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Katherine Ryan has opened up about her 'scary' experiences with men in the early days of her television career.
The comedian, 41, is hugely successful in her field and has appeared on shows such as Mock The Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats.
And speaking to Good Housekeeping UK she has now recalled some encounters with male fans who tried to follow her home after gigs.
She said: 'When I started doing television, male audience members could be weird with me.
'I had this following of very strange lone-wolf men… Before I had a tour manager, they'd follow me on to the train and keep talking to me.
'I was trying to be polite and create a boundary, but some of those interactions were scary.'
Katherine Ryan has opened up about her 'scary' experiences with men in the early days of her television career
The comedian, 41, is hugely successful in her field and has appeared on shows such as Mock The Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats
She also discussed calling out sexual predators in the world of comedy but said that she has been lucky with most of the shows she has worked on.
Katherine said: 'No one has tried anything weird with me because I'm probably very scary.
'I'm aware that by saying that I could be seen to be victim blaming, so I want to make it clear that I'm not saying someone else has received poor treatment because they've got 'the wrong energy'.
'I've been lucky, in part, I think, because of the guys I came up with – Joe Lycett, Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan are just really, really good guys.'
It comes after last October Katherine shared the cutting message she sent to former male colleagues who got in touch after she revealed there was a 'dangerous male comic' on the circuit.
The star claimed last year that there is a 'dangerous comic' working in British showbusiness.
She hosted the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards in London in October and was honoured with a Feminist Hero Award for speaking out about the alleged predator.
During her speech, Katherine revealed that a host of men she had worked with previously got in touch after her admission - all seeking 'proof messages' that she wasn't talking about them.
And speaking to Good Housekeeping UK she has now recalled some encounters with male fans who tried to follow her home after gigs
She said: 'When I started doing television, male audience members could be weird with me. Before I had a tour manager, they'd follow me on to the train and keep talking to me'
She added: 'I was trying to be polite and create a boundary, but some of those interactions were scary'
'So I had to copy and paste like a hundred times 'Do you really think you should be texting me after everything that happened between us',' Katherine said as she revealed how she replied, sparking huge laughs from the female crowd.
Katherine said last year that she 'wrestled' with the decision about whether to work with 'someone who I believe to be a perpetrator of sexual assault' or turn down jobs.
Referencing said male comic in her speech Katherine began: 'After some soul-searching I though 'Why should I stay home? He's be there in his unnecessarily tight jeans, he'll be there wearing beanie indoors or w***ing off a Tibetan monk for views, or whatever he gets up to.'
'And so I accepted the gig but every time I had to speak to him I would say stuff like 'I'm not getting paid enough to be here, especially for how many times my face will be on the news when your victims come forward' and fun banter like that.
'It happened so long ago we were still using the word victim by the way, we say survivor now which would have been a very different Destiny's Child song, less empowering.'
Katherine went on to say that everyone in the industry already knew this man was a predator, but that the survivors didn't feel comfortable speaking out.
'I wasn't trying to get him cancelled because everyone knew,' she said. ''Why didn't you tell a journalist Katherine', everybody knew. 'Why didn't you tell the police', everybody already knew. Everybody knew but they couldn't prove it.
'What the journalist wanted from me was never his name it was the women's names. The women who had told me their stories and I believe in a woman's right to physical autonomy just as I believe in the right to autonomy of her voice and if they didn't want to come forward that's up to them. So I couldn't say anything.'
Going on to speak about the other men, she continued: 'But because I wouldn't name my colleague a funny thing started happening, I started to receive texts from men that I'd worked with over the years, like actors, comedians, musicians, just like 'Hey Katherine how's it going'.
'I didn't know what they wanted so I showed these texts to my husband and he said: 'Oh they just want a poof text, they want you to send them back something nice so they can show their agent and they can show their wife that you definitely weren't talking about them.'
Katherine said last year that she 'wrestled' with the decision about whether to work with 'someone who I believe to be a perpetrator of sexual assault' or turn down jobs
She is previously reported to have confronted Russell Brand while they were co-hosting TV comedy show Roast Battle in 2018. Pictured: Ryan (centre) with Brand (left) and Jimmy Carr (right) on the show
'So I had to copy and paste like a hundred times 'Do you really think you should be texting me after everything that happened between us'.'
The Canadian-born comic told host Lauren Laverne in an episode of Desert Island Discs last year that although she believed the man 'is or was dangerous', she was willing to appear on a show with him. The episode came out as Russell Brand was at the centre of allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denied, but was recorded prior.
Katherine has been outspoken on the issue and is alleged to have challenged Russell while they were co-hosting TV comedy show Roast Battle in 2018, making comments about him on camera which were later cut from the broadcast.
The full interview can be read now in the February issue of Good Housekeeping
English (US) ·