We are delighted that the brilliant Jo Brand has agreed to give the 2019 Linda Smith Lecture.

Jo Brand

A personal friend of Linda’s, Jo is a comedy legend – a brilliant stand-up, the writer and star of the critically acclaimed medical sitcom Getting On (BBC Four), and the author of a numerous books from the 2009 novel ‘The More You Ignore Me’ (made into a 2018 film starring Sheridan Smith) to ‘Born Lippy’, a recent Radio 4 Book of the Week. She is also a much-loved television personality, notably as presenter of ‘The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice’.

You can get your tickets via the Gulbenkian website or in person via the Box Office.

The deposit of Linda Smith’s personal archive with the University of Kent in 2013 provided the inspiration for the formation of the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive, which is now growing into a substantial collection, for use by comedians and for those researching stand-up comedy and associated performance arts. The Linda Smith Lecture was established in 2015 to be an annual event to celebrate Linda’s life and work, her interest in comedy and its use in and for political and social commentary, and to promote the work of the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive.

The 2019 Linda Smith Lecture is part of the Alternative Comedy Now Festival (1 – 4 May 2019).