“When I was teaching, I thought I’d just do it as a laugh. You know, like those loser teachers that have got a hobby,” Ranganathan jokes. “I just started doing it as a thing to do in the evenings – instead of drinking heavily, you know, just doing comedy. I did it, and this gradually started to escalate. I started to get offered more gigs, and started getting offered paid work, and then an agent got interested. It happened almost by accident. It wasn’t like I was running away from teaching or anything. I was thinking of those things working alongside each other, but then it got to the point where I had to make the choice.”
Growing up watching comedy, Ranganathan’s incredible rise began just five short years ago, starting his career in comedy while he was a mathematics teacher in Crawley. Immediately garnering attention, he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Comedy Awards for his debut Rom Com and the prestigious Best Show Award in 2014 for Rom Wasn’t Built In A Day. Ranganathan has since performed on the likes of Live At The Apollo, Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week and The Jonathan Ross Show.
“I get very excited about taking a contrarian viewpoint,” Ranganathan explains. “Exploring what isn’t accepted thinking of something. I’ve been guilty of saying things that I don’t agree with just because it’s not what everybody else thinks. I’m one of those guys that’s never watched Breaking Bad because people think it’s brilliant. Y’know, one of those idiots.”
Ranganathan also holds a huge passion for hip-hop. The host of comedy and rap podcast Hip Hop Saved My Life, Ranganathan used his incredible improvisational skills to perform freestyle rap and made it to the finals of the UK Championship competition. He modestly asserts, however, that comedy is his true realm of mastery. Through all the ups and downs of his career, he’s maintained the thrill of the comedic challenge. With the world now at his feet, there’s no looking back.
“I was dropping my son off at nursery, and we were just pulling out of the carpark,” Ranganathan recalls. “The producer of a show phoned me and said, ‘Hi, is that Romesh?’ I said, ‘Yeah’, and he said, ‘We were just wondering if you’d favour doing Live At The Apollo‘. Mate, I absolutely flipped out. I had started shouting. I tried to be cool on the phone, because you don’t want to sound too desperate. That was an amazing buzz – and in all sake, to be completely honest with you, we really needed the money too. That was a big moment.”
By Jacob Colliver
Venue: Arts Centre Melbourne, The Pavilion
Dates: Wednesday April 19 – Sunday April 23
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $46.90
