Latest news with #LaurenLaverne
North Wales Chronicle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- North Wales Chronicle
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan says he is ‘taking a step back' but not retiring
The 47-year-old from Crawley, known for his Bafta-winning TV series with comic Rob Beckett – titled Rob And Romesh Vs, emphasised that he will not be retiring. 'I know that people sort of say I'm busy and I'm always like, trying to work and stuff. There is no strategy. There's no game plan. I have no end game,' he told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. 'There's no vision board or anything like that. (I'm) just doing whatever feels good.' He added: 'I do feel like I'm sort of settling into winding things up, like not winding things up, but I'm taking a step back. 'I want to be at home a bit more. And by the way, this is not an announcement of retirement, but I do feel like, relatively recently, this is quite fortuitous that we're talking about this at the time that we are, because I have just hit this period of thinking I am probably going to just be a bit more measured in what I do going forward. 'I think I might take a bigger break between bits. I've told you, I've not hit the thing yet, maybe this next thing could be it, but it's not going to be it if I don't go off and just live life.' Ranganathan also reflected on the time he spent as a maths teacher, before his current career, and said it was more stressful than working in comedy. 'There wasn't a single day of that job that I didn't feel completely fulfilled,' he said. 'I felt very stressed. It's the most stressed I've ever been in my life actually. 'There's not been a single day of my comedy career that's even come close to the stress that I felt as a teacher. I cannot speak highly enough of teachers and teaching and how I loved that job.' Alongside his stand-up, the comedian is known for presenting game show The Weakest Link and starring in BBC One sitcom Avoidance. He also starred in BBC Two documentary series The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan and BBC Three's Asian Provocateur, which saw him trace his family roots. In 2024, he took over Claudia Winkleman's Saturday morning slot on BBC Radio 2 and he also presents Romesh Ranganathan: For The Love Of Hip Hop on the station.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Romesh Ranganathan opens up about mental health struggle
Romesh Ranganathan has said he is in "one of the best places I've ever been in my life", after years of struggling with his mental to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the comedian described how he had used running, reading and breathing exercises to help centre himself, after previously having suicidal thoughts."Recognising it is half the battle," he told host Lauren Laverne. "So sometimes I just go through a dark period and I know that I've got to do something about it."The broadcaster also said he often felt conflicted about how much of his own mental health journey to share publicly, noting: "You've got to be careful because it's triggering [for other people]."The way that I try and tackle that is to talk about it, I'm trying to normalise feeling like that, not that it is normal, but I'm trying to destigmatise it to make the conversation normal," he said. If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line. "You would talk about physical illness openly, ideally you would talk about [mental health] openly, and you'd express all those things, but you do also have to be mindful of the fact that people may have been affected by that."And then if I suddenly say I had thoughts about taking my own life and somebody's lost someone through that or they've had those moments themselves, you have to be sensitive to that."You don't always get it right," he reflected, "but I think the rewards outweigh the risks." The 47-year-old also said he had learned it was important to make time for activities which he knew would make him feel better."One of the things I've noticed when it comes to mental health, is you do stuff that works, and it's proven to work for you personally, and then for some reason you just stop doing it," he said."You go, 'Oh, it's really good if I spend some time reflecting, or if I run, or do a bit of reading, or some breathing exercises, that makes me feel better'."'Oh, I've done that every day for a week, I'm really feeling better, shall I just stop? Yeah!'" he laughed. "And then a few weeks later, wonder why I feel much worse than I did."The presenter, who first got into comedy in the early 2010s, picked tracks from the likes of Kanye West, Eminem and Huey Lewis and the News for Desert Island Discs, which is broadcast on Sunday. 'My mum is one of my heroes' Ranganathan, who hosts a weekend show on BBC Radio 2, also spoke about how his family had moved to the UK from Sri Lanka in 1970, before he was born eight years later."My dad was a bit of a tornado, he came over to England and he'd been so used to the Sri Lankan way of life," he recalled. "He was like a kid in a candy store, people were drinking and going out and he just threw himself into British life, wholly and completely. "And there's a strong argument he should've implemented more boundaries than he did," Ranganathan laughed. "He was the life and soul of the party." The comedian said one of his biggest regrets "is not having enough empathy or understanding" of the situation his mother, Shanthi, faced when she moved to the UK aged 19."The difference between her experience and my dad's," Ranganathan said, "is my dad was going off to work, where you're immediately thrust into social connections and situations and you're making friends just by dint of that being your lifestyle."In contrast, he said: "My mum is at home and going to the shops and doing whatever, but thinking about it now, that's a 19-year-old girl who had kids in a foreign country. I don't say this lightly, my mum is one of my heroes."He recalled that, when he was 12, his father "had fallen into financial trouble, he'd lost his job and he was trying to make money in his sort of Sri Lankan Del Boy way, and it wasn't working out and couldn't keep up the mortgage repayments on their house".His father was later arrested and imprisoned for two years for fraud, when Romesh was still a said he has always struggled with his mental health, but had a particularly challenging time as a teenager, when he was doing his A-levels and his dad was in prison. His father died in 2011."I've been through in my life a number of periods of suicide ideation," Ranganathan said, but added: "As I speak now, this is running close to one of the best places I've ever been in my life mentally."
South Wales Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan says he is ‘taking a step back' but not retiring
The 47-year-old from Crawley, known for his Bafta-winning TV series with comic Rob Beckett – titled Rob And Romesh Vs, emphasised that he will not be retiring. 'I know that people sort of say I'm busy and I'm always like, trying to work and stuff. There is no strategy. There's no game plan. I have no end game,' he told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. 'There's no vision board or anything like that. (I'm) just doing whatever feels good.' He added: 'I do feel like I'm sort of settling into winding things up, like not winding things up, but I'm taking a step back. 'I want to be at home a bit more. And by the way, this is not an announcement of retirement, but I do feel like, relatively recently, this is quite fortuitous that we're talking about this at the time that we are, because I have just hit this period of thinking I am probably going to just be a bit more measured in what I do going forward. 'I think I might take a bigger break between bits. I've told you, I've not hit the thing yet, maybe this next thing could be it, but it's not going to be it if I don't go off and just live life.' Ranganathan also reflected on the time he spent as a maths teacher, before his current career, and said it was more stressful than working in comedy. 'There wasn't a single day of that job that I didn't feel completely fulfilled,' he said. 'I felt very stressed. It's the most stressed I've ever been in my life actually. 'There's not been a single day of my comedy career that's even come close to the stress that I felt as a teacher. I cannot speak highly enough of teachers and teaching and how I loved that job.' Alongside his stand-up, the comedian is known for presenting game show The Weakest Link and starring in BBC One sitcom Avoidance. He also starred in BBC Two documentary series The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan and BBC Three's Asian Provocateur, which saw him trace his family roots. In 2024, he took over Claudia Winkleman's Saturday morning slot on BBC Radio 2 and he also presents Romesh Ranganathan: For The Love Of Hip Hop on the station.
Leader Live
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan says he is ‘taking a step back' but not retiring
The 47-year-old from Crawley, known for his Bafta-winning TV series with comic Rob Beckett – titled Rob And Romesh Vs, emphasised that he will not be retiring. 'I know that people sort of say I'm busy and I'm always like, trying to work and stuff. There is no strategy. There's no game plan. I have no end game,' he told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. 'There's no vision board or anything like that. (I'm) just doing whatever feels good.' He added: 'I do feel like I'm sort of settling into winding things up, like not winding things up, but I'm taking a step back. 'I want to be at home a bit more. And by the way, this is not an announcement of retirement, but I do feel like, relatively recently, this is quite fortuitous that we're talking about this at the time that we are, because I have just hit this period of thinking I am probably going to just be a bit more measured in what I do going forward. 'I think I might take a bigger break between bits. I've told you, I've not hit the thing yet, maybe this next thing could be it, but it's not going to be it if I don't go off and just live life.' Ranganathan also reflected on the time he spent as a maths teacher, before his current career, and said it was more stressful than working in comedy. 'There wasn't a single day of that job that I didn't feel completely fulfilled,' he said. 'I felt very stressed. It's the most stressed I've ever been in my life actually. 'There's not been a single day of my comedy career that's even come close to the stress that I felt as a teacher. I cannot speak highly enough of teachers and teaching and how I loved that job.' Alongside his stand-up, the comedian is known for presenting game show The Weakest Link and starring in BBC One sitcom Avoidance. He also starred in BBC Two documentary series The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan and BBC Three's Asian Provocateur, which saw him trace his family roots. In 2024, he took over Claudia Winkleman's Saturday morning slot on BBC Radio 2 and he also presents Romesh Ranganathan: For The Love Of Hip Hop on the station.
Rhyl Journal
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Rhyl Journal
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan says he is ‘taking a step back' but not retiring
The 47-year-old from Crawley, known for his Bafta-winning TV series with comic Rob Beckett – titled Rob And Romesh Vs, emphasised that he will not be retiring. 'I know that people sort of say I'm busy and I'm always like, trying to work and stuff. There is no strategy. There's no game plan. I have no end game,' he told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. 'There's no vision board or anything like that. (I'm) just doing whatever feels good.' He added: 'I do feel like I'm sort of settling into winding things up, like not winding things up, but I'm taking a step back. 'I want to be at home a bit more. And by the way, this is not an announcement of retirement, but I do feel like, relatively recently, this is quite fortuitous that we're talking about this at the time that we are, because I have just hit this period of thinking I am probably going to just be a bit more measured in what I do going forward. 'I think I might take a bigger break between bits. I've told you, I've not hit the thing yet, maybe this next thing could be it, but it's not going to be it if I don't go off and just live life.' Ranganathan also reflected on the time he spent as a maths teacher, before his current career, and said it was more stressful than working in comedy. 'There wasn't a single day of that job that I didn't feel completely fulfilled,' he said. 'I felt very stressed. It's the most stressed I've ever been in my life actually. 'There's not been a single day of my comedy career that's even come close to the stress that I felt as a teacher. I cannot speak highly enough of teachers and teaching and how I loved that job.' Alongside his stand-up, the comedian is known for presenting game show The Weakest Link and starring in BBC One sitcom Avoidance. He also starred in BBC Two documentary series The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan and BBC Three's Asian Provocateur, which saw him trace his family roots. In 2024, he took over Claudia Winkleman's Saturday morning slot on BBC Radio 2 and he also presents Romesh Ranganathan: For The Love Of Hip Hop on the station.
