His publications include the magazines VIP and New York Dog (both with former business partner, Michael O'Doherty) and the websites blogorrah.com, and Broadsheet.ie.

[1] In 2009 Ryan also created and starred in a RTÉ Two comedy television show This is Nightlive, which mimicked the antics of Ireland's newscasters and other newsroom members.

A number of his relatives, including his father John Ryan Snr, were well known in the arts scene in Dublin.

Ryan served as a war correspondent during his early years, reporting from Bosnia, Rwanda and apartheid South Africa.

The magazine, which struggled to find advertisers and was closed in 2003, was notable for a billboard campaign depicting two footballers wearing opposing GAA colours and French kissing one another.

[9] In June 2022, Broadsheet announced that it was ending its operations; many commenters on the website attributed its demise to alienating readers through the prominence it gave to conspiracy theories around Covid-19 and Russia's 2022 war against Ukraine.