The thread that runs through this book is Ryan’s incredible work ethic, whether it’s comedy, mothering or waitressing at Hooters she puts her all into it. It is clear that Ryan is all about taking chances, from auditioning as a dancer for a Sean Paul video to entering comedy competitions such as the Funny Women Awards which she won in 2008. It was during this time Ryan started working at famous restaurant chain Hooters, where she found a supportive matriarchy that appreciated her humour and gave Ryan her first hosting gig. We were being encouraged to learn to pole dance but only if it were for fitness purposes. It was an odd time before we’d learned about intersectional feminism and slutwalks. Young women of the noughties were and are often dismissed as frivolous and trashy. Why should she be? She was the precise marketing target. Ryan is refreshingly unashamed of the teenager and 20-something she was, obsessed with fake tan, fake boobs, and reality TV. And we need to talk about this weird era because low-riding micro-skirts are coming back and I want young people today to have the tools to deal with that. It’s not just the fact that Ryan is, as you would expect, a sharp and funny writer that makes this book so fascinating but also it’s one of the first autobiographies from a millennial who came of age in the Noughties. Set out in a series of ‘how-to’ chapters this autobiography takes an instructive and chronological approach that details how Ryan’s fearlessness has matured over time. Katherine Ryan is a comedian known for her ‘audacity’ but this book, and for that matter, Ryan’s body of work, make it clear that you cannot boil this woman down to one word.
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