Katherine Ryan is opening up about what it was like to work with Russell Brand on the UK version of Roast Battle for Paramount’s Comedy Central.
During her Sky stand-up special, Katherine Ryan: First Born Daughter, the comedian recalled that she joined the show thinking she’d poke fun at him, “but in a fun way.”
Ryan said, “I was invited on a panel show, and I was so excited to do it, but then I found out that if I went on, I would be sat next to a man whom I firmly believe, but can’t prove to be a c***. And that’s the lawyer’s choice of words, not mine.”
“Initially, I turned the job down, and then I thought: well, he’ll be there in his unnecessarily tight jeans, won’t he? He’ll be there, finger-banging Tucker Carlson or sucking off a Tibetan monk for views, whatever he does now … I thought I will go on the show, and I made a moral decision,” she continued, noting that she decided to make jokes about him.
Brand was “fine with it for a while, until eventually he had a hissy fit and threatened to quit the show.”
Ryan revealed that the “channel got upset.”
She added, “They didn’t want him to leave, and they issued him a new contract, which he waltzed into my dressing room and threw under my nose the next day. He said: ‘Look, you’re not allowed to be mean to me anymore, because I don’t consent.'”
Russell Brand was accused of sexual assault, rape, and other sexual crimes by six women in a bombshell lawsuit in 2023. The allegations made headlines when The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 published a joint investigation via their Dispatches program.