Interview by Andrew Marc
Katherine Ryan has had quite a journey over the last five years. From working in a Hooters bar in her native town of Sarnia, Canada (which she has described as the “petrochemical hub of North America”), to trying her hand at the next door comedy club to vent frustrations, then embarking on career gigs. At just 18 she was a presenter on a reality children’s TV show Teens Dating which she has described as “weird”.
She ended up finding the comedy scene there too restrictive for her and mournfully notes: ‘I think Canada is just too spread out for comedy to survive. I think in my experience a lot of really strong comedians come from Canada but they had to leave and that’s really sad – they had to leave to get anywhere.’ She moved to London with her then boyfriend, also a comedian, and quickly immersed herself in the thriving comedy scene here.
Her choice of new home seems pretty clear cut. ‘I think London and the UK really make that possible more than anywhere else in the world. You can get ahead quickly without cheating. I think the beautiful thing about comedy is always the long game – there are no short cuts. In the UK it’s such a pub culture, it’s so comedy friendly that you can gig a lot, practice a lot, experience all different audiences all in a really tight space, so that’s why your comedy thrives here.’
She’d only been in the UK for five months when she won over the judges at London’s Comedy Store and won the prestigious NIVEA Funny Women Award in 2008, beating Sarah Pascoe and Rachel Stubbings amongst others. Around this time she debuted on TV, featuring in C4s 8 Out Of Ten Cats. She then appeared on Jack Dee’s panel show Don’t Sit in The Front Row, and BBCs Mock The Week.
She supported Angelos Epithemiou on Dave channel for One Night Stand and did a set on Frankie Boyle’s The Boyle Variety Show. She was also seen in E4’s Russel Kane’s Comedy Summit and regularly appeared on Dirty Digest. Katherine starred in Channel 4’s comedy series, Campus with her now friend Sarah Pascoe, whom she knew from Funny Women.
Edinburgh Fringe hosted her first solo show in 2011 entitled Little Miss Conception – which received mixed reviews, but cemented her in the public consciousness and gave her a great personal boost. She adopted a ditsy, cute but filthy mouthed persona – bitchy and almost cruel at times, but with a verve and wit that kept the audience onside – turning in unpredictable and surprising performances.
“I’m a lone wolf …”
2012 saw the launch of her latest show, Nature’s Candy, so titled because of her mother’s propensity to hand out fruit rather than sweets when she was young – which was dubbed “nature’s candy”. It wasn’t appreciated at the time. ‘I HATED it. I was angry every day taking my lunch to school.’ However, this early episode has been transmuted to good effect, as the new show has already garnered favourable reviews from critics and audience alike. I spoke to Katherine about her career and plans for the future.
She’s warm, personable, refreshingly unpretentious and despite having setbacks and emotional trauma relatively young in life remains upbeat and positive. ‘Coming over here and having my daughter and then splitting with her father, that was really, really tough. But I look at it in a positive way because it really gave me this extra push to go like “kid, it’s just you and me, we’re foreign, we only have each other” and we really have no choice but to get up.
‘When adversity strikes you can choose one of two attitudes and that’s to be defeated and to be a victim of your circumstance or to just get stronger. And for me I’ve dealt with everything in my life by finding the funny. I think all that’s happened with me over the last five years is that my voice has just got stronger. I think that’s the key to success in anything you do.’
Indeed, since childhood, this psychology of “finding the funny” in tricky situations has served her well on a personal level. ‘I think my number one priority is make stuff funny because even growing up, I had two little sisters, we were pretty close in age and if I was ever naughty I could always get out of trouble because my mum thought I was funny and I learned really young you could be a little bit naughty and if you were funny, you get past. My sisters got nailed to the cross! If you make somebody laugh, you can get away with a whole lot.’
“If you make someone laugh you can get away with a whole lot.”
She is currently writing a sitcom based on her experiences of moving to a different country and the inherent cultural differences – and difficulties. Describing herself as “a lone wolf” with regard to her writing, she eschews collaborative effort, and says even though her current partner, another comedian, sometimes suggests this she remains lukewarm about the idea.
‘I don’t like to go out a lot, I don’t drink. I’d rather learn about people through what commissioners put on TV for them. And the kind of stuff that people consume is from the media. I’m just such a loner – I love to sit at home and write about TV and watch TV, and comment on celebrity relationships.’
But the writing continues – I sensed a real passion for it from her. She’s also working on different panel show ideas and various different formats. She’s really made the UK her home and seems hugely focused on continuing her success here. ‘I love the UK. I want to live here forever. I want to have more children here and write television sitcoms here, and retire here. I love it here.’
Nature’s Candy tour in town
She’s “really looking forward to Brighton” having already performed here several times. Uniquely, as far as I know, she plans to use Twitter feeds that she receives in the show, projected up on screen. It’s a novel and interactive premise – an intriguing feedback between performer and fan base.
‘I think Twitter and social media has been really useful for letting comedians see who their fan base is. And I seem to get a lot of younger girls who identify with what I do or respond really well to what I do and I think that’s a really powerful audience … (but) it comes with a lot of responsibility too.
‘I want to connect with young girls and make their lives better. I remember how tough it was – especially being a misfit in the small town I’m from, it was not cool to be anything other than an athlete or a hockey player or a hockey players girlfriend.’
Aside from social concerns and altruistic notions, she admits the idea is entertaining as well: ‘It’s really fun. It works in two ways – it helps me familiarise myself with the town without having to Google it – hearing straight from the horse’s mouth as it were, but also a bit involved with the audience, and this is a really interactive show.’
