James O'Brien meets Katherine Ryan | LBC

James O'Brien meets the infamous Canadian-Irish comedian writer presenter and actress Katherine Ryan. They discuss her formative years, her unwavering self-esteem and her journey from Hooters-girl to revered comedy writer and TV personality. Find out how she has managed to balance her hectic working life with being a single mother and remain grateful for life's experiences. Subscribe on Global Player now!
Full Disclosure is an in-depth interview series chatting to the world's most fascinating people, hosted by James O'Brien.
Originally published: 1st July 2019

[@VickyFarrimond]

What great interview i thoroughly enjoyed it

[@Foodgigglesandfootie]

Katherine Ryan is a legend. Thoroughly enjoyed this interview. James O'Brien was brilliant, as usual.

[@RabbieMcCrabbie-do4tt]

She is so comfortable in her skin. I could listen to her talk all day. If only James would let her.

[@StuartMiles74]

I don’t agree that he’s interrupting or talking over

[@RabbieMcCrabbie-do4tt]

Thank you for the counter point.@@StuartMiles74

[@Irishprice1]

An interviewer is there for that exact reason..... steer the conversation to the specific points the interviewer wants to hit.

[@joannec3579]

Wish he would give her the chance to answer, and not interrupt or talk over her.

[@phillipjclay5817]

Agreed. He does it to everyone though not just her. I think he`s afraid of dead air form his radio stuff

[@stewartcohen-jones2949]

She’s grown on me. At first she seemed a bit at odds with her environment but she’s settled into the British comedy landscape perfectly .

[@PauloTheGeek]

Agreed. There are many very funny female comedians, just I think the public want comics who exude confidence on screen. Many women performers (understandably) have anxiety issues and it comes across in their persona. It's a bit of a turn off. Katherine Ryan doesnt have this and i think it's a big reason she's successful.

[@StuartMiles74]

This is a wonderful interview

[@gnomevoyeur]

I never committed to a life of loneliness but the gangster life found me. Solitude never needs to be problematic. It can be kind of a super power.

[@mattcorcoran7082]

I’m in the same boat. Like anything, it works out about even.

[@StuartMiles74]

This woman is so amazing

[@danmayberry1185]

🇨🇦 First spotted Katherine on the panel shows. A Canadian going to the UK to break into comedy is like a Mexican going to France to make baguettes. Fair play to her.

[@VARMOT123]

That is a terrible analogy

[@danmayberry1185]

@@VARMOT123 Well, if you prefer, like a Knightsbridge resident opening a pie shop in Wigan .. or Honest Bob Jenrick going to Disneyland Paris to paint cartoon murals.

[@missthea5259]

Canadians are already funny and sarcastic though so it isn't really like the analogy you give.

[@timmurphy5541]

I find that you have to be careful when joking about the English sense of humour - they're so proud of it.

[@leadoucet1432]

​@@timmurphy5541 as they should be because it really is smart and funny.

[@TimThat]

Great interview. So many idiots in the comments proving all her points for her too! You know what guys, if you’re all as unhappy as you seem, maybe look within yourself and do something about it?

[@globalist1990]

Some people really do have so much little agency in their own personal lives. They think everyone owns them something.

[@Trenchant468]

The way she breezes over SLE and Ca is surprising and impressive.

[@CanadianTimeLord]

I first saw her in Canada on a show called Video on Trial on our video music station Much Music. The show was playing a cheesy video and, basically, shredding it with comic takes. She was one of the recurring comics on the show. I thought she was cute and VERY funny. Years later, I'm watching her on some panel show from the UK with a nagging feeling I knew her from somewhere when it hit me. She's still at the top of her game. 🇨🇦

[@rid4474]

Such an unexpected pairing, but I love it!

[@shyft09]

Brilliant interview 💥

[@rkw2917]

Gotta love Katherine

[@alamunez]

@@davis7099I don’t think the OP was necessarily meant as a funny comment.

[@gnomevoyeur]

"She fell out of me and I have to feed her" . On the one hand that's so true but also ludicrously inappropriate. Step up, Dudes!

[@giffgaffnettwork5626]

Creepy handshake O'Brien!! Refreshing that Kathryn doesnt bleet on about any deprived childhood and immigrant status, she worked hard and took responsibility for Violet who by all accounts is level headed. Kathryn is exceptional and her Canadian upbringing tinged with Irish storytelling gives a unique slant and humour on British life. I hope we do not lose her back to her homeland anytime soon.

[@timflatus]

I wish he'd stop interrupting her

[@deliman7203]

Boy could those chairs be ever more closer.. lol

[@Trenchant468]

Great interview. Poitrine, btw. And her boyfriend story is straight from Mrs. Maisel.

[@user-xh1kz7rm4j]

Well done - James does a nice job.

[@norwegianzound]

No one grew up in Ireland without shoes. We had a colour TV in 1974. Two cars on the drive as well, and we had a big house.

[@Irishprice1]

My dad grew up in Ireland not always having shoes. My mum grew up in Ireland sharing a pair of shoes. My grandmother grew up in Ireland, often having to hide in a tree trunk, so the Brits couldn't evict her from her own home. What are you talking about?

[@StuartMiles74]

She’s a beautiful woman without makeup

[@knight1515]

Concours d’Art Oratoire!! I grew up going to a French immersion school, and I will never forget that oral speaking contest every year. I didn’t know that was a French school thing?? I assumed English schools did them as well 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@peterbradley8339]

Very funny lady.. Loved the duchess had hoped for a season 2 🙏😔🙏

[@Jinxy44]

She’s so funny. 😂

[@barneyburnham2673]

Why does it say that this was only posted a day ago? The interview was recorded in 2019!

[@Yomil]

oh, was it? That makes sense. I was getting confused about her talking about being a single mum still, as I was fairly sure she had recently gotten married (to her high school sweetheart if memory serves...)

[@barneyburnham2673]

@@Yomil Yes, I think you're right about the high school sweetheart. Not only are they now a couple, they also have two children together. One was born in June 2021, the second one last December. Other giveaways about the year are: 1) They mention Johnson and James says that he could be PM by the time the interview is aired. The leadership election which made Johnson PM was in 2019. 2) She talks about her show The Duchess, saying that it will be going out 'next year'. It ran for one series, in 2020.

[@philroberts7238]

Because this was only posted last week. The interview itself, on the other hand, was conducted in 2019, as stated above in the introduction to the video.

[@GingerBearNZ]

Let. Your. Guests. Speak.

[@JamesBridgeman-i1e]

he. cant. he's . a . narcisisct!!

[@giffgaffnettwork5626]

Likes the sound of his own voice espousing dangerous left wing views. Creepy that he pontificated on about making the father pay, when Kathryn was so dismissive of that view. If her eldest daughter has one tenth of her drive she will go far. These third rate podcasters survive on the quality of their guests, why try to crowd out her top quality femininity paired with independence. Great she found love again and is building a wholesome life.

[@ianclarke3627]

Sorry james but you interrupted too much for me

[@a.j.m9644]

James so would

[@TruthPrevails101]

and you wouldn't

[@a.j.m9644]

oh I def would!!! so hot and funny, take me Katherine take me@@TruthPrevails101

[@TruthPrevails101]

@@a.j.m9644 then get in the queue

[@llbarr]

please, never ever ever ever use the term 'spinster' ever again.

[@alinam7432]

I had the same thought. Why would you repeat the mysoginistic terms you're criticizing. We also don't need to use the n word to address racism. It was a pretty ignorant thing to do of him. I wish Katherine would have called him out but it probably caught her off guard as well.

[@gnomevoyeur]

Featherstonehaugh seems like the perfect codeword

[@adem6371]

That got awkward at the end 😬

[@larchomari]

The 70s day….I’m comin

[@Iamneverright]

I have always had secret crush on Katherine.. Doh, It`s not a secret anymore!

[@stemfourvisual]

Might as well be interviewing yourself. Learn to just let people speak. Your urgency to quickly pre-summarise what you think people are trying to say is infuriating and self-defeating.

[@jellslixcy6168]

I think that James didn’t quite get it - why would he assume that becoming a single mother would be a ‘low point’? As KR said and got over - just because the patriarchy view is that this should be a low point in a women’s life, it wasn’t a ‘low point’ in that she became really sad and started to struggle, it was just something that happened and she carried on coping just fine.

[@shaunhouse8469]

If you're my age - and possible yours too [I don't think you're that much younger than me] "Cholmondeley" - "Chumley," & "Featherstonhaugh" - "Fanshaw." are probably the two best known James. thanks to modern dance and when the name Lea Anderson didn't make your skin crawl.

[@ellentaylor4351]

Wow. 🔈

[@benbanks6880]

Meets these people yet never lets them speak.

[@norwegianzound]

To know me is to love me.

[@silastom]

Infamous?

[@Middleagersviewreviewuk]

I thought she had been with someone for the last few years and had another two children with? I’m guessing this is an old interview?

[@fliprim]

2019

[@pc01]

Where it says more read that!

[@ThatGuyThanus]

She’s lovely ❤

[@patbyrne5162]

Has James got a headache. ? He always looks to be in pain ..

[@jeffsimon9594]

Trump & Brexit caused him *lasting* agony

[@user-fs1yk4yw1p]

Strange interviewer - telling the guest how she thinks and feels. Very controlling conversational style...

[@christinavuyk2026]

Ffs all this time and it turns out I must be related to her; just as weird AND I still have the same gap in my teeth 🤔😉😂

[@asdoof4]

why are they sitting so close

[@ftumschk]

I guess they were constrained by the space in that room.

[@nickwalter9630]

single close up group shot.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Camera angles are deceptive. They are actually sitting in opposite corners of the room, twenty feet apart. Think fisheyed lenses.

[@martinseal1987]

Reverse fish eye

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

@@martinseal1987 That's the one. Like a microscope.

[@geraldhewing2076]

I listened thinking this would be funny, but I found it stereotypical, perhaps just not to my taste. This and O'Brien's obsequious copying of the North American Twatspeak made me switch off.

[@hallelujah88]

All a bit meh.

[@scottandcoke1342]

You didn't come up with "70s day", Patrice O'Neal did and he called it "harassment day".

[@STRK3000]

Alot of comis stole from Patrice

[@scottandcoke1342]

@@oliverclements5011 my point is written right there. She claimed she came up with it. She didn't.

[@readingfcdec]

@@scottandcoke1342 sometimes you can have an idea and not know someone has had it already

[@scottandcoke1342]

@@readingfcdec Patrice O'Neal is a comics comic. Every stand up comedian would have watched his stuff, just as they would have watched Carlin and Pryor. He made this joke in his only feature length special for NBC. His most watched material. It's highly unlikely either she hasn't seen it or someone hasn't pointed this out. But anything is possible I guess.

[@scottandcoke1342]

@@oliverclements5011 i have no idea what you're talking about. I replied to the other dude that said her using the same joke is probably just a coincidence. Not sure what you've understood.

[@gerardodwyer5908]

Monolingual JO'B. A "posh French word". That's not much of a stretch James. 54% of the words in the English language are rooted in French, the language prominent on the cover of British blue passports. Strange that. Got to do with Hastings 1066 or something.

[@CanadianTimeLord]

The interesting thing about English is that, though the majority of words in our dictionary do not originate on that green and pleasant land, the majority of words in normal conversation are from the Anglo-Saxon (West Germanic) roots of the language. Churchill's "We shall fight them on the beaches" speech, for example, is almost entirely made up of words of Anglo-Saxon origin.

[@alinam7432]

Not really, English is a Germanic language.

[@tombartram7384]

Box ticking: not enough funny women on telly. Reality: Still not enough funny women on telly.

[@propershroper]

Just because you don't get her humour her popularity demonstrates quite well that plenty of other people do.

[@tombartram7384]

@@propershroper Give her a go presenting a game show. No script, all spontaneous. She wouldn't last a minute.

[@propershroper]

@@tombartram7384 maybe she could. She's not always scripted. I think the fact you mention "box ticking" suggests you've got some prejudice that maybe needs addressing. It's certainly not a normal response to disliking an individual's comedic style.

[@tombartram7384]

@@propershroper Maybe she could. No, she couldn't but that theory will never be tested. Maybe one day there'll be loads of funny women looking for work and I definitely will NOT support having unfunny men on telly to redress the balance.

[@derekspitz9225]

Switched off at the trans virtue signalling. Shame, because I like James generally.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Grimes and Avril Lavigne - what are your thoughts? 🎶🎶 Not impressed like Shania Twain?

[@rayg4360]

What type of people believe that there are 2 sexes ? (Biologist's )

[@Ste2023]

New face.

[@norwegianzound]

She does seem to think of men as all being pretty much the same. Interesting.

[@jimcourt9164]

LOL … when is Tony Blair gonna sit in that chair

[@cuzned1375]

She got in more words than most. But, yeah, still very much The JOB Show.

[@alistairbaird3711]

Filmed on a Nokia?

[@alansmith3733]

First spotted her being absolutely disgusting stage act similar to Brand. The female version if you like. The irony

[@navboi12]

A women I'd absolutely USE.

[@Ryattt81]

Lucky her.

[@guff9567]

Foreigners

[@kathycahill7883]

I don't think this plays to the interviewer's strengths - he doesn't let the interviewee speak and keeps interrupting and leading the conversation - there's also a false idolatry vibe as with the Jimmy Carr interview. Sorry to be critical

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

I suspect he realises that he is not a Michael Parkinson.

[@James-oo9ov]

un funny how is she so famous?

[@jzilla1234]

LBC: "James obrien meets Katherine Ryan" Everyone: "WHY?"

[@nick1065]

O’Brien is obviously losing his touch with his radio phone ins these days. LBC really are scraping the barrel by dredging up this dross to generate a few hits.

[@WinchesterProds0]

Okay nick 🤡🤡

[@martinseal1987]

Ferrari?

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Iain Dale after a haircut - why?

[@alfsmith4936]

Aww. Poor nick.. Here's your bit of attention. Don't forget to brush your teeth before bed!

[@nick1065]

@@alfsmith4936 But that’s what you get for having a vacuous echo chamber of a phone in show I guess. It only appeals to the inadequates of society, and is nothing more than a one dimensional rant at all the injustices that the ‘victims’ face here.

[@kevinbaker2492]

She is so awful. Gave up. Not a legend

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

I have to be honest here, I haven't got a sausage of an idea who she is, wouldn't know her from Eve.

[@thomasashleyorrelll]

Well what a pointless comment. I have no idea who you are.....what did that add nothing.

[@micksutton4822]

yet she speaks very highly of you!

[@kezzert21]

We’ll, I suppose you do now, if you watched it all? Weird thing to say!!

[@nathanfurnival8724]

She will do or say anything for money 🤢

[@propershroper]

So will your mum.

[@productdesign9626]

Oh it's you again, making the same comment on another Katherine Ryan video. I'd ask if you have anything better to do than to troll videos you obviously haven't watched - but unfortunately I see you don't

[@phillipjclay5817]

She`s a clever lady

[@jamesjennings9907]

Only because you haven't met ME.

[@mikenewbold1699]

he's off his rocker she isn't funny

[@DanBrown96]

It's almost as if people can have different opinions. What a concept.

[@itcu185]

BOOOOOOORRRRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG

[@chrishobson6431]

Can't stand her 😊

[@PH5221]

Yet here you are.

[@TheBaconWizard]

So what?

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Sit down then.

[@IrishLadASMR]

Chris Knobson

[@philthrelfall5294]

I think she pre-empted you early on in the conversation!