SXSW London Preview: Biohacking, Belly Laughs & Buffering Nostalgia — A late afternoon with Comedian Katherine Ryan.
- hazbeyondthepixels
- Apr 8
- 4 min read
Fresh off the train and straight into Shoreditch, I found myself at an invite-only preview event for SXSW London — held at the iconic The Old Blue Last pub (a stone’s throw from Old Street Station, in case you’re curious). Now, SXSW London isn’t officially kicking off until June, and to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was walking into. But I had my buddy Victor Perez with me, and sometimes that’s all you need.
Doors opened at 4PM, and the place quickly filled with curious creatives, SXSW crew, and even a full-on film crew. We snagged a table early — prime positioning, by the way — right as everyone else started piling in and getting comfy. There was a buzz in the air, the kind you get when you know something unexpectedly cool is about to happen.
The host kicked things off, welcoming us all and teasing some of the huge names set to speak in June — Idris Elba, Gillian Anderson, Dr. Jane Goodall (yes, that Jane Goodall), and more. Cool, right? But that info’s all over the SXSW London site, so I won’t bore you with that.
What did blow me away — and why I’m writing this — was what happened at 5PM. That’s when Katherine Ryan, the brilliant Canadian comedian, took the mic for a conversation that totally blindsided me (in the best way). I was expecting laughs and conversation about movies and music (as this is SXSW after all), We got a soulful, honest, and often hilarious chat about biohacking, age longevity, and yes — A.I.
She was real. She was funny. She was refreshingly deep.
At one point during the discussion of Biohacking and aging, the host threw out that big question: “Do we even want to live forever?”
And Katherine’s response? So good. She basically said, “Look, living to 200 probably isn’t great for the planet — it’s just not sustainable.” And honestly? She’s right. There’s something powerful about being mortal, about knowing our time is limited. It kind of forces us to value it more.
That really hit me. Like, yeah — we might be biohacking and boosting longevity, but maybe we shouldn’t be chasing immortality like some kind of sci-fi main character. Maybe the real flex is making the most out of the time we do have.
It made me sit back (nursing my coke and lime drink,) and think — you know what, Katherine’s onto something. If anything, that ticking clock should be our reminder to make better decisions, be kinder to ourselves, and try to show up every day as the best version of who we are. Whether we’ve got 80 years or 120, it’s what we do with the time that counts — right?
So no, I don’t want to live forever. But I do want to live fully.
One moment that especially stuck with me was when she was asked how she feels about aging. Her take? “Being in your 40s now is like being in your 30s back in the day.” And she’s not wrong. Think about it — back in the ’90s, 40 felt ancient. Today? It feels empowered. We’ve got better health knowledge, supplements, fitness culture, even techy ways to biohack our bodies — and for those who dabble, a touch of cosmetic enhancement here and there.
She even dropped a gem about Dame Carol Burnett — who at 91 has a biological age of 35 (!). Apparently, she’s still sharp, social, and living her best life surrounded by positivity. That’s goals, right?
Katherine touched on something I really connected with: being 40+ means growing up in the analog world and now thriving in the digital one. We get the value of speed because we grew up with slowness (but backed with hope for the future). I remember waiting 20 minutes for a game to load on the Commodore 64, or watching QuickTime trailers buffer on Netscape with a dial-up modem. (Shoutout to anyone who survived that era.) These days, if Netflix takes longer than 10 seconds to load, we’re ready to throw hands.
And just like that, the convo shifted into A.I. Naturally, someone asked if she was worried about it. Her answer? “People have tried using A.I. to write jokes. Spoiler alert: A.I cant be funny.. yet “
But instead of dismissing it, she said she loves collaborating with A.I. — using it as a tool to harness, not a threat.
Even teachers, she said, are encouraging students to use A.I. for research and then debate the results further— which honestly sounds way more interesting than how I did school.
That got me thinking: maybe we all need to stop fearing A.I. and start making it work for us.
But above all, what inspired me most was Katherine’s openness — her ability to be candid, hilarious, and motivating in the same breath. It made me want to speak up more,, and when I go to more events , to just say to someone: “Hey, we should be friends.” Because why not?
So yeah, what a way to kick off the SXSW London energy — even at just a preview event.
I left feeling inspired and a little more ready to live out louder than ever!
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