Romesh Ranganathan reveals his mum's BRUTAL response to his West End debut - as he admits performing alongside Sheridan Smith has been 'intimidating and nerve-wracking'
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Romesh Ranganathan reveals his mum's brutal response to his West End debut - and the 'nerve-wracking' experience of acting alongside Sheridan Smith.
The comedian and presenter, 47, is appearing on this Saturday's edition of the Jonathan Ross Show.
In of the performer's latest projects, Romesh has been starring in the West End play Woman in Mind.
Discussing this experience, he says: 'I was playing a doctor. It was quite nervewracking.
'Sheridan [Smith] is one of the reasons I wanted to do the play; getting to act opposite someone who is one of our greats.
'It's quite intimidating. I've done a bit of TV acting, but stage acting is such a different discipline… you've got to have the audience in the conversation, play out to the theatre… all things I'd never done before.'
Romesh Ranganathan reveals his mum Shanthi's brutal response to his West End debut opposite Sheridan Smith
Saturday's episode of The Jonathan Ross Show sees Romesh join fellow guests Roisin Conaty, Joe Marler, Aisling Bea and Jalen Ngonda
He adds: 'People don't understand why I was doing a play; they thought it was crazy that I was doing a play.
'My mum said, 'What's your character?' I said I was playing a doctor. She said: 'But you don't have any training?' I said: 'It's scripted.' She said: 'What happens if you go to treat somebody?' I was saying: 'It's a play!'
Furthermore, Romesh admits even the audience in the room didn't always understand, saying: 'The opening bit of the play, I'm struggling to open my briefcase, Sheridan's on the floor… one of the nights, I'm struggling to open it - as part of the play - and someone goes, 'Go on Romesh, you can do it.'
Speaking about his mum Shanthi's review, he shares: 'She was impressed enough by the acting.
'She had two bits of negative feedback: 'First of all,' she said, 'I thought your acting was good, I thought you looked horrible.'
He continues: 'There's a bit in the play where my character declares his love for Sheridan's character and my mum said, 'I thought, to be honest, it was a little bit creepy.'
'So she wasn't that happy with that. I had to explain to her that that was scripted [too].'
Elsewhere, Romesh and fellow guest Aisling Bea talk about acting together, including filming a kissing scene.
Romesh and Shanthi have appeared together on several programmes, including ITV game show Parents' Evening
Romesh says: 'Aisling's been very public… [she] played my love interest in Avoidance. She was great in the role.
'I've seen a number of interviews, where she said about how awkward it was…'
Aisling replies: 'Did you not find it weird that we had to kiss each other after knowing each other [for so many years]?'
Romesh jokingly adds: 'But no, it is awkward. We're really good friends… that helped with the chemistry, getting on, but you get to the point where you have to do something like that… it's horrible.'
Aisling continues: 'If you look at each other at the wrong time… and there's a camera crew looking at you… it's just very silly!'
She adds: 'I felt like I was doing bad kissing. [I was thinking] 'He's going to tell James Acaster and all the boys I kiss badly…'
Romesh also discusses his upcoming Romesh Ranganathan Will Change Your Life tour.
He says: 'Whenever you start to write a stand up show it's wherever your mentality is. This time I've started to really get into thinking about contentment and happiness. I read The Courage To Be Disliked and I found that inspiring, and thought maybe I could start writing stand up that has a bit of an outlook on life.'
Romesh adds: 'I've literally just started writing it. I come up with a routine, I never write any of it down, I find it on stage, take what works, keep that in… it gradually builds and builds… [then you] have a time when you panic and phone your agent, [you're saying] 'I need to pull the tour', then suddenly it comes together.'
Meanwhile, he also discusses taking part in Last One Laughing, on which fellow guest Roisin appears as host Jimmy Carr's 'Deputy', where comedians compete to make each other laugh.
Romesh says of his biggest competition: 'Alan Carr's a tricky guy because he's sort of, easily 'takedownable', but he's also a dangerous weapon.
'Early on I thought, 'I'm going to try and take him out.' The problem is, everything he does is funny.
'He's lab designed to be funny that guy. Did not want to see Bob Mortimer back. I like Bob Mortimer, but not in that house.
'Comedy is the most narcissistic form of entertainment ever. We require the audience to laugh at us to boost our self-esteem… it's a blow torch to your self-esteem.'
The Jonathan Ross Show airs Saturdays on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.
