Romesh Ranganathan

Last updated

Romesh Ranganathan
Romesh Ranganathan in 2013 (cropped) 3.jpg
Ranganathan in October 2013
Born
Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan

(1978-03-27) 27 March 1978 (age 45)
Crawley, England
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • presenter
  • actor
Years active2013–present
SpouseLeesa Ranganathan
Children3
Website romeshranganathan.co.uk

Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan (born 27 March 1978) is an English comedian, presenter, and actor. His style of comedy is deadpan and often self-deprecating. [1]

Contents

Ranganathan has made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows and has been a regular panellist on The Apprentice: You're Fired! , Play to the Whistle , and The Museum of Curiosity . He completed his first major tour, Irrational Live, in 2016; he performed in large venues such as the Hammersmith Apollo. In 2018, he joined A League of Their Own as a regular panellist. He has presented comedy programmes Judge Romesh and The Ranganation , as well as starring in the travel programme The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan . His autobiography, Straight Outta Crawley, was released in 2018. He began hosting the revival of The Weakest Link in 2021.

In 2020, Ranganathan won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Features for The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan. In 2021, he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Entertainment Performance for The Ranganation.

Early life

Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan [2] was born in Crawley on 27 March 1978, [3] the son of Sri Lankan Tamil parents Ranga [4] and Sivashanthini Ranganathan. [4] [5] [6] He was raised Hindu. [7] He suffered from an eye infection as a child that left him with a drooping eyelid and lazy eye on his right side. [8] From 1990 to 1992, he was educated at Reigate Grammar School. [9] He then attended Crawley's Hazelwick School, [10] before studying mathematics at Birkbeck, University of London. [11]

Before beginning his comedy career, Ranganathan worked as a mathematics teacher at both Hazelwick School and The Beacon School in Banstead. [12] He also engaged in freestyle rap under the stage name Ranga, once reaching the finals of the UK freestyle competition. [13] He began performing comedy whilst still employed as a teacher. [12]

Career

Ranganathan performing in 2015 Romesh Ranganathan in 2015 (cropped).jpg
Ranganathan performing in 2015

Ranganathan started presenting Newsjack on Radio 4 Extra in March 2014. [14] He appeared on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice in 2014, during which he presented his home-made vegan chocolate brownies. [15]

Ranganathan has been a guest on several episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown . [16] He co-presented It's Not Rocket Science (2016) alongside Rachel Riley and Ben Miller. [17] 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 and presented the BBC Three series Asian Provocateur later that year, in which he travelled to Sri Lanka to explore his ancestry. [18]

In 2018, Ranganathan joined Season 13 of A League of Their Own [19] and starred in his own ten-episode docu-comedy called Just Another Immigrant that premiered on Showtime June 8. [20]

Ranganathan's autobiography, Straight Outta Crawley, was published in 2018. [21] In 2020, he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Features for The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan. [22] In 2021, he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Entertainment Performance for The Ranganation. [23] In December 2021, he began hosting the revival of The Weakest Link, replacing Anne Robinson. [24]

Romesh hosts a weekly radio show called For The Love of Hip-Hop on BBC Radio 2. In 2023, it won an Audio and Radio Industry Award for Best Specialist Music Show. [25] [26] From March 2024, his show will move to Saturdays (10am1pm) and replace the departing Claudia Winkleman's show.

Personal life

Ranganathan continues to live in Crawley. [27] He met his wife, Leesa, [28] while working at Hazelwick School; she was a drama teacher and he was a mathematics teacher. [29] They have three sons together. [30] [31] [32]

Ranganathan has always gone by the name Romesh; he discovered on his first day of school that, as stated on his birth certificate, his first name is actually Jonathan and Romesh is his middle name. During his live show Irrational, he recalled that his Sri Lankan immigrant parents explained to him that they did this out of concern that his name would otherwise sound too "ethnic" when applying for jobs as an adult, prompting him to point out the absurdity of such logic because his English first name would always be immediately followed by "Ranganathan". [33]

Ranganathan was a vegetarian until going vegan in 2013. [34] [35] [36] He is a supporter of Arsenal FC. [37] He has discussed his "obsession" with tattoos and currently sports tattoos with the names of his sons alongside images of Richard Pryor, Nas, the Roots, the flag of Albania, and the Autobot logo. [31]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2021 Cinderella Romesh the Mouse
2023 Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget [38] NickVoice, replacing Timothy Spall

Television

YearTitleChannelRoleNotes
2013 Live at the Apollo [39] BBC One HimselfSeries 9, episode 3
2015 Live at the Apollo [40] BBC One HimselfSeries 11, episode 4
2015 Yonderland Sky One PriestSeries 2, Episode 5
2015 Taskmaster Dave HimselfSeries 1
2015 The Apprentice: You're Fired! BBC Two HimselfSeries 11, regular panellist
2017Anthony Joshua vs Rob & Romesh [41] Sky One Co-presenter with Rob Beckett One-off special
Romesh: Talking to Comedians [42] BBC Three Presenter1 series
Comedy Playhouse: Mister Winner [43] BBC One AjayOne-off comedy
2018 The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan [44] BBC Two Presenter3 series and Christmas special (fourth series commissioned) [45]
Judge Romesh [46] Dave Presenter2 series
The Reluctant Landlord Sky One Romesh2 series 13 episodes
Romesh's Look Back to the Future [47] Sky One HostOne-off comedy panel show
Just Another Immigrant Showtime Himself10 episodes; documentary series
2019 Rob & Romesh Vs... [48] Sky One Co-presenter with Rob Beckett 3 series
Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast [49] Channel Four Guest1 episode; 4 January 2019
2019–present The Ranganation [50] BBC Two Presenter5 series
2020 Have I Got News for You [51] BBC One Guest host11 December 2020
Sunday Brunch [52] Channel Four Guest13 December 2020
A League of Their Own: Christmas Party 2020 [53] Sky One Himself19 December 2020
One Night In... Hamleys [54] Channel Four Himself24 December 2020
King Gary [55] BBC One Stuart WilliamsSeries 1, Christmas Special and Series 2
2021 Staged [56] BBC One Himself
A League of Their Own Roadtrip: Loch Ness to London Sky One Himself8 April 2021 [57]
Have I Got News for You BBC One Presenter17 May 2021 [58]
2021–present The Weakest Link [59] BBC One HostNew host
2022–present Avoidance [60] BBC One JonathanCo-creator & co-writer (second series commissioned)
2022DNA Journey [61] ITV Himself29 September 2022
Rob and Romesh vs Christmas On Ice [62] Sky Max HimselfAlongside Rob Beckett; 21 December 2022
The Misinvestigations of Romesh Ranganathan [63] BBCHimself(second series commissioned) [45]
2023 Romantic Getaway [64] Sky Comedy DeaconCo-writer
British Academy Television Awards [65] BBC One Co-hostWith Rob Beckett

Stand-up

YearTitleRoleNotes
2016Irrational Live [66] Stand-upTV special
2019–21The Cynics Mixtape [67] Stand-upTour
2022The Cynic [67] Stand-up Netflix special
2024Hustle [68] Stand-upUpcoming tour

Books

YearTitlePublisherISBNPagesNotes
2018Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human [21] Bantam Press 978-0593078259272Ranganathan's first autobiography
2020As Good As It Gets: Life Lessons from a Reluctant Adult [69] Bantam Press 978-1787633599272
2023Lil' Muffin Drops the Mic [70] Puffin Books 978-0241647646256Released 20 July 2023

Music

YearTitleRecord Label
2023Verb T - Four Oh! (Remix) Feat. Doc Brown & Romesh Ranganathan (Prod. Vic Grimes) High Focus Records

Guest appearances

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