Comics say AI fails to tickle funny bone as live stand up revives
“A stand-up at the top of their game, delivering live a one-hour show they have crafted and remembered – literally 10,000 words – there’s nothing like it,” she said. “Fundamentally, it all starts with those very early years.”
No fools, no filters: Chris Ryan’s one-woman comedy storm
Western Advocate August 6 2025, Benjamin Palmer
Award-winning comedian Chris Ryan is on tour with her unfiltered humour and razor-sharp observations, and she’s ready to hit the op shops as hard as the punchlines.
Extreme Tenant interview with Cheralyn Darcey The Nightline SRN
Had a great chat with Cheralyn in Newcastle ahead of my show hitting Newcastle, Mudgee, Bathurst and Katoomba. Have a listen.
If you loved Hacks, try Chris Ryan
Anyone who has savoured the martini-dry one-liners of Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance or the finely tuned cynicism of Hannah Einbender’s Ava Daniels may find a new favourite comic voice in the world-weary Chris Ryan. As with that show’s comedian frenemies, there’s an appealing layer of vulnerability under the hard-bitten surface of Ryan’s work. While a life in the entertainment industry machine may have jaded our Hacks heroines, Ryan has more relatable bugbears, among them: internet twits, wellness charlatans and people with five-year plans.
Extreme Tenant, Enmore Theatre, May 15-18
Review Good-O Sydney Morning Herald 2024
COMEDY
Chris Ryan: Good-O ★★★★
Enmore Theatre, April 25. Until April 28
Comedian Chris Ryan recently came across the work of stoic philosopher Epictetus, who counselled readers to surround themselves “only with people who uplift you.” She had unknowingly been living by a very similar credo; she’s had a “strict no f—-heads policy” since high school.
Having first tried stand-up comedy in her late 30s, the no-nonsense Ryan is something of a rarity on the Australian scene as a middle-aged woman still in the relatively early stages of her career.
Entering the youth-dominated open mic circuit with some life experience has given her a different perspective, and she’s grown into a distinctive, vital voice. Good-O introduces new wrinkles into Ryan’s comedy as it fleshes out her jaded worldview.
It’s perhaps her most personal work yet, digging into her relationship with her parents. She aspires to be more like her father, who responds to rudeness or aggression with the sign-off “Good-O”, but more closely resembles her mother, who shares her tendency towards rage.
She’s tried therapy, something her Boomer parents wouldn’t countenance, to get to the root of her discontent. Yet, as her mother helpfully pointed out: “It doesn’t seem to have fixed you.”
The differing values across generations prove a fertile comic ground for Ryan. Now, she marvels, grandparents can be an involved, nurturing presence in their grandchildren’s lives.
Back when she was a kid, their attitude to her could be summed up as: “You’re a blood relative. I guess you can have a biscuit.”
Ryan has an understated style, but her writing is sharp and spiky as she winningly turns her ire on laughing yoga, motivational speakers and Instagram gurus. You sense her most complete work is still ahead of her, but for now, this is a trenchant, acutely funny hour, raging against modern malaise but never pretending to have all the answers.
Review: Perth Comedy Festival Gala at Regal Theatre
Perth Comedy Festival Gala at Regal Theatre
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
“Thankfully, that didn’t stop Chris Ryan, whose fearless dry delivery struck a chord with the audience, especially her sarcastic commentary on the absurdity of escape rooms, paint and sip, and other modern distractions. Extra points for her outstanding oversized mullet.”
Chris Ryan: Busy Melbourne International Comedy Festival review by Chortle
“She’s a straight talker – the Kobelco overalls she wears on stage a perfect symbol of her workmanlike no-nonsense approach – and dispenses her thoughts in a low-key, conversational style that’s wryly sarcastic towards anything that earns her disdain.
Ryan is efficient in her writing, too. Almost every line is some level of joke, even if it’s just a little one to move things along, all told with few extraneous words. We can probably attribute that to her journalism background.
She’s skilled at drawing the audience into her story without making a song-and-dance about it and comes across as an interesting and warm comedian but capable of flashes of cynicism when the need arises.”
Wilosophy interview
An extraordinary longform interview with the brilliant Wil Anderson.
An overnight comedy success after nine years’ work
Arts Hub asked me to write about what it was like starting comedy late in life and getting some recognition. I tend to wanky here, sorry about that.
The Drawing Room Radio National Interview with Patricia Karvelas
Honestly the best interviewer I think I’ve ever encountered, Patricia Karvelas got me saying stuff I ordinarily wouldn’t have felt so comfortable about. It’s a good, meaty 19 minute interview.
Five Minutes with Chris Ryan
2 July 2019.
Beatrice Smith, Her Canberra.
Sunday Brunch with Lish Fejer on ABC Canberra
“It’s hard to get [parents] off the couch and I understand, I sometimes don’t want to go to my own comedy show, but it’s always worth it.”
Had a walk up Red Hill with Lish Fejer from ABC Canberra and talked about the Sydney Comedy Festival award, Canberra comedy and whatnot. (It’s at the 1 hour 21m mark)
Chris Ryan wins Sydney Comedy accolade
Helen Musa, City News online, May 31.
Review: Chris Ryan, Bogus, Canberra Comedy Festival, The Street Theatre 22 March 2019.
Agata Nabalo, BMA Magazine, April 2019.
The Funny Side of Life by Kathy Sharpe (Fairfax) 3 Feb, 2017.
Canberra Close Up (ABC Canberra Interview) 29 April 2016
chris ryan comedy 
Fab show at Melbourne comedy festival. Bliss for depressed mothers of teenagers. The irony was great – do it much more. The wisdom is great too, it silences the room, but never let that bother you.
Great show at the oddly named Portico Room at Melbourne Town Hall. Christine’s warmth, wit and refusal to play the game of adult responsibility make her an icon for all of us failed adults. As said earlier ‘warm’ but without the ick, wise but not patronising and never predicable. Did I say ‘funny’ as?