According to that bed-ridden boozehound Marcel Proust, “By art alone, we are able to get outside ourselves, to know what another sees of this universe.” Meanwhile, when it comes to Katherine Ryan’s stand-up act, she looks to generate the opposite effect. “I always feel that my job in comedy is to hold up a mirror to everyone else,” she says, “because I think audiences like to see themselves in your stories and in your observations and in your anecdotes.”
Right now, Ryan is halfway through her debut Melbourne International Comedy Festival run. Despite some precursory uncertainties, local audiences have given her a wonderful reception. “There’s a lot of celebrity stuff in my show so I was worried coming out here that all my references were going to be lost,” she says. “I think even comedians who don’t do topical humour worry about certain things. But these people have blown me over with how much they know, or are pretending to know, to make me feel better. It’s like having this really fun chat every night.”
Ryan’s aim to provide audiences with an image of themselves doesn’t stop her from touching on personal details. Her current show, Glam Role Model,was inspired by a rather unpleasant experience. “I was cheated on with a glamour model and then I left [my husband].”
However, the show’s content doesn’t get bogged down in an account of Ryan’s personal woes. Anyone that’s ever read UK newspaper The Sun will be familiar with the page three’s topless models. The topless female models were introduced to the paper in 1970 and featured in every issue until January this year. The influence of glamour models on UK pop-culture isn’t restricted to the tabloids, as Ryan explains.
“They take glamour models and put them on all the panel shows and they have reality shows,” she says. “They’re famous, famous women and I think that’s insane. But I see it changing. Finally, there are more women who have strong, powerful, authentic voices on television, and older women, than ever before on television. We’re not used to seeing ourselves on television as women. So there are serious themes in it, but also just a lot of funny silly stuff.”
Ryan tends to be described as a Canadian comedian, but she’s actually a longtime London resident – in fact, her five-year-old daughter even has a British accent. Prior to the move, her comedy career was more dream than reality. “[In Canada], it’s really difficult and expensive to do the number of gigs to get the stage time that it takes to become any good,” she says. “But the way that the UK has such a thriving pub culture, the people in any town will go out to see live theatre or music or comedy or spoken word every night of the week. The fact I came to the UK was almost a fluke, but I’m so lucky my voice developed there.”
Ryan rates the UK comedy scene as superior to just about anywhere else in the world. But she knows Australia’s comedy ranks are nothing to scoff at. “Australian comedians, specifically the ones who have worked a lot in Melbourne, are so sharp and talented,” she says. “You can tell they’ve been nurtured in exactly the right way. My entire development and career has been in England – I’m a British comic with a Canadian accent – so I forget that Australian comics started in Australia.
“Adam Hills is really successful and hilarious in the UK,” she adds, “but he seems to be the president of Australia. I turned on the television, he’s even on the kids networks!”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
Venue: Melbourne Town Hall – Cloak Room, Cnr Swanston & Collins St, CBD
Dates: Currently being performed until April 17 (except Monday)
Times: 8.30pm (Sundays 7.30pm)
Tickets: $25.50 – $35.50
