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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder why Romesh Ranganathan…

293 replies

Rainymoondays · 11/10/2025 22:24

Had so much exposure on TV? He’s really really unfunny, he’s a crap stilted presenter and just makes everything awkward.

OP posts:
Branleuse · 12/10/2025 16:58

I love Romesh. I love that deadpan humour. I saw him live once and it was probably the best comedy gigs ive been to.

ApplesCrumbleButtons · 12/10/2025 16:59

I knew RR from way back when we were kids - he wasn't mean and can honestly say he has funny bones.

jumpingthehighjump · 12/10/2025 17:14

Dirty and grubby? That's a bit much. OK, we get it, you don't like him for whatever reason. Others do.
Humour differs, what works for some doesn't for others.

Loved him in Avoidance.. a laugh out loud comedy series.

AnneElliott · 12/10/2025 17:17

I don’t find him funny but then there are very few comedians that I do enjoy. It’s probably me!

Cloudninelau · 12/10/2025 17:21

I love him! He's funny, a family man who loves his wife and Kids and truly seems to be a top bloke. More Romesh on the tv I say!

Thatsnotmynamee · 12/10/2025 17:43

The real question is why do you hate him quite so fucking much OP 😂

StrongLikeMamma · 12/10/2025 21:14

Rainymoondays · 11/10/2025 22:55

There is that whole ‘crap grumpy male’ trope that I really dislike. The moaning about your mum and your wife shit.

Agreed

Rainymoondays · 12/10/2025 21:18

Thatsnotmynamee · 12/10/2025 17:43

The real question is why do you hate him quite so fucking much OP 😂

What’s the laughing emoji for? Have I not explained my views quite a lot on this thread?

OP posts:
ReginaChase · 12/10/2025 21:20

He's funny on certain things but I'm just not sure radio is his best medium.

SprayWhiteDung · 12/10/2025 21:21

Simonjt · 12/10/2025 09:08

I was once unlucky enough to spend time with Joe and his brother Rob, raging racists, sexists and homophobes. Rob had just come off a school trip and spent the entire time picking all of his mosquito bite scabs and flicking the scabs on the floor.

Come off a school trip as in he was a teacher, or was he still a child?

Not that I'm defending nasty or hateful attitudes all, but if they were children then, they've hopefully had a lot of time to 're-consider' and mature.

PyongyangKipperbang · 12/10/2025 21:25

ForCheeryTealDeer · 12/10/2025 12:44

I used to find him funny - I say used to because I don’t tend to watch anything he is in anymore ,I think he just became too over exposed - was on everything and I got bored of seeing him.

Edited

Same thing happened with Michael McIntyre. He was genuinely funny in the early days, but because he was so loud and entertaining he was snapped up by the light entertainment companies and relied on all his old tropes....the skipping thing especially. He had made it so he didnt need to work so hard anymore, his personality and other peoples writing. It was a shame because if he had stayed as a jobbing comic he would have been far far funnier, but admittedly wouldnt have made the money.

SprayWhiteDung · 12/10/2025 21:27

Rainymoondays · 12/10/2025 16:09

I just discovered his name is actually Jonathan!

From what he says it seems like she's in charge in the house.
I hate that whole hen-pecked, cuckold act. She’s probably just a totally normal woman.

His name IS Romesh, though, but it's his middle name that he goes by - same as ex-Beatle James Paul McCartney and (hilariously) former PM James Gordon Brown.

His surname already has four syllables (not uncommon for Sri Lankan names), so I can see why he doesn't go professionally by his three-syllable first name too!

Simonjt · 13/10/2025 05:15

SprayWhiteDung · 12/10/2025 21:21

Come off a school trip as in he was a teacher, or was he still a child?

Not that I'm defending nasty or hateful attitudes all, but if they were children then, they've hopefully had a lot of time to 're-consider' and mature.

He was a teacher, he was being racist and saying he was thankful to be around white people again and no longer felt like he needed to join a certain klan, Joe very much agreed with him. He also agreed with his brothers awful views of the women he met on the trip and both were particularly nasty about a gay pupil on the trip. It was in 2015. Luckily Rob had very poor facebook privacy so I was able to report him to his school.

Ginseng1 · 13/10/2025 05:42

Rainymoondays · 11/10/2025 22:52

Joe Lycett, Stewart Lee, Masie Adam’s, Joe Wilkinson, Lou Sanders, Roison Conarty, Richard Ayoade

Edited

See I cannot bear Joe Lycett! don't get his humour at all bores me silly. Romesh does make me laugh tho bit over exposed n leave out the mother fgs.

StrongLikeMamma · 13/10/2025 06:15

Simonjt · 13/10/2025 05:15

He was a teacher, he was being racist and saying he was thankful to be around white people again and no longer felt like he needed to join a certain klan, Joe very much agreed with him. He also agreed with his brothers awful views of the women he met on the trip and both were particularly nasty about a gay pupil on the trip. It was in 2015. Luckily Rob had very poor facebook privacy so I was able to report him to his school.

Such a weird post. You’re really not explaining the situation very well.

CurlewKate · 13/10/2025 06:26

Lots of dog whistle racism on here! Incidentally- his parents gave him an English first name because they thought it would help him integrate. Which I thought would be considered a good thing….

Tiredofwhataboutery · 13/10/2025 06:27

I don’t find him funny generally and I have tried. Somewhere compared him to Jack Dee and I did like him but I think he tries and misses the mark.

Comedy is very subjective though lots of comedians are rubbish to me but others love them. Possibly comedians should divide the audience.

My current favourite is Josh Johnson who is pretty clean and does comedy based on current news. I could listen to him for hours.

CheeseWisely · 13/10/2025 06:39

What a bizarre thread. I cannot stand Eastenders, despite it having millions of viewers who presumably enjoy it. It’s never crossed my mind to start a thread about the fact I don’t like it.

So far as Romesh is concerned (in the spirit of the thread) I’ve not seen much of him on TV as he doesn’t appear in the dramas and documentaries we watch most of, but I’ve heard him on a few podcasts and saw him on Taskmaster and he seems alright to me.

CurlewKate · 13/10/2025 07:05

There’s another Shri Lankan comedian you can find on YouTube called Vidura. I like him a lot. Although some of you might think he needs a good wash….

SprayWhiteDung · 13/10/2025 08:09

Simonjt · 13/10/2025 05:15

He was a teacher, he was being racist and saying he was thankful to be around white people again and no longer felt like he needed to join a certain klan, Joe very much agreed with him. He also agreed with his brothers awful views of the women he met on the trip and both were particularly nasty about a gay pupil on the trip. It was in 2015. Luckily Rob had very poor facebook privacy so I was able to report him to his school.

Wow, that is indeed extremely concerning. How horrible.

I really liked The Cockfields (never been so keen on his clowning around stuff on Catsdown), but that's put Joe in a very different light for me now.

cramptramp · 13/10/2025 08:12

I think he’s funny when he’s doing off the cuff stuff. When he’s scripted and doing his stand up, he’s not as funny. But I went off him when he had a massive tantrum because his child didn’t get into the school he wanted. The reason for this was because he’d moved house so he was further away from the school and children who lived nearer got the places.

DingDongJingle · 13/10/2025 08:15

Yeah to be honest I really like him as a comedian but the school stuff was irritating. He was basically annoyed that the same rules that apply to everyone (that he hadn’t checked before moving) also applied to him.

Redpeach · 13/10/2025 08:16

CurlewKate · 13/10/2025 07:05

There’s another Shri Lankan comedian you can find on YouTube called Vidura. I like him a lot. Although some of you might think he needs a good wash….

Yes some of the views on here are rather 1950s

Thissickbeat · 13/10/2025 08:22

He's funny. We love his travel series.
Ranganation was wonderful in the pandemic.

Rainymoondays · 13/10/2025 10:14

CurlewKate · 13/10/2025 06:26

Lots of dog whistle racism on here! Incidentally- his parents gave him an English first name because they thought it would help him integrate. Which I thought would be considered a good thing….

Racism? Where!?

OP posts: