Page 134 - Katherine Ryan press pack

I die on those, but I don’t die on tour, because those are people who

bought a ticket and have come to see you on purpose. That’s the

luxury and the privilege of being a comedian who tours, because

coming in you already have a really good shot of it going well. But

for the corporates, they’re a little bit more surprised to see you,

some of them will have never heard of you before. And they’re really

dressed up; I think people find it harder to laugh when they’re really

dressed up. So I’ve died a bit on a couple of those. They just want to

get their awards and want you to stop talking. The most notable time

that I died was probably five years ago, and I didn’t get heckled or

anything—I don’t mind getting heckled, I think you can work from

that and come back from it. This was more that every person in the

room just turned their backs and started having their own

conversations. It was like I was a mad woman in the room with a

microphone talking into it for no reason. No one was listening; it was

really bad. I was newer then—I was just a five-year comic. I thought

that if I didn’t complete my 20 minute stage time that I wouldn’t get

paid, and at that time I still really needed to get paid, so I carried on

for 20 minutes of them just completely ignoring and talking over me.

If that happened again, I would just leave. I’d be like, “Alright. You

win.” But I died pretty bad that night. That was when I was still doing

club gigs. I still do club gigs now for new material, but I wasn’t doing

my own tours. I was just one of four comics on a mixed bill for a

Christmas gig at a club.

BROWN: When you’re writing a show and work your new material in

clubs, how important is the audience reaction in terms of what stays

in the show?