The Funny Thing About Death

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Rather, there was incomprehension, some recrimination, reconciliation, secrets, lies, and a mutual refusal to let it dictate the course of their lives. A lot of people have written books about comedy and comedians over the years but I don't think they were actually at the coalface. Jo Caulfield has written her first book, a memoir about her late sister, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.

Laughter is what gets us through the toughest times, and Jo Caulfield demonstrates that beautifully in this heartfelt and hilarious book. Yes, this is the complete 4-part series where Jo Caulfield, 'the funniest female stand-up on Radio 4' presents her glorious mixture of bitchy friendliness, waspish likeability and foot-in-mouth populism - but always with charm.

However, you won't see her on GB News anytime soon, after she was sounded out about appearing on the channel. Busy and deeply absorbed in all the complexity of life, Ruth Scott’s packed diary suddenly had to be cleared when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. With the blessing of Annie's partner, Martin, Jo includes several pieces penned by her sister in the book, invariably droll, witty vignettes.

Or is the comic who prides herself on lashing idiots with her tongue – her show carrying on as she inwardly mourns the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing or her fading sister – a more 'authentic' performer? Jo then bluntly offers some context by suggesting that her sister was probably off her head on medication at the time and it probably never happened. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if Annie might be slightly put out (if also proud) by how good a job she has made of this personal and tragic story. Her TV credits include appearances on Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, The Royal Variety Show, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and Richard Osman's House of Games, and she has written and starred in several series of her own on Radio 4.I just think it's strange that I was given an award in a year when I couldn't actually go out and perform live. This aspect of shared experience and emotion helped me better understand my own feelings around loss. Jo is a well known comedian, and has produced a touching book about her equally wonderful sister, who wrote for many well know TV shows, and wrote great radio plays. I like to have two or three routines that aren't honed-down, so there's freedom for them to grow during the festival. That's the perfect set up for stand-up comedy: a packed room, underground, people drinking, hot, sweaty, it makes it all feel illegal.

There’s a telling passage late in the book where she admits to only finding her stand-up voice in her 50s, with that voice simply being to tell people to fuck off. In brief, measured chapters suffused with tenderness, warmth and some heartbreaking fragility in spite of herself, Caulfield has delivered a fitting tribute to her sister that, crucially, you suspect Annie would sneakily delight in. She just wanted to be interesting like her big sister and thought it might involve eyeliner, smoking and being in a band. They didn’t fit in at the Air Force bases they were raised on or the strict convent boarding school they were sent to.I had seen jo read excerpts from the book at her live show so I was already sold on it before I bought it. At the age of 17 she moved to London and spent two years living in a squat and playing drums in a rockabilly band before making a name for herself on the stand-up circuit.

I loved this special book' – Graham NortonSix years ago, Jo Caulfield was about to go on stage when she found out that her big sister Annie had cancer. A moving, occasionally beautiful but down-to-earth account of family ties, creative ambition and lust for life, The Funny Thing About Death is the comic's first book and it admirably succeeds in conveying Jo's assertion that 'cancer was the least interesting thing about Annie'. Warm and tender, frequently very funny and ultimately incredibly moving tale of siblings and cancer”. Might she now follow Annie’s example again and belatedly begin to share more of herself there as she increasingly gives fewer fucks? It is appropriate that The Funny Thing About Death is part memoir for Jo Caulfield’s funny, talented, spiky sister Annie and part Jo’s autobiography.Without a shred of mawkishness, the book manages to move seamlessly from funny to tragic' — Jenny Eclair 'Where do you start with the death of a beloved sibling? Warm and tender, frequently very funny and, ultimately, incredibly moving tale of siblings and cancer. The cutting between their youthful history, exploring and finding their own paths into creative lives, with Annie’s later relationship with her cancer – and Jo’s relationship with that – keeps the vivacious Annie front and centre even as her body weakens. The Air Force was obsessed with communists and the nuns were obsessed with the Virgin Mary, neither of which were of interest to Jo or Annie. In each episode physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince delve into a particular field of science, with the help of guests from the worlds of science, academi.