Stand-up showcase was too expensive for the audience it attracted, comic reveals

Amazon has cancelled Backstage With Katherine Ryan, the comedian has revealed.

The stand-up said the showcase – which featured the likes of Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Sarah Millican,  Seann Walsh and Sara Pascoe – did not win a big enough audience to justify its cost.

Speaking on her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Ryan said: ‘It’s not coming back… I don't know if that's public knowledge, but I'm probably allowed to tell you about it. I mean, what are they gonna do? Double cancel it.

‘It's not coming back, though a lot of people really liked it,’ she said, adding the cost of testing everyone, including the audience, for Covid added to the budget

‘And then I caught Covid, spoiler alert – if you haven't seen it, fuck you, you're the reason it's not coming back. We had to cancel the whole last day.

‘I'm sure insurance covered some of that. But it was a really expensive, ambitious show to make and people liked it but ultimately, it didn't get the viewership that they hoped.

‘So that's a shame, that's not coming back. But we move on. Something new and exciting will be going on soon. And if you haven't seen Backstage With Katherine Ryan, I really stand behind it, on Amazon Prime Video – a wonderful show that showcased so many of my very good friends and comedians that I love.’

Six half-hour episodes are available here with other guests including  Tom Allen, Sue Perkins, Nish Kumar, Joel Dommett and Rosie Jones – all talking to Ryan in the dressing room as well as performing stand-up.

Last month Chortle reported that Ryan was shooting a pilot episode of a gameshow called Make It Hard, although few details were given, other than the fact it would feature ‘daft questions, obscure facts and laughs aplenty’.

She will also be a subject of the next interview series from Louis Theroux, who has been following her on he Missus stand-up tour.

Ryan opened her podcast talking about attending the wedding of her ‘hilarious and empowering’ fellow comedian Tiff Stevenson to her long-term partner Paul Bertellotti at the weekend.

And she spoke about Louis CK’s visit to London – defending his right to perform his own show but expressing disquiet at his surprise appearance at Top Secret Comedy Club to try out new material.

‘I've said that if you want to buy a ticket to see someone I think that you should have that right,’ she said. ‘However I do find it a bit disconcerting when these surprise mixed bill comedy club type rooms just throw him on stage. Because then that presents a consent issue.’

Published: 12 Oct 2022