Express & Star

Review: Romesh Ranganathan, Town Hall, Birmingham

Romesh Ranganathan is a miserable parent. Well, at least that is what he told the audience in the first half of his act at the Birmingham Town Hall.

Published

An impressive venue, it was packed out with a mixed crowd all there for the comedian's trademark self depreciating humour.

During an expletive heavy set he also engaged many in the front rows, prompting them to heckle.

"Does anyone here ever hit their kids?" He asked at one point. No one put their hand up to which he sheepishly replied "Nah me neither".

He also pulled on his Sri Lankan background for much of his material, citing themes of terrorism, racism and being stuck in airports "...because let's face it, I look like an Isis version of Rolf Harris".

Prior to his career in comedy, Ranganathan made his name as a freestyle rapper. This was evident in his act as he is a natural ad-libber. Diverting from one tangent to another, Ranganathan seemed to fluidly improvise through much of the evening while encouraging those close to the stage to participate.

Last year he starred in the documentary series Asian Provocateur, in which he goes in search of his ancestral routes in Sri Lanka. "I went to Sri Lanka to try to de-coconut myself". A term he says his mother calls him. "Brown on the outside and white on the inside."

Following on from this he joked that in post-Brexit Britain he's looking forward to his mum being deported. "My next series should be called Agent Deporter".

While the first half of the evening he drew on his experiences as a parent, he ramped up most of the second with the political themes of the year. On Trump he said "This is a man who said he's going to build a wall to stop the underground tunnels."

It's easy to forget that TV stars can hold a stage as well as they come across on the screen, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him hold his own and keep the audience enthralled.

Judging by his act last night, this is a comedian who will no doubt be a staple of the British circuit for some time.

By Juliet Hounam

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.