‘I’m not someone who has sex to music. I like uncomfortable silence’: Katherine Ryan’s honest playlist

The comedian unashamedly loves the Spice Girls’ Wannabe and cries to Boyz II Men, but which novelty song changed her life?

The first song I fell in love with My mother would sing and dance and cook and clean in the kitchen, as many 80s moms did, to divas like Madonna and Paula Abdul. Material Girl made me think: “This is who I want to be.”

The first single I bought I bought three records at the same time – Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette, a Sheryl Crow single and Waterfalls by TLC – from Sam the Record Man in Sarnia, Ontario, with money I’d saved up from doing chores around the house. My uncle was always trying to influence me with Canadian music, and he wasn’t wrong for doing so.

The song I do at karaoke Probably Son of a Preacher Man. Although I think karaoke is the best way to let many people know straight away that you are an attention-seeking alcoholic, so I do try to stay away from it.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to Give me a wine, and somehow I know all the words to the entire score of Hamilton, even though I’ve only seen it twice. [Sings Satisfied] “I’m a girl in a world in which my only job is to marry rich. My father has no sons, so I’m the one who has to social climb for one. I’m the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in New York City is insidious.”