The Audacity: Why Being Too Much Is Exactly Enough: The Sunday Times bestseller

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Films are judged for production, concept, delivery/performance, creativity, writing and overall funniness. The top 10 films are then viewed by an independent judging panel of top television and film industry professionals who will choose one overall winner and two runners up. The final three will be invited to attend the grand final in London on the 23rd September. But we are getting ahead of ourselves, because this version of Ryan, the one who hosts panel shows and receives evisceration requests, was shaped by careful accident over 38 years, beginning in Sarnia, a small petrochemical town in Canada. She was restless and popular, and at 19 worked as a waitress with a friend called Jessica. In her book, Ryan calls this chapter “How To Let Your Friend’s Murder Define All Your Relationships”. One day Jessica didn’t turn up to work and soon Ryan heard she’d been killed by her ex-boyfriend. “That’s how it happens,” Ryan’s mum told her that evening. “If you leave them, they sometimes kill you.” “I felt guilty writing about that,” she says, “because when you write your own book, you really centre yourself. She wasn’t my best friend, she wasn’t my sister, but it affected me, and it affected all the young women in our town, too. It was a lesson. When your brain is still growing, the events of your life write on the canvas of who you are. Without even knowing it I learned, ‘If you piss them off, they’ll kill you.’” Years later she’d joke on stage, “Things like, ‘Men are nature’s gun. You’re statistically most likely to be killed by the one in your house. Haha.’ And until recently I didn’t even realise myself, how scared I was.” I think it is unrealistic to hope that everyone is going to like you Enjoyable. Really refreshing to have a woman in the public eye talk so honestly (and hilariously) about her life, mistakes and triumphs without really caring what anyone thinks. Particularly enjoyed her reflections about a string of ‘diabolical’ male partners and sexism within the comedy industry.

The Audacity By Katherine Ryan | Used | 9781788703987 | World The Audacity By Katherine Ryan | Used | 9781788703987 | World

Georgia Pritchett on Succession, swearing and anxiety: ‘As a comedy writer, I felt it was my job to be happy’Ryan’s audacity to refuse to fit in, to go her own way and to speak up has made for an autobiography that is funny, frank and fabulous. Presumably, if you are going to read the book, you are like me a fan of Katherine and through her great podcast, also a fan of Violet. The book covers her life so far which has been exciting and sometimes traumatic in her usual pragmatic style. I listened on Audible as I love to hear authors reading their own stories and I find Katherine’s voice very appealing. The audiobook also has a bonus half hour from Katherine’s mother Julie, an intelligent, funny and very wise woman. Play it for laughs: performing on stage in Leeds in 2017. Photograph: Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images

The Audacity by Katherine Ryan | Goodreads

Freshly 19, I’d successfully evaded the need to end any of my relationships by cleverly being undesirable and always dumped first. I’d recently started a job in [my hometown] Sarnia’s best summer restaurant, where I was often paired on the bar with an older girl called Jessica. Whatever strangers think of me is fine with me. How audacious is that? I can always take a joke, I don't waste time worrying about things I can't control. I embrace the reality that you just can't please everyone, so you might as well put yourself out there and have a laugh. As my mother always said, "Katherine, if we all liked the same thing, we'd all be married to your father."Kate Stone is the editor of Funny Women and an award-winning script writer. She has written comedy sketches for the BBC's 100 Women project and created the Funny Women Awards Comedy Shorts category.