Romesh Ranganathan

Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan[3] (born 27 March 1978)[4][5][6] is a British stand-up comedian, presenter and actor of Sri Lankan descent. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Awards.[7] He has also made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows, and in 2016 he co-presented It's Not Rocket Science on ITV, alongside Rachel Riley and Ben Miller.[8] He is known for his deadpan and often self-deprecating comedy.[9]

This article is about the British comedian. For the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, see Ramesh Ranganathan.

Romesh Ranganathan
Ranganathan in 2013
Born
Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan

(1978-03-27) 27 March 1978
Crawley, West Sussex, England
Spouse(s)Leesa Ranganathan[1]
Children3[2]
Websitewww.romeshranganathan.co.uk

Formerly, he was a regular panellist on The Apprentice: You're Fired!, Play to the Whistle, and The Museum of Curiosity. In 2016, he completed his first major tour, Irrational Live, in which he performed in large venues such as the Hammersmith Apollo. Ranganathan also joined A League of Their Own as a regular panellist in 2018, replacing Jack Whitehall. He has presented comedy programmes Judge Romesh and The Ranganation. His autobiography is entitled, Straight Outta Crawley.

Career
Ranganathan performing at the British Summer Time festival in 2015

Ranganathan started performing as a comedian whilst working as a mathematics teacher.[10] He started presenting Newsjack on Radio 4 Extra in March 2014.[11] He appeared on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice in 2014, during which he presented his homemade vegan chocolate brownies.

Ranganathan has been a guest on several episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.[12] He also has appeared on Would I Lie to You?, Holby City, Soccer AM, Russell Howard's Good News, Sweat the Small Stuff, The Last Leg, Virtually Famous, Have I Got News for You, QI, and Mock the Week. He was a contestant on the first series of Taskmaster and also appeared in the third episode of Jon Richardson Grows Up. He also performed at The Royal Variety Performance in 2015. In 2015, he presented a series for BBC Three, Asian Provocateur, in which he travelled to Sri Lanka to explore his ancestral country.[13] In October 2016, the second travel series was aired in which Ranganathan and his mother travel to North America to meet more of his relatives.

Ranganathan also joined The Apprentice: You're Fired! in 2015 as a regular panellist. The show is a spin-off from The Apprentice. In December 2015, he appeared in Josh Widdicombe's sitcom, Josh. In 2016, he co-presented It's Not Rocket Science, a new entertainment series for ITV, alongside Ben Miller and Rachel Riley. In 2017, he became the eleventh co-presenter to John Lloyd on the BBC Radio series, The Museum of Curiosity.

In 2018, Ranganathan joined Season 13 of A League of Their Own;[14] starred in his own 10-episode docu-comedy called Just Another Immigrant that premiered on Showtime June 8,[15] and presented Judge Romesh, an unscripted television show in which he decides the outcome of court cases between a claimant and a defendant. He also starred in his own series ‘The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan’ where he travelled to rarely visited locations around the globe, with subsequent series aired in 2019 and 2020.

Ranganathan's autobiography, Straight Outta Crawley, was published in 2018.[16]

Personal life

Ranganathan was born in Crawley, West Sussex, to Sri Lankan Tamil parents.[17] He has a younger brother, Dinesh, and was raised in the Hindu faith. He suffers from a right-sided ptosis, which caused lazy eye as a child.[18]

Ranganathan studied mathematics at Birkbeck College, University of London.[19] He taught mathematics at Hazelwick School in Crawley, and The Beacon School, Banstead, Surrey,[10] and was a freestyle rapper under the rap name "Ranga", once reaching the finals of the UK freestyle competition.[20] Ranganathan became a professional comedian in 2012.

Ranganathan is vegan, having been vegetarian up until 2013.[21][22][23] He is a supporter of Arsenal FC.[24]

His first name, stated on Ranganathan’s birth certificate, is Jonathan. Romesh is his middle name. He did not find this out until he started school. During his live show, Irrational, Ranganathan recalled that his parents explained to him that this was because they were concerned his name would otherwise sound too ‘ethnic’ when applying for jobs as an adult.[25]

He is married, has three sons,[26] and lives in Crawley.[27] He and his wife Leesa first met when they were both working at Hazelwick School, where she was a drama teacher.[28]

He stated that he got obsessed with getting tattooed and subsequently has tattoos with the names of his sons, Richard Pryor, Nas, the Roots and the Transformers’ Autobot logo on his body.[29]

Filmography

Television
Year Title Channel Role Notes
2014 Damned Sky One Nitin Pilot (recast in Channel 4 reboot)
2015–17 Play to the Whistle ITV Regular panelist 3 series
2015 The Apprentice: You're Fired! BBC Two Regular panelist 1 series
2015–16 Asian Provocateur BBC Three Presenter 2 series
2015 Taskmaster Dave Contestant 1 series
Josh BBC Three Guest role Series 1, episode 5
House of Fools BBC Two Butcher Brother 2 Series 2, episode 4
Yonderland Sky One Priest Series 2, episode 5
2016 It's Not Rocket Science ITV Co-presenter 1 series
2017– Comic Relief BBC One / BBC Two Co-presenter
2017 Anthony Joshua vs Rob & Romesh[30] Sky One Co-presenter with Rob Beckett One-off special
Romesh: Talking to Comedians[31] BBC Three Presenter 1 series
Comedy Playhouse: Mister Winner[32] BBC One Ajay One-off comedy
2018 Just Another Immigrant Showtime Docuseries
The Reluctant Landlord Sky One Romesh 2 series
The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan[33] BBC Two Presenter 2 series
Judge Romesh[34] Dave Presenter 2 series
A League of Their Own Sky One Team captain Series 13
Romesh's Look Back to the Future[35] Host One-off comedy panel show
2019– Rob & Romesh Vs...[36] Co-presenter with Rob Beckett 2 series
Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast[37] Channel Four Guest 1 episode; 4 January 2019
The Ranganation[38] BBC Two Presenter 2 series
2020 Have I Got News for You[39] BBC One Guest host 11 December 2020
Sunday Brunch[40] Channel Four Guest 13 December 2020
A League of Their Own: Christmas Party 2020[41] Sky One Himself 19 December 2020
One Night In…Hamleys[42] Channel Four Himself 24 December 2020
King Gary [43] BBC One Stuart Williams Series 1 & Christmas Special
2021 Staged[44] BBC One Himself

Stand-up
Year Title Role Notes
2016 Irrational Stand-up Debut DVD
2019–21 The Cynics Mixtape[45] Stand-up Upcoming tour

Podcast
Year Title Role Notes
2015–present Hip Hop Saved My Life Host 71 episodes, guests include Scroobius Pip and Example

Music videos
Year Song Role Artist Album
2018 SIT DOWN GARY!!! Guru Example Bangers & Ballads

Books
Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages Notes
2018 Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human[16] Bantam Press 978-0593078259 272 Ranganathan's first autobiography

Guest appearances

References
  1. "How Did Romesh Ranganathan & Wife Leesa Meet?". Bustle.com. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  2. "My Favourite Holiday: Comedian Romesh Ranganathan loved madness and magic in the Algarve". Sunday Post. 24 October 2016.
  3. "Interview: 'We never visit? You saw us three days ago!' Romesh Ranganathan and his mum". The Guardian. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  4. Radio 2, B. B. C. (27 March 2015). "With @wossy right now it's comedian - and birthday boy - @RomeshRangapic.twitter.com/114mbugUXS".
  5. Ranganathan, Romesh. "Birthday gift from @thenickhelm. What an absolute prick". Instagram. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  6. Ranganathan, Romesh (26 March 2019). "Thanks so much to @CoughlansBakery for hooking me up with the best birthday cake of all time. @HHSMLpodcastpic.twitter.com/KikeGYRev1".
  7. "Comedy awards shortlist unveiled". Irish Independent. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  8. "Stand Up for the Week announces new line-up". British Comedy Guide. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  9. Tamplin, Harley (19 March 2015). "Review: Russell Kane, Romesh Ranganathan and Charlie Baker at Christ's Hospital". West Sussex County Times. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  10. Truelove, Sam (3 October 2016). "7 famous people who you may not have realised went to school in Crawley". Kent Live. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  11. "BBC Radio 4 Extra - Newsjack, Series 10, Episode 1". BBC.
  12. "8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown". Channel 4.
  13. "Romesh Ranganathan: 'I was a bumbling Englishman in a Sri Lankan disguise'". The Guardian. 30 September 2015.
  14. "Romesh Ranganathan to replace Jack Whitehall on A League of Their Own". Radio Times. 9 February 2018.
  15. "Romesh Ranganathan's US series 'Just Another Immigrant' on Showtime® – Romesh Ranganathan". July 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  16. Romesh, Ranganathan (4 October 2018). Straight outta Crawley : memoirs of a distinctly average human being. London. ISBN 9781473542358. OCLC 1055700156.
  17. Hodges, Michael. "Asian Provocateur: What comic Romesh Ranganathan learnt about Sri Lanka in his new BBC3 show". Radio Times. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  18. "From teaching maths to performing comedy for Prince Harry: meet Romesh Ranganathan". Topics. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  19. "Romesh Ranganathan: I was a proper wannabe rudeboy at university". www.unipaper.co.uk.
  20. "The Spotlight on ... Romesh Ranganathan". londonisfunny.com. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  21. "BBC Three - Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live, 2014, Episode 2". BBC.
  22. Jones, Alice (12 February 2015). "Soya think you're funny? Introducing the UK's first Vegan Comedy Festival". The Independent. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  23. Ranganathan, Romesh (30 March 2019). "If a chef has nailed vegan bagels and decadent desserts, I have to eat them… don't I? | Romesh Ranganathan" – via www.theguardian.com.
  24. Ranganathan, Romesh (22 October 2018). "I'm thinking of cheating on my wife with this third Arsenal goal against Leicester".
  25. Ramesh Ranganathan: Irrational Live. 2016. [DVD] Directed by P. Wheeler. Duchess Theatre, London: Open Mike Productions.
  26. "Comic Romesh celebrates success and birth of a son". Crawley Observer. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  27. "Sussex comic Romesh Ranganathan: 'LA or Crawley? It's always going to be Crawley'". www.crawleyobserver.co.uk.
  28. "Former Crawley teacher now a comedian who has supported Ricky Gervais and appeared on Live at the Apollo". Crawley News. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  29. Ranganathan, Romesh (29 June 2019). "I've yet to add my youngest son's name to my tattoos. And now he's learned to read | Romesh Ranganathan" – via www.theguardian.com.
  30. Anthony Joshua vs Rob & Romesh, retrieved 4 March 2019
  31. "Romesh Ranganathan to host BBC Three chat show". Comedy.co.uk. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  32. "Mister Winner - BBC1 Sitcom". British Comedy Guide.
  33. "The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan". www.bbc.co.uk.
  34. "UKTV announces new commissions for 2018". 23 January 2018.
  35. Romesh's Look Back to the Future, retrieved 4 March 2019
  36. Rob & Romesh Vs, retrieved 4 March 2019
  37. Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast, retrieved 14 December 2020
  38. The Ranganation, retrieved 20 May 2019
  39. "Have I Got News for You". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  40. "Sunday Brunch". radiotimes.com. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  41. "A League Of Their Own". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  42. "One Night In…Hamleys". channel4.com. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  43. "King Gary". BBC. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  44. "Staged". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  45. "Tour – Romesh Ranganathan". Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  46. "Big Fat Quiz – On Demand". Channel 4. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  47. Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast, retrieved 4 March 2019
  48. Hypothetical, retrieved 4 March 2019
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