Katherine Ryan

Born and raised in a small town in Ontario, Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan found comedy stardom after she relocated to London. Finding kindred spirits on the capital's stand-up scene helped the former Hooters staff trainer (Ryan claimed she was fired for writing "club sandwiches not seals" on a specials board) hone her voice and progress from open mic nights to eventually becoming a familiar face on panel shows and a team captain on 8 Out Of 10 Cats.

Ryan proved herself to be something of a spiritual successor to the late Joan Rivers, due to her fondness for caustic put-downs and willingness to venture into dangerous territory in pursuit of a joke. These traits also earned her a spot alongside the similarly minded Jimmy Carr on Channel 4’s Your Face Or Mine and Netflix panel show The Fix.

By 2019, Ryan had cemented a productive partnership with the streaming giant, including two well received comedy specials, Glitter Room and In Trouble. An appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? led to a trip home to Canada and a reconnection with her childhood sweetheart, who she later married in 2019. That same year, Katherine Ryan toured the UK for a second time.

In 2020, Netflix released the sitcom The Duchess, written by and starring Ryan as a single mother in London. Ryan has said the series is a heightened version of her own life story, particularly in her portrayal of a single mother in a foreign city.

In October 2020, Katherine Ryan announced her Missus UK tour, set to kick off in September 2021 and run until May 2022. The name of the tour references the previously determinedly single Ryan's newly married status.