Katherine Ryan’s Funny, Uneven In Trouble

She may retain a certain amount of anonymity in the States, but the Canadian-born British comedian Katherine Ryan is no unknown quantity. For years she’s been a staple on British comedy panel shows (the thriving tradition we unfortunately don’t really partake in over here), and tours regularly. Her stateside profile will no doubt be bolstered by the Netflix special In Trouble, which takes no chances, hanging an enormous photo of Ryan captioned with her name behind her, as if to constantly remind us who we clicked on in order to watch comedy.

Still, In Trouble starts off strong in its own way, with Ryan sticking mostly to crowd work, giving us the impression that In Trouble wants to replicate the average experience of being at a Katherine Ryan show—a move that starts us off a little slow, but is still a refreshing change of pace from over-edited and endlessly tweaked comedy specials that typically place that material a little later in the set or cut it out altogether. Insofar as In Trouble introduces us to Ryan’s general perspective and vibe, it does well. Ryan manages to balance being a single mother with an incredibly successful stand-up career; it’s immensely satisfying to hear her take down other women who try to pressure her into a life just like theirs, a pressure seldom applied to men. Asking someone to lose weight, she says, is basically asking someone to take up less space in case a man wants to golf there.