"I used to be perceived in certain quarters as a man-hating separatist feminist," says Jo Brand.

"That was assumed from every shade of the political spectrum. I'd get invitations for women-only gigs and go on stage and say, 'I want a husband', and the organisers' faces would fall. 'What's this? We've let in a heterosexual!' They'd fallen for the cliche."

Since beginning her career on the Eighties cabaret circuit (where she gained a cult following under the guise of The Sea Monster) Brand has, it's true, been strongly identified with gags about cakes and clitorises, me and menstruation.

This was hardly the extent of her repertoire even on Channel 4's Through The Cakehole, where a series of sketches called The Drudge Squad followed the exploits of a special police unit run by dowdy housewives.

But, delivered in her sussed, droll style, it was the stuff about appetites - gastronomic and sexual - that had the biggest impact.

Now Brand has become part of the comedic establishment and, where once her material solicited excitable whoops from the women and wide-eyed bewilderment from the men, these days she fills 1,000 seat venues with nothing but hearty chuckles.

Brand reckons the public's perception of her shifted when she got married and had kids. But its just as likely that alternative comedy, having reached its quarter century, has become well and truly lodged in the mainstream.

Touring for the first time in four years (although she recently published her second novel It's Different For Girls), Brand's current topics are said to include diaphragm insertion, the effect of childbirth on sex drive and the toilet habits of her husband, Bernie.

"In the same way that Bob Monkhouse talked about 'my wife,' I talk about 'my husband'," she says. "I've started to notice, for instance, that as he gets older, my husband doesn't wee standing up any more - and he doesn't necessarily wee in the toilet any more, either.

"My husband doesn't mind that I'm calling him incontinent. He hasn't been to see my show for years, so he doesn't know."

Now a regular on the BBC news quiz Mock The Week, where she continues to use her dress size as a multi-purpose punchline, Brand was also seen recently on What Not To Wear an appearance which she reckons did her a lot of favours - although, by her own admission, she came out looking like Ann Widdecombe's twin sister.

"Before then, the only other time that people had ever seen me was doing stand-up," she says. "But here they saw what I was really like and realised that I was actually quite normal. I was not a man-hating, heckler-consuming old bag. People suddenly said, 'She's OK. We want to employ her. She won't come on and saw men's bollocks off - although that's a very good idea, obviously."

Starts at 8pm. Tickets cost £16 and £14, call 01273 709709.