Romesh Ranganathan on politics & parenthood

Romesh Ranganathan talks to The Skinny about his current tour, his upcoming new show for the 2015 Fringe and his family's unique birthing plan schedule

Feature by Ben Venables | 14 Apr 2015

Romesh Ranganathan returns to Edinburgh this month for the first time since the referendum, but it's only now he has politics on his mind.

His previous trip was a deadline day dash to register the birth of his third son – the boy having been born in August during the Edinburgh Fringe. The deadline happened to coincide with the vote and Ranganathan found himself having to sidestep the political staff who'd taken over the registry office. Still, after having a baby during the world's largest arts festival, outmanoeuvring polling station people must have been the easy part.

"The due date was the first week of the Fringe," says Ranganathan, "but my wife said it wasn't a problem and we'd all go to Edinburgh together. Friends then started to say to me, 'I can't believe your wife agreed to it and that you're not trying to stop her.'"

Then again, perhaps it was worthwhile: the Ranganathan clan – new baby included – were all together as Rom Wasn't Built in a Day was shortlisted for the main Edinburgh award. Fittingly, the show is themed around his flaws as a husband and father: "It's really a show about self-examination," he says.

There's now a last chance to see the show as Ranganathan moves into Assembly Roxy for one night this month, for the final leg of the tour he's been sharing with Suzi Ruffell. As Ranganathan is known for his mildly misanthropic delivery, the evening draws on their two different comedic styles

"It's a nice contrast," says Ranganathan, "Suzi's show is uplifting where mine is grumpy and depressive."

Nonetheless, the two have been travelling together for some months now, and Ranganathan believes they could do a set-swap if needed: "I think if Suzi didn't turn up I'd be able to do her show and vice versa. We're friends, but touring together has been a great opportunity to really get to know each other."

With such versatility, can we expect Ranganathan to take this style in a different direction for his upcoming Fringe show Irrational, announced last week? "My last two shows have been based on my house and on my family life," says Ranganathan, "Irrational is not a radical departure – I won't be dancing – but it does look outwards a bit more.

"The idea for the new show came from a couple of things, one being the economic theory about the cost of voting being an irrational thing to do."

To generalise this theory, the pros of voting are vague and fall short of the cons for a rational individual: this varies from taking time off to vote, to not having perfect information, and the minuscule impact one vote has on the outcome. It's part of Ranganathan's rapid rise and success as a comedian that it's easy to forget he was still a full-time maths teacher during the last election, and saw much political disengagement from his sixth-form students. However, he doesn't believe this will be the case this time around.

Indeed, Ranganathan is looking forward to the election: "I think it's exciting, we don't know what's going to happen." He is classically blunt, however, when suggesting how a greater level of political engagement has been achieved: "When things feel more rubbish it gets a bigger reaction."


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Romesh Ranganathan plays the Glasgow Garage as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival on Sun 13 & Mon 14 Mar, 20:00, £14/£12 http://romeshranganathan.co.uk/