Page 120 - Katherine Ryan press pack

KATHERINE RYAN IN LONDON, NOVEMBER 2016.
PHOTOS: MATT HOLYOAK/KAYTE ELLIS AGENCY.
STYLNG: ALEX PETSETAKIS. HAIR: MAKI TANAKA USING

BUMBLE AND BUMBLE. MAKI TANAKA MAKEUP: AKGUN
MANISALI FOR CHANEL/THE LONDON STYLE AGENCY .
PHOTO ASSISTANT: LUKE WELLER. STYLING ASSISTANT:
JOANNA GYAMERA. RETOUCHING: THE SHOEMAKER’S ELVES

LONDON.

During her comedy shows, Katherine Ryan will sometimes bring up

zeitgeist-y celebrities. She has, for example, a particularly amusing

bit about U.K. TV personality Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, formerly

Cheryl Cole. “I’m the nation’s sweetheart,” she says, imitating Cole’s

Geordie accent. “No, you’re the answer to the question, ‘How

beautiful do you have to be to make the nation forget about how

your racist assault charge?'”

“I do meet people from my act from time to time,” Ryan tells us over

the phone from London. “They give me a little flicker of worry—

‘Have I been unfair?’ But I’m usually talking about a greater

narrative or a scene. I’m not just destroying them personally,” she

continues. “The Cheryl Cole bit isn’t about Cheryl Cole so much as

our tendency as a celebrity-consuming culture to put people on a

pedestal just for what they look like. It’s about us and how quickly

we shift in terms of approval or disapproval.”

Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Ryan has spent the last eight

years living in London. It is on the U.K. comedy circuit—from the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival to panel shows like Mock the Week, Never

Mind the Buzzcocks, and Have I Got News For You—that Ryan honed

her tone. Though she is still on the rise in North America, she is

already very famous in her adopted country. “Really, I’m a British