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. Like her stand-up, Jo Caulfield’s caustic wit and razor-sharp observations make her account of life with her sister, even in the worst of times, as entertaining as it is touching and relatable. 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. 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?

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. I don't like starting the festival with a show I'm already fed up with, I want to look forward to doing it. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Elsewhere, Annie shares a poignant encounter with a homeless Romanian man that really tugs at your heartstrings. I respect Queenie as an old lady but I'm buggered if I'd curtsey to Kate Middleton or Prince William.These were also traits that she shared with their RAF officer father, whose class pretensions clashed with Annie's renegade, bohemian affectations. I knew Jo Caulfield was funny, one of the funniest comics around, but her book is also moving and surprising.

Any money you contribute will directly fund more reviews, interviews and features – the sort of in-depth coverage that is increasingly difficult to fund from ever-squeezed advertising income, but which we think the UK’s vibrant comedy scene deserves. She just wanted to be interesting like her big sister and thought it might involve eyeliner, smoking and being in a band. 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.

With the blessing of Annie's partner, Martin, Jo includes several pieces penned by her sister in the book, invariably droll, witty vignettes. The Funny Thing About Death began by Jo writing a few articles to help herself process what had happened, it is now a hilarious memoir of two unconventional girls growing up in the 1970s. Scottish audiences tend to come out with a 'we are going to have a brilliant time tonight, and nothing is going to stop us' attitude. She was five years older than me so she had always been in my life, ahead of me, fighting battles and maybe making my path a little easier than hers' had been. 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?