Katherine Ryan visits Guardian with newborn and defends frank, money-first persona

Katherine Ryan, the 42-year-old Canadian comedian who has lived in the UK for nearly 20 years, visited the Guardian offices with her newly minted fourth child, Holland, present, and spoke about her career, feminism, money and the reactions to her forthright style. Ryan emphasised a deliberate “ballsiness” and an insistence on what she calls being real: dressing glamorously on stage, speaking openly about cosmetic tweaks and parenting imperfections, and arguing that women can be feminist while also embracing those choices.

She told the Guardian that her material sits “in this space between pride and shame” and that she likes telling and hearing secrets as a bond with audiences. Ryan described her path from Sarnia, Ontario, via Toronto and Hooters work, to London in 2008, where she balanced early motherhood with building a standup career.

She won the Funny Women award shortly after starting, endured poor reviews for a longer Edinburgh show but says audiences admired her courage, and found bigger exposure via TV work such as 8 Out of 10 Cats; she also said she is candid about money, recounting debates on her Netflix series The Duchess over details such as whether a character’s daughter could have a horse.

Ryan co-hosts the ensemble comedy show Out of Order with Rosie Jones, which she says returns for a second series and challenges contributors to rank members of the public in categories such as “who earns the most?”.

Key Topics

Culture, Katherine Ryan, Sarnia, Toronto, The Duchess, Rosie Jones