Katy Brand (for those not in the know) is a British comedienne, in the tradition of Karen Taylor and most famously Catherine Tate. She is at the helm and heart of a BIG sketch show shown weekly on ITV2 called Katy Brand's Big Ass Show which on average receives just under 2 million viewers a week.
Going by the name it is easy to suggest that this is another obnoxious in your face comedy show designed to gross out the audience and offend everyone else (see Little Britain) but appearance isn't everything and if Katy Brand is to believed we have quite a little gem here. Unlike other sketch shows, Katy mostly parodies the celebrity world, lampooning music artists and videos in particular. Of course she has a bizarre array of her own characters thrown into the mix, such as an angry and hilarious Scottish mother and housewife who orders her family around after throwing the gold fish bowl out of the window and throttling her husband and the army official who offends everyone she meets, but for the most part it is the glitzy side of spoof which gets the Katy Brand treatment. Katy loves to make the occasional dig at poptarts such as Lilly Allen and Amy Whinehouse and her rendition of Katy Perry and Leona Lewis is quite possibly one of the funniest things to come from ITV in a long time. An interesting fact is that when Katy Brand was in a restaurant in London and saw Lilly Allen come striding in she hid in the toilets for her dear life after thinking Lilly would give her an ear (or fist) full over her over the top sketches. Another interesting (if not slightly strange) parody is when Katy takes on the role of the Queen in a scene likely to shock most people into hysterics (who'd have thought that secretly the Queen has no control on her foul language behind the gates of Buckingham palace!) An even weirder sketch is when Katy plays Jesus's girlfriend, again completely fresh but something which has to be seen to be believed.
One thing I really like about Katy Brand is the fact that she can be outrageous and knowing on how to make an audience laugh without going for gross out gags. There is no sign of vomit, bodily fluids or excrement here as you may find in some of the more promiscuous sketch shows such as Little Britain. She is also more original than Catherine Tate and doesn't use repetiveness as a gimmick to create one liners. Her characters are interesting and three dimensional and a nod to society in general. I also find her characters enjoyable which is more than can be said for the obnoxious stereotypes in Catherine Tate (kudos to her though for her brilliant comic relief sketch.)
I would advise anyone to watch Katy Brands Big Ass Show either on TV or on dvd. It is brilliantly timed and fantastically original and unlike others in the genre avoids repetitiveness. Oh and did I mention it was very funny?
Laughing my 'Big Ass' off :)
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![Katy Brand's Big Ass Show - Series 1 [DVD] [2007]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/80470608.jpg "Katy Brand's Big Ass Show - Series 1 [DVD] [2007]")
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