy panel show Have I Got News For You in November 2017
When she emerged, her father was waiting in the street for her. To this day, Brand blames herself – not for lying to her parents, but for failing to make sure her schoolfriend knew to cover for her… the archetypal logic of the abused child.
Marching her home, her father gathered up all her clothes and made a heap of them in the garden. He was sick of the way she looked and the stink of patchouli oil, he raged. Pouring petrol over the pile, he burned everything.
Jo moved out and, after working in a residential home for adults with learning disabilities, became a psychiatric nurse – an experience which, she says, left her unbothered by even the rowdiest hecklers.
It’s not difficult to see her father’s brutal abuse at the root of her antipathy to men.
For her first decade on the comedy circuit Brand traded on her disdain for the male sex.
Making her television debut in 1986, she dubbed herself ‘the Sea Monster’, and claimed that she’d put on four stone when she started taking the Pill – ‘so that proved to be a very effective contraceptive’.
She honed her act in some of the roughest comedy gigs in London, such as the Tunnel Club, where male performers outnumbered women ten to one.
‘There was an attitude that women weren’t funny,’ she says. ‘You could see the looks of despair when a female stepped onto the stage. I suppose we felt we had to be shouty feminists who threatened men.
Jo Brand is driven away after she appeared at the Henley Literary Festival on Thursday amid furore over her battery acid comment
Brand performing at Reading Festival in 1994. She is now facing a police investigation for her comments
‘As you made your way to the stage, you could often hear members of the audience shouting, ‘Crucify her’ or similarly reassuring supportive comments. It really did feel like you were being fed to a baying mob.’
Her abrasive responses and defiantly punky clothes meant that she was often labelled a ‘lesbian man-hater’, an image she did little to dispel until meeting her husband Bernie, also a psychiatric nurse, at a gig and getting married in 1997.
She became a mother to daughter Maisie when she was 43 and had a second daughter, Eliza, two years later. ‘I hoped I’d become a mum,’ she says, ‘but I didn’t expect to. It wasn’t a conscious effort to have kids later.’
The experience changed her life, forcing her to cut touring to a minimum and concentrate more on TV work. She insists, ‘Having children is fab,’ but it’s hard to escape the impression that she’s terrified of making any of the mistakes her parents did – and of ever being vulnerable again to such abuse.
That’s why she describes herself as ‘a grumpy woman’ and insists she will never tolerate any behaviour from men that she perceives as domineering or threatening.
And it also explains why some of her off-the-cuff jokes are so shockingly savage. Not everything in Jo Brand’s past has been Bake off perfect.
Police WILL probe Jo Brand’s ‘acid attack on politicians’ remark after she is accused of incitement to violence – but the defiant comedian insists: ‘The BBC can’t sack me’
by Ed Riley
Police will examine a comment made by comedian Jo Brand about throwing battery acid at politicians following an allegation of incitement to violence.
Brand today refused to apologise for her acid throwing remark as Nigel Farage called her an ‘overpaid, left wing, so called-comedian’ as the backlash against her intensified.
The comic faced photographers when she arrived to perform her stand-up show at a church in Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, this afternoon
The 61-year-old said she had nothing to say to the Brexit Party leader and others outraged by her comments that she made on a BBC Radio 4 panel show.
Speaking outside her £1.9million detached home in Dulwich, south-east London , Brand refused to say sorry, and laughed as she was driven away in a car.
When asked if she would continue working with the BBC, she responded: ‘I’m not employed by the BBC, so how can they sack me?’
Farage called her remarks ‘completely and utterly disgusting’ after he claimed she was ‘inciting violence’ with her comments on a BBC Radio 4 panel show.
This evening the BBC appeared to have pulled the show from its websites, and said in a Tweet it would edit the joke from future broadcasts and its catch-up service.
Asked about the row today, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘Police have received an allegation of incitement to violence that was reported to the MPS on 13 June.
‘The allegation relates to comments made on a radio programme. The allegation is currently being assessed. There have been no arrests and inquiries are ongoing.’
Brand said on Radio 4 show Heresy that yobs who doused politicians like Farage with milkshakes were ‘pathetic’ and added: ‘Why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?’
The corporation has so far defied calls to axe her, and broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has so far received 65 complaints about the episode.
And victims of acid attacks have called her comments ‘vile’ and ‘inhumane’ while calling on her to spend time in a burns ward before making such remarks. Some called for her arrest.
Brand (pictured arriving at a literary festival in Henley, Oxfordshire, today refused to apologise for her comments
Brand was photographed this afternoon arriving at the Henley Literary Festival in Oxfordshire, where she is due to give a talk at 2pm.
The BBC has been inundated with complaints over her comments.
They are facing accusations of ‘hypocrisy’ after bosses decided to sack Radio 5 Live presenter Danny Baker over offensive behaviour, but stood by Brand.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman today called on the BBC to explain why the joke was broadcast on one of its radio shows.
The spokesman said: ‘Theresa May has been clear that politicians should be able to go to work and campaign without fear.
‘Brendan Cox, the husband of Jo Cox, has said that violence and intimidation should not be normalised and we should consistently stand against it. The Prime Minister shares this view’.
He added: ‘It is for the BBC to explain why they thought this to be appropriate content to broadcast’.
Earlier, a friend at the house in the leafy London suburb said Jo was ‘away working.’
The man, in his late forties, added: ‘She is away working and won’t be back until midnight at least.
‘I’m not lying to you – she’s not here.’
Farage, who has called on the police to open an investigation into the remarks, said today: ‘I am sick to death of overpaid, left wing, so-called comedians on the BBC who think their view is morally superior.
‘Can you imagine the reaction if I had said the same thing as Jo Brand?’
In a video posted to his Twitter feed he wrote: ‘I think we know fairly clearly who Jo Brand was aiming that comment at.
‘A lot of people, like Jo Brand, think the referendum is a terrible mistake.
‘They have a view that is morally superior to everybody else’s and therefore it seems, that anything can be used in defence of their arguments.
Brand, 61, (left) said on Radio 4 show Heresy that yobs who doused politicians like Farage (right, speaking today) with milkshakes were ‘pathetic’ and added: ‘Why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?’
Acid attack victims slam Jo Brand’s ‘vile’ and ‘inhumane’ remark as they call on her and the BBC to apologise and say police should arrest her
Acid attack victims today slammed Jo Brand and called on police to arrest her after her ‘vile’ and ‘inhumane’ joke on a BBC comedy panel show.
Sophie Hall, who was injured when Arthur Collins, the father of The Only Way is Essex star Ferne McCann’s baby threw acid in a Hackney nightclub, was one victim to speak out today.
She said: ‘The police need to arrest her so others will think twice and realise it isn’t a joking matter, far from it.
Sophie Hall (left) called on police to arrest Brand over her comments. Joe Davies (right) called her remarks ‘vile’ and ‘inhumane’
‘Something so serious needs to be treated seriously.
‘A lot of people watch her and she is obviously a big influence and for her to joke about something like that takes away the seriousness of the act.
‘We live in such a society today, that it’s sad to say there are some very psychotic people out there that she might influence to actually do something like that.’
She told The Mirror: ‘It’s upsetting that someone like that in the public eye could even make a joke about it. I think it’s absolutely outrageous.
‘She should never have joked about it in the first place because it’s not a joking matter.’
The horrific burns suffered by Joe Davies after he was doused in acid
She added: ‘Jo should go and to a burns unit and see what it does and see if she can make a joke about it afterwards after seeing the trauma people have gone through.’
Collins was found guilty of five counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and nine counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at a trial in November 2017 after injuring 22 people.
He was sentenced to a total of 25 years.
Joe Davies, who was left with horrific injuries after having drain cleaner thrown on him called her joke ‘vile’ and ‘disgusting.
Mr Davies, 25, told The Sun Online: ‘It’s disgusting. I can’t comprehend how someone could say that and anyone could stand by it saying it’s funny.
‘The BBC should apologise. It’s 100 per cent vile and 100 per cent not funny.
‘I don’t know what must be going on in someone’s head to make a joke like that about another person. It’s inhumane.
‘It sounds to me like she needs a bit of educating.
Andreas Christopheros suffered horrific burns in a mistaken identity attack on his doorstep in Truro, Cornwall, in 2014
Mr Christopheros (pictured with his son Theo and wife Pia, left, and right) today labelled Brand and the BBC ‘reckless and deeply stupid’
Joe had drain cleaner containing sulphuric acid thrown at him by Roger Comer, 45, after an argument in Slough in 2017. Comer was jailed for nine years.
Andreas Christopheros, 33, suffered horrific burns in a mistaken identity attack on his doorstep in Truro, Cornwall, in 2014.
Today he labelled Brand and the BBC ‘reckless and deeply stupid.’
He told the Sun Online: ‘I’m all for comedy and free speech, I’ve laughed at acid attack jokes before, but this is different.
‘It’s a reckless and deeply stupid thing to put out there on a radio show and both she and the BBC should apologise.’
‘Frankly I think this sort of behaviour is completely and utterly disgusting.
‘Can you imagine if I was to tell a story like that, about somebody on the other side of me, an Anna Soubry or someone like that?
I reckon the police would knock on my door within ten minutes. I think it’s appalling.’
Organisers of the Henley Literary Festival in Oxfordshire confirmed Brand is due to appear there twice today with performances penned in for 2pm and 7.30pm.
The sold-out shows revolve around a ‘darkly funny guide to being a woman’ and comes with a free book.
Today Brand’s friend Frank Skinner defended her when he appeared on ITV’s Loose Women.
He said: ‘I think it is difficult to say anything in public life at all.
‘When kids play Hangman, is that a devil may care attitude to capital punishment?
Nigel Farage called Jo Brand an ‘overpaid, left wing, so-called comedian’ as the backlash against the comedian intensified
Nigel Farage yesterday said that Brand’s remarks on the comedy panel show amount to hate speech and has called for the police to intervene. It came after Jo Brand (pictured) joked on Radio 4’s Heresy that battery acid was a better option than milkshake for throwing at Brexiteers
‘I don’t think Jo, for one second, would want anyone to commit an act of violence – even against Nigel Farage.
‘I think most people would see Farage as not one of the peacemakers, they would see him as one of the people who fueled the fire.
‘I remember when Margaret Thatcher died, as a young man I had said I hated [her] but the truth is, when it comes down to it, it was this rather sad old woman with dementia and I didn’t feel any of that hate.
‘We live in a society where people find it much easier to say hate than love about anything. Especially on twitter.
‘It is a weird time at the moment where people are very angry about various things but you have got to have jokes.’
The sister of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox today spoke out on the scandal.
Kim Leadbeater told Loose Women: ‘If something is illegal, there is a very clear line, but when we think about morality and how we speak to each other, who sets the moral compass of the nation?
Pictured: Nigel Farage in Newcastle on May 20, when an activist threw milkshake on him
‘And are the rules the same for politicians as they are for comedians? The main thing for me is about personal responsibility, we have got a responsibility to think about the things that we say and do.’
On the Radio 4 panel show, broadcast on Tuesday night, Coren asked Brand whether she believed the country was united in agreeing we are living through a ‘terrible’ time in politics.
She responded by calling milkshake a ‘pathetic’ thing for people to have thrown at their political opponents during May’s EU election campaigning.
She said: ‘Well yes I would say that, but I think that’s because certain unpleasant characters are being thrown to the fore and they’re very, very easy to hate.
‘And I’m kind of thinking, ‘why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?’
‘I’m not going to do it, it’s purely a fantasy, but I think milkshakes are pathetic, I honestly do, sorry.’
A BBC spokeswoman said: ‘Heresy is a long-running comedy programme where, as the title implies and as our listeners know, panellists often say things which are deliberately provocative and go against societal norms but are not intended to be taken seriously.
‘We carefully considered the programme before broadcast. It was never intended to encourage or condone violence, and it does not do so, but we have noted the strong reaction to it.
‘Comedy will always push boundaries and will continue to do so, but on this occasion we have decided to edit the programme. We regret any offence we have caused.’
The Corporation said Brand would ‘remain part of the Radio 4 family’.
Brand told reporters outside her home today that she was ‘not employed by the BBC’ and could not be fired.
The Radio Four Extra show Heresy is produced by Avalon Television rather than in-house for the BBC, and the named producers are Victoria Coren-Mitchell and Daisy Knight.
Brand’s comments follow milkshake attacks on Farage in Newcastle on May 20 and on World War II veteran Don MacNaughton as he campaigned for the party in Aldershot.
Milkshakes were also thrown at English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson and Carl Benjamin, also known as YouTube personality Sargon of Akkad, who in 2016 tweeted ‘I wouldn’t even rape you’ to Labour MP Jess Phillips.
Brendan Cox, whose Labour MP wife Jo Cox was murdered by a neo Nazi fanatic in June 2016, said: ‘I dislike Nigel Farage’s politics profoundly.
‘But I don’t think throwing stuff at politicians you disagree with is a good idea. It normalises violence and intimidation and we should consistently stand against it.’
Today the backlash against Brand grew and critics called on the BBC to sack her for her comments.
Many accused the BBC of hypocrisy questioning why the BBC had sacked Danny Baker for his allegedly racist tweet about the royal baby, but have not axed Brand.
The Brexit Party leader was covered in the drink by a protester as he took his EU election campaign to Newcastle on May 20
Broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted: ‘Why did the BBC instantly sack Danny Baker for an offensive royal baby tweet but won’t sack for saying she’d like acid to be thrown at politicians?’
Another user posted: ‘It’s a joke, however it was on the BBC and they fired Danny Baker for a vile joke and to me this is worse. Therefore the BBC should issue the same treatment for Jo Brand.’
Leave.EU tweeted: ‘Absolutely disgusting remark by so-called ‘comedian’ Jo Brand, who suggested last night on @BBCRadio4 that we throw battery acid at our politicians.
‘Is this sort of hate speech what we fund the @BBC for? Shameful!’
Judith Bowler responded: ‘Wow! If ‘Jo public’ made such a suggestion they would be arrested.
‘Jo Brand used to be a comedian. Now, sadly, she is an idiot using her public presence to incite hatred and criminal acts.’
But others disagreed with critics because the the comments were made on a comedy show that bills itself as a ‘discussion programme which challenges established ideas and questions received wisdom’.
The host of BBC’s Heresy, Victoria Coren Mitchell, responded to Nigel Farage’s tweet that Jo Brand’s joke was an incitement of violence
The joke triggered outrage on social media and was branded ‘shameful’ and ‘disgusting’
Victoria Coren Mitchell, the host of the show, she tweeted: ‘Nigel, I’m genuinely disappointed; we don’t agree on everything but I would totally have had you down as a free speech man. Especially when it comes to jokes.’
TV comedian Lee Hurst tweeted: ‘Jo Brand is a comedian. She has made a joke. You may not find it funny or you may find it funny. Comedy is subjective.
‘If you criticise her because you like her target, but defend other jokes of a similar nature against targets you don’t like you are a hypocrite.’
Tom Slater, deputy editor at the website Spiked, a pro-Brexit magazine which campaigns on Free Speech issues, also said a police investigation would be wrong.
‘My magazine spiked supports the Brexit Party in its fight for democracy,’ he said. ‘But Nigel Farage’s comments today suggest he is far more cavalier when it comes to freedom of speech.
‘He seems to suggest comedians should be criminalised for telling jokes. That is deeply authoritarian. Comedians are meant to say risqué things.
‘No one in their right mind would deem Jo Brand’s comments incitement to violence. It seems there are as many snowflakes on the right as on the left these days.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Heresy is a long-running comedy programme where, as the title implies and as our listeners know, panellists often say things which are deliberately provocative and go against societal norms but are not intended to be taken seriously.’