Comic speaks out on Desert Island Discs

Katherine Ryan said she ‘wrestled with her conscience’ when asked to work with a ' 'dangerous comic'  with a reputation for being a sexual predator.

Her comments on today’s episode of Desert Island Discs will widely be seen as referring to her work with Russell Brand on the first series of Comedy Central’s Roast Battle in 2018.

Last month, after allegations against Brand became public, industry website Deadline reported that Ryan reportedly called him a ‘sexual predator’ in unaired comments during filming. He did not appear in the second series and was replaced by Jonathan Ross.

The BBC were keen to point out that Ryan recorded Desert Island Discs in early September, before the Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches aired four women’s accusations about Brand – which he as repeatedly denied.

On Radio 4 this morning, Ryan described her moral dilemma when asked to work with a suspected predator, without naming who she was talking about.

She told host Lauren Laverne:  ‘I had a choice, I could go to work with someone whom I believe to be a perpetrator of sexual assault, or I could turn down the job, those were my options. And so I wrestled with that I thought, What am I meant to do in this instance? 

‘The choice is, do I go to work with someone who I think is very problematic? And do I stand near them and laugh and smile and look like I am allowing this kind of person to still be on television? Or do I stay home? 

‘And that was really difficult for me. That's what I wrestled with the most, because I believe that this person was or is dangerous, but also like, what am I going to change if I stay home?

‘So I decided my compromise was alright, I'm going to go, but I'm going to let him know, under no uncertain terms, what I think of him, I'm not going to just smile and look like I'm allowing this behaviour, I'm not gonna let him think that I don't know. And that everybody he works with is just going to let him get away with it. 

‘So that is the attitude that I took into the show. And did I do the right thing or the wrong thing? I still don't know.’

Ryan is credited being one of the first people to raise concerns about Brand, without naming him. She told Laverne that most people who asked her about the allegations wanted her to name the women involved 'and that's what I won't give'. 

In an episode of BBC’s Louis Theroux Interviews last year, the 40-year-old said it was an ‘open secret’ that a prominent man in the entertainment industry was a ‘sexual predator,’ but added: ‘It’s very dangerous for us to have this conversation… it’s a litigious minefield because lots of people have tried to nail this person down for their alleged crimes and this person has very good lawyers.’

Elsewhere in Desert Island Discs, Ryan told Laverne how she went straight to a gig in Liverpool after learning she had a miscarriage. She said: ‘It felt almost like I was numb. But it was wonderful to have an hour not to think about it. 

‘It crept up in my mind a few times during the hour, but it was easier for me to push it away and just think about the show.  I hate to be so old fashioned about it, but it really helps to just get on with things.’

She spoke about starting comedy in Canada saying: ‘I decided that I wanted to be Sarah Silverman… I loved that her jokes were edgy, and I loved that her jokes were shocking, but I didn't have the chops to understand the nuance of what made edgy jokes work, what made them cleve. So I think I was just really offensive. In the beginning I would just settle for nervous laughter counted as laughter to me.’ 

She said she has inspired in life by her mother and grandmother, who were ‘frustrated and didn't reach the full potential’ which inspired her to think: ‘I didn't want to be chained to duties of a woman.’

The comic added that her mum was supportive saying: ‘My mother almost gifted me with this privilege of total ambivalence. Like I didn't realise that anything would be hard because I was a woman. My mum just really emboldened me to think "why couldn't I do that?"

Ryan also spoke about how looking glamorous on stage was important to her – but she was advised against it in her early days in comedy.

‘If people are paying a babysitter and they're paying for parking coming out on a Saturday night, then you should be the best dressed person in the room,’ she said.

‘But then when I started doing comedy, there was a bit of pushback. People, bookers – men, I guess – would say, "Oh, you mustn't dress up because the men will fancy you, they won't listen to you, and the women will be angry, they'll be jealous of you… So you should just wear a hoodie."

‘I thought that was a bit downtrodden for what I had my sights set on. I suppose I was dressing for the job I wanted not the job I had.’

Speaking about making jokes at her own expense she said: ‘I guess it is a power move. But it's also just like, I love jokes. And I don't mind if I am the butt of the joke, or the joke is at my expense. I think this is a wonderful privilege to get to make people laugh, and I just don't feel I would ever be precious about myself.’

Her Desert Island Disc choices included Spice Up Your Life by the Spice Girls, Eminem’s The Real Slim Shady and Taylor Swift’s 22.

She chose children’s title The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler as her book and skincare products – including an unlimited supply of sun cream – as her luxury item 

Last week, Ryan revealed she left BBC Two panel show Mock the Week to give other female comics a chance.

She told the High Performance podcast: ‘ I loved Mock the Week, I loved everyone who worked on that show but there came a point in my career where I had to stop appearing on that show because i knew there was just one seat for women at that time.

‘I knew that if i was sitting in that chair, I was preventing one of my female peers from having a go. Being on that show was life-changing. You would receive so much more exposure and people would come to see you on tour and it would really draw people in, it was a game changer.’

• Desert Island Discs is available on BBC Sounds will be repeated on Radio 4 at 9am on Friday.

Published: 1 Oct 2023