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. Romesh Ranganathan More Quotes by Romesh Ranganathan More Quotes From Romesh Ranganathan I loved stand-up, but I never thought you could do it as a job. Romesh Ranganathan loved job thought you I chose to be a maths teacher because I thought the marking would be easy. You'd just tick and cross, whereas if you're an English teacher, you've got to read essays. Then they said I had to analyse the methodology. It takes an eternity, it's insane! Romesh Ranganathan thought you easy teacher 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. Romesh Ranganathan go you love people There's nothing less funny than somebody trying to be funny. I loved Jack Dee, then I met him and I became the least funny human to exist because of my desperation to say something amusing. Romesh Ranganathan loved nothing trying funny I used to do standup about footballers; they are easy targets because they are traditionally seen as stupid. Romesh Ranganathan about because stupid easy 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. Romesh Ranganathan puzzle you man time The contrast of being in the spotlight when you're very young and then suddenly not can be really bad for your mental state. Romesh Ranganathan your bad being you Actually, the reason I'm a huge Arsenal fan is because when my dad moved over from Sri Lanka, he lived in north London and fell in love with Arsenal. Then he moved to East Grinstead and bought a pub, which he turned into an Arsenal pub. Romesh Ranganathan london dad reason love I have Asian friends - second generation - and I am the worst in terms of being in touch with my heritage. Romesh Ranganathan i-am generation friends heritage One day, I brought home Eddie Murphy's 'Raw', and Dad and I would watch that together. Romesh Ranganathan day dad together home Teaching is so solid and reliable, comedy is not. Romesh Ranganathan solid reliable comedy teaching My mum's financial plan is: Romesh becomes a millionaire. Romesh Ranganathan becomes plan millionaire financial 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. Romesh Ranganathan loved great always way When I first started watching stand-up, I fell in love with American comedy before British comedy. Romesh Ranganathan american watching comedy love What we're increasingly seeing is comics are becoming better known across the world. They're recording shows wherever they are, then putting them online for everyone. It has definitely changed in that way. Romesh Ranganathan everyone better way world I mean, my stand-up is very honest and exposing in this way. I probably carry that into everything I do. Romesh Ranganathan carry everything mean way In the 10 years I've been with my wife we've probably argued twice. Romesh Ranganathan twice been wife years I was a teacher before comedy, but it was good because no two days were the same, which this job is too. Romesh Ranganathan job good comedy teacher It's such a privileged thing to say, but I'm still that same lazy person! Romesh Ranganathan same person say lazy I have a hip-hop podcast and get to meet all these rappers I love, so I feel very lucky. Romesh Ranganathan meet feel lucky love
