Romesh Ranganathan on finding his comedy sweet spot
Desert Island Discs

Romesh Ranganathan on finding his comedy sweet spot

B1IntermediateOctober 7, 20262 min
  • Interview
  • Comedy

The comedian Romesh Ranganathan was cast away by Lauren Laverne in 2025. He’s a BAFTA-winning broadcaster, standup, actor and writer who has been a fixture on British TV screens for the past decade. He talks about finding the sweet spot in his comedy and how discussing the perils of parenting on stage has resulted in cult hero status for his middle son. You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.

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Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is Desert Island Discs postcards, a collection of funny

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Today's postcard comes from comedian Romesh Ranganathan, who's recently been asking what

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0:00

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is Desert Island Discs postcards, a collection of funny and heartwarming moments from some of our many castaways. Today's postcard comes from comedian Romesh Ranganathan, who's recently been asking what BBC's ever done for him. Cast him away to our desert island for one thing. When Romesh spoke to

0:32

me in June last year he told me that the misanthropic personality he displays on stage is really not an act. Basically a lot of people say to me that they think I'm putting on an act when I'm on stage but actually I think I'm putting on an act when I'm off stage. And what I mean by that is when I'm doing stand-up I am saying what I think unfiltered and obviously there's

0:54

comic exaggeration, but actually I'm not worried about the social repercussions of what I'm saying when I'm delivering it on stage. You know, the sweet spot for me has always been when you say something that you're slightly nervous to express and you can feel the audience resonate with that.

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