A biography for Romesh Ranganathanhasn’t been written yet.
“I just write what I think is funny, or interesting, and hopefully everything else will take care of itself. There's no strategy to anything.”
“I used to love the Wu-Tang Clan. They took my school by storm, by which I mean the three kids in my year who listened to hip-hop. I skipped lectures to go and buy their second album, 'Forever', and then rushed home to listen to it.”
“I know you're supposed to love yourself, but I really hate the way I look. When I look in the mirror I'm so disgusted by the chocolate blancmange abomination staring back at me, I actually apologise to my wife for my physical appearance. I've got no backside, an overhanging belly and I'm so disproportionate.”
“Being away a lot on tour means that my family has to suffer an inordinate amount of overcompensation, as I return home with skewed ideas of what counts as quality time. I will force everyone into a cinema trip, insistent that three hours in the dark in silence is the perfect way for us all to re-engage.”
“I'm not suggesting I met a significant enough number of them to constitute a robust sample size, but I am saying that my general impression of Sri Lankans is that they are friendly, chatty and hospitable people.”
“When I started doing stand-up, I resigned from my job as a maths teacher and, three days before I was due to leave, my dad passed away.”
“I have long believed that success stories need a bit of balance. We only hear from people who risked it all, and found it paid off.”
“Consuming art should involve investment and risk.”
“Veganism is a point of contention all year round. So much so that many vegans cut themselves off from the rest of society, huddling together for warmth and smugness, and using online forums to vent their disgust at the morally corrupt dairy- and meat-eating savages who make up most of the populace.”
“In the 10 years I've been with my wife we've probably argued twice.”
“I've always loved American stand-up. Richard Pryor is one of the main reasons I got into stand-up. After Pryor, I made my way through the other great American comics, then finally got into the British ones over here.”
“When my wife and I promised the rest of our lives to each other, I doubt either of us suspected that life would involve quite so much TV.”
“Trumpeting diversity undermines what you are trying to achieve in the first place. It should happen without fanfare.”
“David Beckham is always seen as the thickest man on the planet, too daft to complete a jigsaw puzzle. But then you watch old footage of him playing and every time he plays a ball across the field, he's intuitively working out the trajectory of the ball.”
“Some of the best comedy comes from squeezing humour from tragedy and struggle, but the main pursuit of comedy should be laughter.”
“Mum came to Crawley from Sri Lanka at 19 after marrying my dad. Later, Dad had financial problems and they split for a while.”
“My garage/office is strewn with Post-its, cards, folders, notebooks, yoga mats and multicoloured pens, all purchased in a quest to unlock a magic way of working that will ensure my ascension to next-level creativity.”
“As a young child, I loved the hugs and kisses, but I also remember getting to the age when they no longer felt OK. My parents would kiss me when they dropped me off at school, which was obviously embarrassing because having loving parents makes you a social pariah.”
“It's such a privileged thing to say, but I'm still that same lazy person!”
“People assume that your audience is full of people who love you. But, typically, it's one person in four who's chosen to come and has convinced some other people to go with them.”