Jo Brand is one of Britains funniest comedians (imho). She's certainly one of the most famous larger ladies in the public eye.

Joanne Brand was born in Hastings, East Sussex. Her mother was a social worker, and Brand worked as a psychiatric nurse until the mid-1980s, when she began a career in stand-up comedy.

She was central to the British alternative comedy movement, working London alternative comedy clubs, and appearing initially on the UK Saturday Night Live television show.

In 1993, her transition into the mainstream was confirmed when she obtained her own series on Channel 4, 'Jo Brand Through the Cakehole'.  Jo's motto is "Ohfuckitthat'lldo", and says when the name for the show was suggested, that's just what she said.

With short hair and Doc Marten boots, her image (and comedic material) for most of the 1980's and 90's was seen to be inspired by radical feminism but, this is a label not always brought on by her work, but also by the press.

I don't think anyone can deny that Jo was seen as a feminist man-hater, but perhaps that's down to her being a female comedian telling jokes about men rather than a male comedian doing the same about a woman.  The tabloids labelled her as a gay, man-hating feminist.

Well, despite this tabloid label, she isn't gay and is now married with two children, so not sure she can be labelled as a man-hater either.

Talking about her first performance, where  somebody in the audience shouted, "Fuck off, you fat cow!" repeatadly for the first 2 and a half minutes of her act...

"...this is why she bangs on about being a fat woman. It's a pre-emptive strike. Get it in first, shut up the nutter at the back and get on with the comedy. She'll say, look at me, I'm anorexic, I must be - an anorexic looks in the mirror and sees a fat person. And so do I. Just to get it in first. "The funny thing is," she says, "I don't actually think of myself as fat at all. I don't think I am. Not really."  (taken from an interview with Jo over on the Guardian website)

You might have seen her more recently as a guest on 'Have I Got News For You', 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks', and my personal favourite, 'QI'. 

Over the past few years, she's written two novels and had two children!  Her novels are 'Sorting Out Billy ' and 'It's Different for Girls '. 

 Source: Wikipedia, www.comedy-zone.net, www.QI.com , arts.guardian.co.uk