After graduation, Brand did not work as a performer, gaining employment in television production for five years instead, In 2004 she wrote a comedy
monologue, performing it in a few
pubs in London before joining Ealing Live, a weekly live spot. on a
BBC Radio 4 series called
Mouth Trap. Brand performed in ''Katy Brand's Big Ass Tour 2010
. She also competed on Let's Dance for Sport Relief'' in 2010, in which she danced to Beyoncé's "
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Also in 2010, she made a guest appearance on the song "
Stop Giving Me Verses" by
The Hoosiers, which was an attempt to break the world record for the longest single ever released. In 2011, Brand took part in the BBC Learning project "Off By Heart Shakespeare", where she played the role of
Titania from ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and delivered a performance of the speech "Out of this wood do not desire to go". In 2011 she guest-hosted a
Children in Need special episode of
Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and has participated in several other episodes of the show. In December 2012 she participated in
the 2012 Christmas Special of the dance show
Strictly Come Dancing. Her partner was
Anton du Beke; they came second to last. Brand presented the
Penguin Podcast for Penguin Books until February 2021, which included interviews with authors such as
Michael Morpurgo (author of
War Horse, amongst other famous
young adult novels),
Markus Zusak (author of
The Book Thief) and
Gabourey Sidibe. Her book about the film
Dirty Dancing, entitled
I Carried a Watermelon, was published by HarperCollins Publishers in October 2019. The following year saw her release the memoir
Practically Perfect, about her love for
Mary Poppins. In March 2020, she took the role of Miss Hedge in the West End musical ''
Everybody's Talking About Jamie''. Brand wrote the 2021 comedy
feature film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, starring
Emma Thompson and directed by
Sophie Hyde. Brand won
Celebrity Mastermind in an edition broadcast in May 2021. ==Awards==