Admiration for Jo Brand

Well said, loopylou! Jo's no mug, and neither am I. I'll be donating.

Anyone who feels like disparaging Jo's titanic effort to raise money for Sports Relief should reflect on whether or not she would be up to the challenge.

I think that the act of of going to the gym creates a conscious exercise 'habit' for some people who otherwise have complex and busy lives and where it is hard to find time to do sustained exercise. I have some sympathy with your 'rant' Granny23 if the people concerned do not work or have small children etc. then they do have the time to walk to the and from shops , deliver leaflets etc. But if you are off to work early, dropping kids at childcare en route, catching the train, working all day and rushing home to pick up kids, tea/homework/bathtime and bed then maybe it is justified jumping into the car for an hour of peaceful running on the treadmill at the gym!

When I saw her on tv, I thought you silly woman.
Putting yourself through this when she could have been doing something else.
Let's face it, she's no Davina McCall, is she.
I just hope she doesn't do herself irreparable damage.

I think she's a fit bird who is also a stand-up comedian who often says things that mean the opposite of their apparent meaning - sarcasm - multiple agendas, satire etc. I am averagely fit and am always surprised by people who to me are overweight, but are often super fit - athletes, wrestlers, etc. - I suspect - and hope - Jo Brand fits into this category.

"Silly woman"?. Now there's a phrase.

Jo has a top sports physiotherapist with her, Professor Greg Whyte, OBE, the same guy who got Davina McCall through her 500 miles in 7 days triathlon challenge for Sport Relief in 2014.
Jo also trained for it, walking a marathon's distance as her final preparation.
Jo isn't Davina McCall but she isn't doing 500 miles of swimming, biking or riding either.
She's doing 20+ miles a day walking, which in terms of achievement for her is up there with Davina's.

Yes, she probably will be doing something else next year to support Comic Relief as she has done in previous years. Walking is a lot kinder on the joints than running. A friend was irreperably damaged when she damaged her back doing gardening. I'd rather walk, if I could.

As well as raising money I think Jo Brand is trying to encourage people to take part in sport or exercise & in this respect she's a great example. Lots of people will be thinking 'If she can do it, so can I'. As for the time of year - Sport Relief weekend is at the end of March so it's a sort od curtainraising event.

I really like Jo Brand, she's very funny on TV. Living in NZ I haven't heard about her walk, is she raising funds for something? Where is she walking? I wonder how old she is. i've just been given a pep talk by DD on eating healthily and exercising as I've let things slip a bit lately'

Sigh ..... I do like Jo , she is a very funny and strong woman . I do not like these sponsored tortured antics by anyone

Sorry, I respect that you all like her,I don't,can't stand Davina McCall either.

I like Jo Brand but I'm very cynical about these things. There's too much "look at meeee!!" for my liking.

The ones that really boil my pee are those who do something like a midnight walk, raise a couple of quid just so they can say "ooh, look at MEEE" Aren't I GREAT?"

Bloody exhibitionists.

It seems a bit of an extreme action to take if you just want people to notice you!

Jo Brand doesn't need to walk 20 miles a day in rotten weather to get herself noticed. She is perfectly noticeable in frequent TV appearances. It's because she is noticeable for reasons other than fitness that makes this walk a considerable achievement on her part.

I don't doubt it's an achievement. It would be, for anyone. For most, anyway.

But I think there's still an element of publicity-seeking about it. It's not doing Brand's career any harm.

I guess any celebrity doing anything attracts publicity, wanted or not?

I think it is a wonderful effort and hopefully will get other people thinking they can do long distance walking. Clare Balding attracted lots of people to walk the Dales Way- it brings in a lot of money to businesses in the area.

I'm sure there are lots of ways she could attract publicity if she really needed to - Celebrity Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing, etc. etc. - and have the chance to win a lot of money for herself too.

But Jo Brand doesn't need publicity and I have never previously known her to other about courting it. She gets plenty of work, including on Have I Got News for You. And she co-wrote the award winning comedy series Getting On and acted in it.

I too think some of the gruelling challenges that celebrities undertake are unproductive and fairly pointless but I also think annodomini made a really good point in saying that JB is a great example for those who feel embarrassed to take part in sport because of their size or lack of fitness.

Yes I think its publicity seeking by a successful self-publicising stand-up comedian. No in the past I didn't like Jo Brand but I do now, maybe as a result of reading her autobiography which revealed that she had hidden depths of ordinariness.

BUT - I think her physical fitness enterprises are great. Because altho she is overweight, she is obviously a very fit bird. There have occasionally been other "large" women (and men) who have surprised me because they are obviously very fit.

I finally realised that they might be like those really big heavy male rugby players who can charge up and down a rugby field for 90 minutes - - - so they must be doing something right while carrying a lot of weight.

I think Jo Brand is like that. So go, Jo. You are really surprising with your swimming and walking. But hey, you appear to be a very fit heavy bird and as such a great role model for heavy women
.

And I think part of her act as a comedian might be putting herself across as a slobby middle aged woman. I think she is a conundrum. For many years I thought she was an anti-man lesbian. Then she started talking affectionately firstly about her children and then about her husband. OF course she could still be a lesbian with a female husband. Who knows?

Most of the time she looks like a fat plain slob. But I feel that with a tweak of her hair, a tweak of her smile, she could look pretty, coy, seductive. Maybe she does that offscreen (maybe she doesn't).

Like I said, I think she is a conundrum. And I love to see her onscreen because of that. Who knows if what we see is the "real" Jo Brand?

But I think there's still an element of publicity-seeking about it
I think that is the whole point, really, seeking publicity to raise money for a good cause by someone who is going to have quite a struggle to achieve it.
I don't think she is seeking self-publicity.

ps does anyone else think that she and John Sergeant are twins separated at birth?

Now you come to mention it Jalima.......

??

The One Show is hoping to catch Jo as she arrives any minute now.

Who was that awful singer?