To wonder why Romesh Ranganathan…

Why does he say that? Women can breastfeed anywhere in public and in any venue, I’ve never heard of a venue where it is banned?! Sounds like one of those men that goes around telling people how nice he is :yawn:

I have never watched him on TV but find him very funny on R2.

I've always wondered this. He's not funny or entertaining.

He was doing a lot of writing for successful comedy shows IIRC. He became very 'in demand' at a time when UK networks were struggling for decent comedy and was able to swing a few big deals. There was competition for his services and networks thought he was the next big thing in terms of a comedian who could also act, present, write and produce.

As others have said, people get signed exclusively to write/produce/present/perform in shows. It's not just for a period time though, the contracts will stipulate X number of shows over that period.

He's obviously been able to negotiate a lot of projects, and networks will rush them out to capitalize on the popularity of one with another.

I agree that he's one of the most over-exposed talents on UK TV at the moment.

I am aware of all of that.

What I dont buy is that he is doing it as an act when the situation is not a comedic one. As a PP said he is obnoxiously superior about his veganism and it shows it all of his media interactions.

I really like him actually.

All of this. Can’t believe people think he’s misogynistic. He only does live shows in venues that allow women to breastfeed - doesn’t sound particularly misogynistic to me. Katherine Ryan has said that he’s the biggest champion of female comics that she knows.

He never stops talking about how much he adores Leesa and their kids. He’s literally the opposite of arrogant.

If I remember correctly (from his autobiography) it was a hard slog for him and he was on the bones of his backside at one point, so not just down to luck.

I don't watch the weakest link or the parent quiz thing but I like him.

I watch the weakest link because it’s a good format, it doesn’t matter who presents it. Same as things like Masterchef, popular even though Greg Wallace was on it, the format is watchable. RR does seem like a prick, remember when he used his fame to complain about school admissions when his kid didn’t get the school of his choice? He seems entitled and arrogant, he is very well paid by the BBC for being relatively competent at reading questions from a card out loud.

I really like Romesh. Think he’s very funny and down to earth. Very much would fit in with mine and DHs friendship groups. (Similar ages/stages.)

This Parents Evening show however is definitely not his best work.

Much prefer his stand up/comedy show stuff. I’d not be much of a fan based on this show at all.

Again, that's part of his deliberately awkward act, though. He is saying that he's a vegan when it's obviously completely irrelevant to the question being discussed.

It may have something to do with his personal defence mechanism too - where he will often be the first to 'claim' relatively benign Asian stereotypes (as with the joke in Parents' Evening tonight about curry).

It's hard enough doing stand-up for anybody, whilst you're getting known, but if you're not a white man, it's potentially much harder with hecklers who may not appreciate the difference between what is at least intended as a good-natured tease and purely nasty racism, sexism or similar hatred or unpleasantness. If you get in there first, you diffuse and disarm the nasty idiots from the start and own the stage.

A lot of comedians base their act around this, especially before they're household names. Larry Dean mentions being gay; Lucy Porter mentions being very short (especially with also having a very tall DH); Maisie Adam and Miranda Hart mention being very tall; Hal Cruttenden highlights his naturally camp voice; Lee Mack strongly plays on being northern with associated stereotypes (and only ever mentions the fact that he's both vegan and Buddhist in interviews, never in his comedy routines); Russell Howard mentions his ADHD; Shaparak Khorsandi mentions being Iranian; Chris McCausland does a lot of jokes based on him being blind; before they got more TV exposure, Stephen K Amos and Omid Djalili both often used to come out on stage using (respectively) a very strong and exaggerated African or Middle Eastern accent based on their visually-obvious racial heritage for a few minutes, before switching back to their own actual 'standard' London accents.

I think hes great. I love the dry sense of humour. whereas ive got friends who dont find him funny but love to watch the tv show FRIENDS and find it hilarious 🙄 thats totally not my cup of tea 🤣 different strokes for different folks

I love him

The existence of Mrs Brown's Boys tells us that humour is not universal.

I wonder if there is any comedian who is universally admired?

Ahh that makes sense.

Oh I beg your pardon - all your "what am I missing?" questions read to me as confusion. My mistake.

He'll probably use this thread as material in his standup

I like him, we all have different tastes and find different things amusing. For example I have never laughed at Michael McIntyre (don't even think I have spelt his name correctly) and he seemed to be on the telly a lot a while back.

I like him.

It's taste is it?

I find him hilarious , I also liked him in king Gary

I think he is brilliant. I listen to the wolf & owl podcast and every week, he makes me laugh. So down to earth and witty.

But each to their own, everyone finds different comedians funny.