Katherine Ryan has accused a male comedian of showing another young female comedian videos of himself having sex with another woman while backstage of a major TV show. The 41-year-old comedian was sharing the incident in conversation with Ashley Stobart and Lauren Adamson for the Nip Tuck podcast, as part of a wider discussion about the Me-Too movement and being a woman in comedy.
In reference to the casual misogyny that went on backstage, Ryan explained that in the green room of a ‘big show’, she witnessed another female comedian being sexually harassed.
‘One male comedian in particular [who] was very rich, very powerful, he was in a green room of a big show and I was one of maybe three women on that bill,’ Ryan said. ‘And there was a young female comedian who was starting out who was next to him, and he was with all the lads, showing pictures and videos on his phone that he had taken of himself having sex with women. Really intimate photos and videos. He was showing her like “Look at this, what do you think of this?”. His penis was in a lot of these videos.’
They were really intimate photos and videos.
Ryan said the female comedian later came into her dressing room and told her how uncomfortable she found it. Being a woman in comedy, she says, means often being the only one in a room full of men.
‘When I was starting out female comedians were a minority in every green room or dressing room,’ she explained. ‘There were things we can’t do that the boys can. We can’t take a night bus, we can’t sleep on the floor with four other comedians starting out, a lot of time we have children we have to look after. And then we get fans who could kill us.’
Who is Katherine Ryan talking about?
Now, Google Trends shows that ‘Who is Katherine Ryan talking about’ is a major breakout search term. To be clear, Ryan never named the comedian, but she did specify that he ‘isn’t British.’
It’s not the first time Ryan has spoken about sexual misconduct in comedy. In 2022, she told Louis Theroux that she called out a male co-star for sexual abuse while filming a TV show. It was later reported that she was talking about Russell Brand during filming of Comedy Central’s Roast Battle, who she called a ‘sexual predator’, but the moment was cut from the show. In September last year, Brand was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse by four women. He strenuously denies the allegations and says all of his sexual relationships.
Now, social media is awash with theories on who Ryan’s latest accusation could be about. It’s unlikely she’ll share the name though. When she didn’t name the comedian she accused of being a ‘sexual predator’ in 2022, Ryan received backlash.
‘I got a lot of pushback, like, “Why won’t you say who it is?”’ Ryan told BBC afterward. It’s because everyone knows who it is. What they’re asking me for is the women’s names. And that’s what I won’t give and that’s why I was reluctant to talk about it.’