In Trouble

Katherine Ryan acts as a glamorous, pop-culture-obsessed outsider looking in, delivering mean-spirited gossip with a sweet, bright smile. On stage, she acts less like a traditional stand-up and more like an over-dressed, self-aware diva who is entirely comfortable being the bad guy. The energy of the set relies on this contrast: she looks like someone who would be in Taylor Swift’s “girl squad” but spends her time explaining why she would actually be kicked out of it for being too realistic.

A significant portion of the set details her upbringing in Sarnia, Ontario—a town she repeatedly describes as the armpit of Canada—and the challenges of raising her daughter, Violet, to be a posh, demanding British schoolgirl. She also recounts a real-world controversy where a joke she made on a UK panel show about the Philippines sparked international outrage. Instead of apologizing, she uses the backlash to highlight the absurdity of online anger, showing how the scandal actually helped her career rather than ending it.

Filmed at the Eventim Apollo in London, the 2017 release marked a major milestone as Ryan became only the second UK-based comedian, and the first woman, to get a global comedy special on Netflix. At the time, she was already a fixture on British television panel shows, but the special introduced her dry, celebrity-fixated style to a wider international audience. While her material on political landscapes and celebrity drama dates the show slightly to the mid-2016 era, her precise timing and willingness to play the villain keep the hour lively.