Katherine Ryan once said "Men are like dolphins – best enjoyed on holiday." But she has put those flirty days behind her now. In her new show Battleaxe she celebrates being a happily married mother enjoying domestic bliss. Some of the time at least.
This latest zesty bulletin from the life of Ryan starts with her offering caustic dispatches from the motherhood front line. Her oldest daughter is now a textbook teenager ruling the roost with a, "25-step skin care regime and zero empathy." Meanwhile her toddler son likes to wake her for a fight in the middle of the night. The doctor diagnosed him with "boy".
The London-based Canadian is certainly not shy about oversharing when it comes to her family. They feature in amusing everyday footage before Ryan struts onstage and can also currently be seen in At Home With Katherine Ryan on the U&W channel. She clearly loves her "hillbilly" hubby Bobby but that doesn't stop her from mocking him for playing too much golf.
Battleaxe is so well-structured one can barely see the join as Ryan skillfully segues from suburban matters to skewering the celebrity world. At times the targets – Prince Andrew, the Danny Jones/Maura Higgins Brits kiss story, reality TV star Tommy Fury answering "Hamsterdam" when asked to name a country beginning with h in a quiz – resemble low-hanging fruit, but the stiletto-tongued stand-up is entertainingly spiky throughout.
After the playful potshots an extended routine recalled how she made headlines when she talked to interviewer Louis Theroux about a predator in the comedy industry. She didn't directly name Russell Brand, who strongly denies any allegations against him, but it's a revealing segment, shedding light on events behind the scenes as well as onscreen.
If the first half is tightly scripted the second half foregrounds Ryan's ability to think on her high-heeled feet as she turns agony aunt to offer spontaneous solutions to audience problems texted in during the break.
It's a low-tech Q&A variant and on this occasion threw up some spicy interactions as she offered dating tips to a man who has issues with his girlfriend's mother and another who had a much older lover.
And for any cynics who might think the questions are carefully curated, Ryan probably didn't expect one from somebody who worked for her vet asking her to pay a bill. She said she thought she had settled the canine account. And besides, it was her ex's dog, not hers.
Ryan was on more familiar terrain when someone asked if they should dump their boyfriend because he let off fireworks against her wishes. There were definitely plenty of bangers in this show, of the humorous variety, from this sparkiest of comedians.
Until tomorrow and April 10 - 12 and touring: information here: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/katherine-ryan-tickets/artist/1606563
