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Original poster

AIBU to find the comedian Katherine Ryan's turn to the right surprising?

233 replies

exceptmeandmymonkey · 10/04/2026 10:38

I was raised by a single mum and really liked Katherine Ryan's early standup that mostly focused on being a single mum in crap relationships. Several years ago she hooked up with her childhood sweetheart and had several kids with him, and since then her persona has taken quite a turn.

She defended the manosphere participants in Louis Theroux's recent docs, said that she liked Jordan Peterson, and today on social has featured her partner talking about how the moon landing is a conspiracy. Partner is 'not academic' I'll say politely, and MAGA-adjacent. He doesn't work and is a full time dad yet Katherine does the vast majority of childcare (and all of the earning) whilst he golfs. Clearly she got a lot of negative feedback from her (100% women and gay men) audience on her manosphere comments, because she backtracked a bit.

The situation seems like something she would have laughed at years ago, and it's been strange to see her comedy twist to support this, claiming she's always had provocative views.

I don't see any celebs as heroes so this isn't a 'my hero isn't who I expected' just more of a wow, didn't see this twist coming.

OP posts:
Idrinklotsofcoffee · 10/04/2026 11:02

It's been happening for many years, and one of the reasons I stopped listening to her podcast. She was forever dropping in on how much tax she paid, anti-vax sentiments and digs about the education system.

Original poster
exceptmeandmymonkey · 10/04/2026 10:58

pimplebum · 10/04/2026 10:43

Are you sure you haven’t misunderstood sarcasm ?

how do you know he doesn’t work snd what she does around the house ?

a lot if what she says is to shock and not to be taken seriously

I'm familiar with sarcasm. She got very negative feedback on the manosphere take on her insta, and you can see the most recent post is the moon landing one. Maybe her sarcasm is simply too subtle for her entire audience.

As for her relationship dynamics, she talks about it on socials (which I think is mostly clips of her podcast). She will work late, come home exhausted, co-sleep with the kids, wake up exhausted, and he'll be out all day golfing. She's also talked about how her male comedian friends have stay-at-home wives who handle everything, but she's the do-er in her house.

They have a full-time nanny (who she referred to as something odd bc she clearly wasn't comfortable saying she had both a full-time nanny and a stay-at-home husband -- think she called the nanny her child's servant or assistant or something?).

OP posts:
MyFunSloth · 10/04/2026 10:50

I think we need to get away from a world view where people are expected to be 100% aligned with a particular stance. Human beings are allowed to be complicated, to change their views, maybe even to occasionally say silly things.

Most debates are much more nuanced than black-and-white and maybe it’s refreshing to see people acknowledge that rather than just blindly following the herd.

applecrumblespider · 10/04/2026 10:48

When I first saw her on tele years ago I remember thinking she was "relatively" right wing / non-feminist. I think it was stuff she was saying about hiw she worked at Hooters in a positive way.

pimplebum · 10/04/2026 10:43

Are you sure you haven’t misunderstood sarcasm ?

how do you know he doesn’t work snd what she does around the house ?

a lot if what she says is to shock and not to be taken seriously

Credittocress · 10/04/2026 10:43

People often change their views throughout their lives as their circumstances and priorities change. I’d be more worried if someone hadn’t changed their views over a decade.

i think we also need to be aware that there is a class of celebrities that aren’t actually that interesting but keep themselves in the headlines and public eye by saying ragebait.

If you don’t like it, don’t engage or listen to it. She’s likely only doing it to keep in the public eye

LamentableShoes · 10/04/2026 10:41

I couldn't comment without seeing what she actually said, not an interpretation of it...?

But yes I'd be surprised if someone in the mainstream comedy circuit genuinely became right-wing. Perhaps it's more nuanced than that?

Doing childcare while your partner does a hobby seems wholly unremarkable to me as well. Am I missing something?

buymeaboaanddrivemetoreno · 10/04/2026 10:40

I can’t say I’m hugely surprised…she likes to shock, so this is the next shocking thing. Disappointed yes, surprised, not really.