She is the funny woman who is usually helping us forget about all of our worries as we laugh along with her hilarious – and sometimes close to the bone – gags. But comedian Katherine Ryan has gone through her own challenging time of late. The 41 year old revealed last month that she had been diagnosed with melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer, for the second time. Lifting up her sleeve during our chat to show the scar left from her mole removal, Katherine reassures us, ‘I think it’s fine, but it's weird to have to confront your mortality.’
However, the serious chat doesn’t last too long and the panel show favourite – who is mum to son Fred, three, and daughter Fenna, two, with husband Bobby Koostra, 42, as well as 16-year-old daughter Violet from a previous relationship – is soon back to cracking jokes about wanting to fly to Colombia to have a butt lift and feeling the same age as Cher. She also tells us all about her new podcast and why she refuses to grow old gracefully…
Your current tour Battleaxe has made headlines for your jokes about other celebs. Have any of your subjects confronted you about a joke you’ve made?
Lena Dunham once told me that she and Taylor Swift knew about a joke I did that involved both of them. She said they thought it was funny, but Violet was horrified because she loves Taylor so much. I think most celebrities – especially quite high-level ones – know it’s from a place of love. Paul Hollywood confronted me, but not in a mean way. He said I’d told a joke about him when he was going through a difficult time, and I said sorry. But when celebrities do that, that's fair enough, I wish more of them would do that. Comedians don’t want to hurt anyone's feelings. I think you can tell that I'm joking, and I think that celebs take it with the goodwill that’s intended. I don't think most of them mind. I never joke about someone I don't properly love. Well, I do in this show, Prince Andrew and P Diddy and a few others. But with women, I always love them, so I don't want to offend.
Are there any jokes you regret telling?
I did some jokes about Cheryl that I feel badly about. She never confronted me, but deep in my soul, I think she knows. I wasn’t invited to see the Girls Aloud reunion, and I just think I never should have said that joke because I love Cheryl.
Do you worry about cancel culture?
No, I've seen very few people actually get cancelled. Some people get reprimanded for articulating themselves the wrong way, or people go off them because they find them mean-spirited, but I really think cancel culture is mostly a fallacy. I'm sure I will say things that upset people, but I never worry that I'm going to dip my toe into hate speech or anything that's cancellable. I tell the jokes that I do because I know that I'm pure of heart. I think while I'm a little bit mean, it's in the context of stand-up. I'm very progressive, and inclusive, and a champion for diversity – I want everyone to feel safe. I expect to offend people, but some people really love to be offended, and I indulge them.
You’ve turned your hand to judging on the latest season of Canada’s Got Talent alongside Shania Twain. How have you found that?
I love it! I knew that I was going to go into that role and shake things up. I wanted to be very honest, and a little bit of a disrupter. I don't want to be just a blonde wearing a dress. Shania is the sweetest person in the world, but she's pretty honest. Someone will come up in a little country outfit and they're like, ‘My hero is Shania,’ and she'll say no! She's refreshing. She's so amazing, working with her has been a lifelong dream.
Would you be interested in a seat on the BGT panel if it came up?
I would, but I'm not going to get there. I know that because, from a production angle, I would be Amanda Holden. That's the silhouette that I would fill, we even have the same dress in one episode! She’s so good and she's very close with Simon Cowell, so it's just not happening for me. Maybe if Amanda is otherwise indisposed, I'll pop on, but she's so good in that role.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I like standing in the mistakes I've made. I think it's dangerous to try to take any of that away because you might have become a different person. But if I could still be the same person with the same outcome, I would erase some romantic relationships that I wasted my time with. I would love to not be so focused on romantic relationships. Even now, is my marriage necessary? I could be working so much more, I could have fewer kids, way more disposable income. I think romance is lovely, but it stands in the way of your own dreams. There’s been ups and downs along the way, but I ultimately wouldn't change anything.
You were diagnosed with skin cancer for a second time. How are you doing?
At first, I was like, ‘Oh, that's fine’, because I've had melanoma before. And then I started thinking, ‘What if it’s in other places that I don't know about?’ It does move fast – it's not just a regular skin cancer, and it did force me to think about my mortality. There are people in my family who didn't get a mole checked and then they died, so now I am really prioritising it. I've gone for so many checks, and ultrasounds. I have to have an MRI, just to really make sure it's not hiding anywhere.
You’ve spoken about how a doctor initially told you it wasn’t melanoma…
I hope it didn't hurt the doctor's feelings. In fairness, it really didn't look like melanoma, but thank God I knew it wasn’t fine. I think it's important to be really transparent, so that other people can get checked and know what treatment is available to them. I wouldn’t have got checked if it wasn't for Teddi Mellencamp from The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills. [She was diagnosed with melanomas in 2022 and now has stage 4 cancer].
Has Teddi been in touch?
Yes, she’s sent me some voice notes. She has such a positive attitude about it. She's young and beautiful, and has small kids, and she's in a real serious battle now, so I'm just really glad I found it. But I was sat in the waiting room and just thought, ‘In two minutes, I could find out that I have liver cancer’. I don't have anxiety but, in that minute, I was all alone and I was like, ‘Maybe my husband should be here.’ Luckily the scan was fine, but I think that does stop people from confronting their health because they don't want to receive bad news. But I'd rather receive bad news than just drop dead one day.
Your new podcast, What’s My Age Again?, sees celebrity guests find out their biological age compared to their chronological age. Have you found out yours?
Mine is very bad. I wasn't surprised because, even though I'm not a big party girl, I do have autoimmune diseases. I have lupus and coeliac, and that will cause a lot of inflammation, which is a good test of cellular age. I scored really badly, like ‘gay icon status’ old.
What’s your relationship with ageing like?
I have a really good relationship with it. I've been positioned as someone who gets loads of plastic surgery and loads of filler and Botox. I've had breast implants, but I haven't had any surgery on my face. I don't get filler anymore, I have looked more towards health and longevity, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in procedures. I liked the way Joan Rivers looked, and that she embraced people making fun of her. I want to age ungracefully. I won't go nuts with it, but I do plan to get a face lift in the future. My mum’s just had one and looks great. I don't know if British doctors do the bum as well as in other countries, unfortunately, but it would be fun to look like J.Lo in my 50s. But equally, Shania is nearly 60 and she hasn't done anything. I spend the entire time I’m with her searching for scars, she has none. She radiates humility and joy and kindness. Don’t get me wrong, she's got an excellent glam squad, but she just looks great. I think as you become older, especially as a woman, the best thing that you can be is joyful. But I still want to have a face lift. I'm sorry, I do.
What does Violet think about ageing?
It's really tough to get a 16 year old to care about ageing, she’s at the age where she wants to be old. She and her girlfriends are trying to accelerate their age. I get it, you want to be taken seriously, you want to be an adult, you want freedom, you want all the benefits that come with being older without any of the responsibility. But I certainly think about my babies, I don't have any aches and pains right now, but when my small children are Violet's age, what's that going to be like? I worry sometimes that I will not be the same mother to those children that I was to Violet when I was young and fresh and vivacious. Violet wants to be older, I would like to be younger, and I probably should stop having babies if my biological age is Cher [who is 78].
The first episode of Katherine Ryan’s What’s My Age Again? is available to listen to now. Her tour Battleaxe travels around the UK & Ireland until June