Romesh Ranganathan loves our cauliflower & spinach curry and fiery margaritas

The wait for a man at the top of our wish-list is finally over. Romesh Ranganathan has been on the Dish radar for a long time. Last year, Nick and Angela visited him on his Radio 2 show and extended the invite to join us for dinner. This year, we managed to sync diaries and make it a Valentine’s date! Romesh is a BAFTA-winning comedian, actor, writer and presenter. He is currently starring alongside Sheridan Smith in the West End Play, Woman In Mind, and took a seat with us to chat about his upcoming stand-up tour, Romesh Ranganathan Will Change Your Life. It’s a show which he is promoting well in advance, with dates starting in January next year. Sounds organised? It has to be, with Romesh also hosting two podcasts, including Wolf & Owl with Tom Davis alongside TV shows such as The Weakest Link and A League Of Their Own. Officially booked and busy. Over non-alcoholic fiery lime margaritas, we quickly got to understand the intricacies of Romesh’s food likes and dislikes, including his late night chilli oil temptations and how his love of doughnuts made for a business venture. And, seeing as we are celebrating Valentine’s Day, we pulled out The Oven Glove of Romesh Love, filled with Ranganathan appreciation to combat his talent for self-deprecation. The decision for today was left in Angela’s hands, as Romesh opted for ‘chef’s choice’. Chef wisely decided on a delicious cauliflower and spinach curry with all the sides. The Waitrose wine experts paired this meal with a No.1 Gruner Veltliner, described as an exceptionally food friendly dry, crisp white wine. Stick around for the End of Show Question, too, because we found a great courier for the goody bag delivery. He’s on next week! You can watch full episodes of Dish on YouTube and on Spotify. All recipes from this podcast can be found at waitrose.com/dishrecipes A transcript for this episode can be found at waitrose.com/dish If you want to get in touch with us about anything at all, contact [email protected] from Waitrose is made by Cold Glass Productions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  You know those moments when everything just flows? Finding your keys first time? Or when the whole day falls into place? The little things, including the choices you make for your health, can help life flow better. That's where Benicol comes in. With a fresh new look and same trusted science, Benicol's Plant Stanol Ester has been shown to lower cholesterol. High cholesterol is a risk factor for coronary heart disease, based on a daily intake of 1.5 to 3 grams of plant stanols over 2 to 3 weeks.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  After Faye Fruits Yogurt, I'm never going back. So fruity, so thick, so gorgeous from the packet. Called Faye Fruits Yogurt. It's a smooth and fruity snack. Gimme, gimme that Faye. Passion fruit or strawberry flavour, my way. And taste the coconut, gimme that Faye. Go down the shops for this fruity snack after Faye Fruits Yogurt. There's no going back.

• 0:51Speaker 02

  Dish from Waitrose is a Cold Glass production. This podcast may contain some strong language and adult themes.

• 1:04Speaker 02

  Hello, I'm Nick Grimshaw.

• 1:05Speaker 03

  And I'm Angela Hartnett.

• 1:06Speaker 02

  And this is Dish from Waitrose. Welcome. Hi, Ange.

• 1:12Speaker 03

  Hi, Nick. How are you?

• 1:13Speaker 02

  I'm good. You all right?

• 1:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, very well, thank you. And you?

• 1:15Speaker 02

  How's your morning?

• 1:16Speaker 03

  Good, busy. Lots going on today. Got a busy day.

• 1:19Speaker 02

  Smells fantastic in here today. Hey, it's Valentine's Day this coming Saturday.

• 1:23Speaker 03

  What are you doing?

• 1:24Speaker 02

  Nothing, obviously. But I, when I found out this was a Valentine's Day.

• 1:29Speaker 03

  We're all glad together and I'll give you a present.

• 1:31Speaker 02

  No, I was just interested in what your take, Angela Hartnett, was on Valentine's Day.

• 1:36Speaker 03

  No, we do do cards and Neil might buy flowers, but we never make a fuss of it.

• 1:40Speaker 02

  Neil was in my room last night.

• 1:41Speaker 03

  That's a bit weird.

• 1:44Speaker 02

  He had some chickens. He was showing me his chickens.

• 1:47Speaker 03

  So he had them in a garden, a farm?

• 1:49Speaker 02

  And one had died. And he watched it back on the camera and someone had killed it by throwing a water balloon at it.

• 1:55Speaker 03

  Oh, God!

• 1:56Speaker 02

  And then he went, "I need a drink now." And he had an outdoor tap and it was wine. And that was my dream, because sometimes my dream's unpacking my day.

• 2:04Speaker 03

  Right.

• 2:04Speaker 02

  And I was like, what happened in my day?

• 2:06Speaker 03

  Have you been to the French house?

• 2:07Speaker 02

  For Neil to infiltrate it.

• 2:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:09Speaker 02

  Drinking wine from a garden tap.

• 2:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:12Speaker 02

  No idea, no idea. We want to talk about our guest in a second, but first, I want to talk about this.

• 2:19Speaker 03

  These lips.

• 2:20Speaker 02

  This next to you. Yeah, let's talk about these lips that are next to you. So this looks like, almost like a clutch bag.

• 2:26Speaker 03

  Happy Valentine's.

• 2:26Speaker 02

  Thank you. Tell me.

• 2:27Speaker 03

  It does look like a clutch bag.

• 2:29Speaker 02

  What we've got here, for those listening to the podcast, Angela has just presented me a plate with some lips on.

• 2:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:35Speaker 02

  Quite surreal, quite a surreal offering, isn't it?

• 2:39Speaker 03

  So it's these.

• 2:39Speaker 02

  The hell is it?

• 2:40Speaker 03

  Milk chocolate lips from Lulu Guinness that she's done with Waitrose. So you would smash the lips to get into it.

• 2:47Speaker 02

  Smash it?

• 2:48Speaker 03

  Yes, go do for it and then see.

• 2:50Speaker 02

  Ooh.

• 2:50Speaker 03

  Go for it.

• 2:51Speaker 02

  Bloody hell.

• 2:52Speaker 03

  Oh, there you go.

• 2:53Speaker 02

  There you go. It's bloody well made, Lulu.

• 2:56Speaker 03

  But so chocolate, but red.

• 2:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, like a red, like sort of a, yeah, right.

• 3:00Speaker 03

  Shiny, shimmery.

• 3:01Speaker 02

  Metallic, passes the box.

• 3:03Speaker 03

  Quite big the box, isn't it? But I suppose it's protective because you don't want it to smash.

• 3:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, delicious. It's fair trade as well.

• 3:09Speaker 03

  We love fair trade.

• 3:10Speaker 02

  Oh, we love.

• 3:11Speaker 03

  Would you like any more?

• 3:13Speaker 02

  Well, I'm trying to be healthy this year.

• 3:15Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 3:16Speaker 02

  Because after we had our.

• 3:17Speaker 03

  Don't blame me and drag me into the fact you had a kilo of cheese every day over New Year.

• 3:23Speaker 02

  Sometimes when I eat excessively.

• 3:26Speaker 03

  You blame me?

• 3:26Speaker 02

  Like a full cheese board. I'm like, I do a food podcast. It's research. And today we've got the wonderful Romesh Ranganathan.

• 3:34Speaker 03

  Love Ramesh.

• 3:35Speaker 02

  To see us on the podcast. Love Ramesh. And truly, I feel like we do say this a lot, but we have wanted Ramesh on for a really long time.

• 3:42Speaker 03

  Well, we asked him to come on when we went on his Radio 2 show nearly a year ago.

• 3:47Speaker 02

  So it's taken a year.

• 3:48Speaker 03

  But he's very busy.

• 3:49Speaker 02

  He is very busy, to be fair. He's never off the telly, Ramesh, is he? And but I'm happy. I think he's really brilliant. I really, really do everything he does.

• 3:56Speaker 03

  He's very funny.

• 3:56Speaker 02

  I love his stand-up. I love his radio show.

• 3:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:59Speaker 02

  I love him hosting shows. He was just actually funny.

• 4:03Speaker 03

  He's very funny, very naturally funny.

• 4:05Speaker 02

  And it's not, and I also do love when comedians do a bit and they've got an act.

• 4:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:09Speaker 02

  But Ramesh is not that kind of guy, is he?

• 4:11Speaker 03

  No, and he's in the West End at the moment, but he's here on to promote his tour next year.

• 4:16Speaker 02

  Stand-up tour. But a lot to talk about. Yeah, we've got the weekly radio show, The Weakest Link, A League of Their Own, presenting the BAFTA stand-up tours. Like you say, he's in the West End, two podcasts.

• 4:26Speaker 03

  Hmm.

• 4:28Speaker 02

  He probably does not wanna be here.

• 4:30Speaker 03

  He's got kids and family.

• 4:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:32Speaker 03

  But apparently he's got a bad habit of saying, he can't say no to anything. You know, if you rang him up and said, oh, let's go.

• 4:38Speaker 02

  But he said no for a year.

• 4:39Speaker 03

  Well, no.

• 4:41Speaker 02

  Well, should we get Ramesh in now and get on with it?

• 4:46Speaker 04

  Hi, welcome, Ramesh. This is so nice. How are you? What a podcast.

• 4:50Speaker 02

  This is a brilliant podcast.

• 4:50Speaker 04

  I'm proper, I'm real proper. You all right? I'm really good, yeah, yeah, very good, thank you, yeah.

• 4:55Speaker 03

  You're looking great.

• 4:56Speaker 04

  Do you think so? Yeah.

• 4:57Speaker 03

  You do?

• 4:58Speaker 04

  Thanks, man, thank you. I don't feel like I look great. Your hair's good as well. This is, for this play, but my kids keep asking when I'm opening the Quickie Mart.

• 5:11Speaker 04

  It's, it's, I look like every Asian man my parents brought home for a party in the eighties. In the eighties. Yeah, yeah. I love it, with the, with the haircut. Yeah, I don't know about the tassels.

• 5:22Speaker 03

  Are you enjoying it, being on the West End?

• 5:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's good, I, I'd sort of, I've, I've really, like, it's been amazing. I didn't appreciate that it's every night. When you say that to somebody, go, yeah, of course it is, that's what you agreed to do, but you don't, you don't appreciate every day. People, people don't appreciate every day until you're doing every day.

• 5:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:40Speaker 04

  You know?

• 5:40Speaker 03

  And doing the same thing every day.

• 5:42Speaker 04

  People get it, people need to, people need to say, I do think, any job, any situation, kids, family, marriage, whatever, people just say, it's every day. Every day. It is every day, man.

• 5:53Speaker 02

  We just had Jessie Buckley on the radio, and she was saying when she got married, she like really didn't wanna say till death do us part, because she was like, so long.

• 6:03Speaker 04

  I talked about this in my last tour show, about the concept of marriage. I wanna be crystal clear on this.

• 6:10Speaker 02

  Right.

• 6:10Speaker 04

  I'm massively in love with my wife, and I'm really glad to be married to her.

• 6:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 04

  But, but, listen, love is, love is real and love is great and it's wonderful. But I did sort of question the concept of, of marriage as a thing, because like, when you first get married to somebody, like, you're, this, these people, and then even in a few years, you can be totally different people. Yeah, of course. So you just have to, I don't know.

• 6:32Speaker 03

  If you look at the romantic side, is that the fact is, love is blind, you put up with it, don't you? You don't mind that there's those, that's the whole point.

• 6:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, that's the whole thing, is you go on the journey together.

• 6:42Speaker 03

  Yes, exactly.

• 6:43Speaker 04

  And, and it's a beautiful journey through all of the different changes and challenges.

• 6:48Speaker 03

  And we have Lisa around the back, she's coming into town so much.

• 6:51Speaker 04

  And in many ways, it makes it more magical, and there's a depth and a layering to it, I'm gonna say this down the camera, and love. It's wonderful.

• 7:01Speaker 02

  So we have a wonderful guest. We do. The podcast's already started. Yeah. Well, let's introduce him, just in case you've not been paying attention to this very moment. We have a presenter, a writer, an actor, comedian, who says he's yet to do anything in the world of stand-up that he's truly proud of. Oh. Here to promote his new tour.

• 7:19Speaker 05

  It's a mess, right, everybody?

• 7:21Speaker 04

  Thank you, thank you.

• 7:24Speaker 04

  This is unbelievable.

• 7:26Speaker 02

  Oh, cheers, rummages. Cheers, welcome. What have we got here, Nick? We have a spicy, alcohol-free margarita, so made with alcohol-free tequila, and then like a sugar syrup with cardamom, chili, and lime.

• 7:41Speaker 04

  Really good. I'm a big fan. And this is really good.

• 7:43Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, you like that? The little lime twist.

• 7:46Speaker 04

  A little bit of juice, yes, please.

• 7:48Speaker 02

  That's all we're having today. Just that, just nibbling that piece of lime crisp. Yeah, I want to talk about this lime rummage, because this struck me, that you said that you have not done anything in the world of stand-up that you're truly proud of. You said that on Des Ireland Discs with Lauren Levan.

• 8:03Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's a long record, isn't it? You're trying to find things to say. No, I'm joking, I'm joking.

• 8:07Speaker 02

  Lauren's like, give me a headline.

• 8:08Speaker 04

  Yeah, can we have something that we can clip up? No, I do, I do feel like, I mean, I sort of think about everything that you, that I do, is that you're, and stand-up is the thing that I'm most passionate about. Like, I love it, it's the reason I, the reason I do anything is because it started from stand-up, you know? That's what I wanted to be when I, when I moved into comedy. And so I'm really passionate about doing a great show. And whenever I do a tour show, whatever anybody thinks about it, I have worked my arse off to, to make this show, you know? Polishing it and getting it to the point. And then what happens is, is the show comes out and the response is great, or whatever, you know? I've had great responses to shows, but I just feel like I'm gonna have the feeling of going, that is the show.

• 8:48Speaker 02

  Right.

• 8:49Speaker 04

  That is a show that when I retire or I'm cancelled... Like, that'll be the, that'll be the show that people go, that's Ramesh's show.

• 8:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. People will say, did you watch that one?

• 8:58Speaker 04

  That's the one that he did. And so if I was to stop now.

• 9:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:01Speaker 04

  I haven't done the show. Like, in my opinion, I haven't done the show yet.

• 9:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:04Speaker 04

  Do you know what I mean? So that's.

• 9:05Speaker 03

  So how do you feel when you come off stage? Because again, it's like you were saying earlier, doing it every night.

• 9:10Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 9:11Speaker 03

  You know, maybe not seven days a week, but you know, there's breaks. But how do you feel then when you come off?

• 9:14Speaker 04

  Like, it's great, like, you know, you're, you're trying to, I want the audience to be exhausted from laughing. That's the aim. Because I sort of think about as a punter, when I used to watch Stand Up So Love, you know, Richard Pryor's like my favorite of all time. And I used to watch his shows and I'd feel, I'd want him to stop talking because.

• 9:32Speaker 03

  Because you're aching so much.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and, and so that's, I always thought I want that to be what people's experience is when they come to my shows. But then, when you start off doing stand up.

• 9:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:41Speaker 04

  You're so desperate to make people laugh, you will say anything, you know, you're just desperate to make people laugh. You're just like, you know, you'd be waggling your glasses and like, you know.

• 9:51Speaker 02

  Oh, what did that guy say?

• 9:53Speaker 04

  You know, and all that, because you're just so desperate to make them laugh.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  I mean, that's the, the job.

• 9:57Speaker 04

  Yeah. But then as you get more experience, you sort of go, well, making people laugh is not, it's not easy, but it's become, it becomes easier. So then you go, well, now I'd like it to be something where I'm standing by the substance of what I'm talking about. Not at the expense of lot, I, I don't want to give, I'm not smart enough to give anybody a lecture, you know, about anything. But when you watch stand ups that are really funny, there is some, they're letting you into their world and they're showing you the way they think about things. And it's like, there's something you take away from it, do you know what I mean?

• 10:25Speaker 02

  But I think that's a good place to be.

• 10:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:28Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:28Speaker 02

  Because I don't think you'd want, I, I don't think we'd love you, Ramesh, if you were the type of comedian that was like, I think I'm **** brilliant.

• 10:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:35Speaker 02

  I think it's a good place to be if you're a musician or, you know.

• 10:38Speaker 03

  But it gives you the adrenaline to keep going.

• 10:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, you want to like, keep going and yours, you're like David Bowie.

• 10:43Speaker 03

  Yeah. Ooh, nice, that's good.

• 10:45Speaker 02

  You are, it's like, just change, better, better, better.

• 10:48Speaker 04

  That is gonna, because what's happened is, I, I then panicked about how to respond to that. Because actually, the truth is, is that I'm not.

• 10:59Speaker 04

  He's incredible. Yeah. And I'm just churning out some shit.

• 11:06Speaker 04

  And then you go, you're like David Bowie and go, mm. I know that the comments go, what a wanker. Did you see the way he accepted that comment about one of our greatest artists? Can you believe that? The guy that hosts Weakest Link is like David Bowie. In your own field. Does he really believe that? In your own space, you know. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. I think so. Yeah, and need to evolve and. Yeah, need to evolve. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, no, okay, thanks, sorry, yeah. No, thanks. Yeah, that's very sweet of you, thanks. Not resting on laurels. No, I accept it, I accept it. No, I accept it. You're exactly like him.

• 11:41Speaker 04

  Exactly the same. If people are, if people are missing David Bowie. Don't worry. You've got him. Try the weakest link. He's still around.

• 11:52Speaker 02

  What was it that made you, you know, when you were younger, think I could do this? Because, you know, you have a great relationship with your mum, who's, you know, often on Screamia. Would you do shows at home? Would you stand up and perform?

• 12:03Speaker 04

  The love language in my house, great, I was just roasting each other. My mum would like sometimes wheel me out and go, do the, do the impression of me, darling. Do it when I, when I'm trying to find the coffee, do it, do it. No, this is so good, you should, you'll watch this, watch this. Do it, darling, do it, do it. So it'd be like that, so they're like trying to get me out to do that. I remember, this is really dark story, but when, when.

• 12:26Speaker 02

  I'm ready.

• 12:26Speaker 04

  When my, when my, when my dad passed away, so my brother, um, this is, this starts really dark, okay? So my brother found my dad, he had a heart attack in, in the house and passed away. And my dad found him, and then when I came in, like my dad, my brother called me, I was at a gig and he goes, can you, like, dad's collapsed and. So I came into the house and then immediately started crying. And then he, then we found out, you know, he passed away. The next day, we're sat around, like, and we'd gone to see my mum and like, we're all like trying to figure out what to do. And my brother was like, we were really quiet at the time. My brother said to me, Rom? I go, yeah. And he goes, what was that noise you made yesterday, man? And I go, what? He goes, when you, when you saw dad? Goes, you're not embarrassed? He goes.

• 13:10Speaker 04

  He goes, I could know you were upset, but he's just like.

• 13:16Speaker 05

  Too thin.

• 13:17Speaker 04

  Twist.

• 13:20Speaker 04

  We genuinely started cracking up. Because it was. It was. It was bad, like it's like, it was like that, it was like that meme, you know that?

• 13:35Speaker 04

  But I, you, I didn't know that I, I didn't know that I'd make that noise. You know, like it's like.

• 13:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course.

• 13:40Speaker 04

  In an emergency situation, something happened. Like you don't know how brave you are until.

• 13:45Speaker 03

  Until it happens.

• 13:46Speaker 04

  You're in a situation, you might be saying something, I didn't know that I made that noise.

• 13:50Speaker 03

  I just love the fact your brother brought it up.

• 13:53Speaker 02

  Next day.

• 13:56Speaker 02

  Should we start with, we always like to go through our guests' food likes and dislikes. Should we start with yours, Ramesh?

• 14:02Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:02Speaker 02

  And we love that they're written by you. And first up, full disclosure, you are famously vegan.

• 14:08Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:08Speaker 02

  And when it came to food loves, you start with, I love my mum's aubergine curry, which Angela has tasted.

• 14:15Speaker 03

  Mmm, very good curry.

• 14:16Speaker 02

  Why, why did you taste it?

• 14:18Speaker 03

  We were on a.

• 14:18Speaker 04

  Ramesh, he won't leave, man.

• 14:22Speaker 02

  Why did you do that?

• 14:22Speaker 03

  I'm there every week, round the door.

• 14:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, what was it?

• 14:25Speaker 03

  It was the show you do with Rob, when you go and do another industry, you're opening a restaurant.

• 14:29Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:29Speaker 03

  So you had me and Tom rounds and they both made curries and it was, Tom and I decided which one we liked best. Tom Kerridge.

• 14:35Speaker 02

  Oh, yes.

• 14:36Speaker 03

  And we liked Ramesh's, it was brilliant.

• 14:37Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, Rob, Rob made his in a.

• 14:41Speaker 03

  He made it in a machine, it was all the bit too easy.

• 14:43Speaker 04

  And it's sort of when I add this now.

• 14:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:46Speaker 04

  And then dice this, and then it dices it for you, and what a load of shit.

• 14:49Speaker 02

  We're gonna eat in a second, aren't we?

• 14:50Speaker 03

  We are, yeah.

• 14:51Speaker 02

  Should I go through food likes and dislikes and you get the food ready? Or, I'll get the food ready.

• 14:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, no, I'll go.

• 14:58Speaker 02

  No, you go, and you're like, no, I'll go, no, no, off you go, okay. And when it came to food loves, you love spicy, you have a tragic sweet tooth. And you eat a ton of these crisps, the Torres.

• 15:08Speaker 04

  Black truffle.

• 15:09Speaker 02

  Black truffle crisps.

• 15:10Speaker 04

  They are, they, they have changed the game, right? The black truffle, but they also do olive oil, right?

• 15:18Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 15:18Speaker 04

  Do they do fried egg? Have I just made that up?

• 15:20Speaker 02

  Fried egg, I love the taste, I hate the smell.

• 15:22Speaker 04

  Mmm, of the egg ones?

• 15:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, the egg smell is foul.

• 15:25Speaker 04

  Whenever I do a TV recording, it's always on the rider for those.

• 15:28Speaker 02

  I think that's the best crisp. I do feel like an asshole asking for a black truffle crisp.

• 15:33Speaker 04

  Do you remember when you felt like a tosser for talking about salted caramel?

• 15:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:37Speaker 04

  That's nice.

• 15:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, now it's... Try getting a caramel that's not salted.

• 15:40Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 15:41Speaker 02

  Impossible.

• 15:41Speaker 04

  Now you feel like a... Actually, I'd love it unsalted.

• 15:44Speaker 02

  Unsalted.

• 15:44Speaker 04

  As it comes.

• 15:46Speaker 02

  Impossible.

• 15:46Speaker 04

  Impossible.

• 15:47Speaker 02

  Impossible. I wanted to talk to you about your bakery.

• 15:51Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:51Speaker 02

  Endeavor as well.

• 15:52Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 15:53Speaker 02

  Because you've invested in a bakery, right?

• 15:56Speaker 04

  I am...

• 15:57Speaker 03

  Is it a vegan bakery?

• 15:58Speaker 04

  It's not all vegan, but they do loads of vegan stuff. But I got to know that Shaun Coughlin is Coughlin's Bakery. And I got to know him because his wife is a makeup artist. And so I was doing like Eight Out of Ten Cats or something. She said to me, "Oh, my husband runs a bakery." And he said, "If you want to try anything." And so I started trying these donuts and they're vegan. And I was like, "Oh, my God, this is incredible." And then eventually I got him to do my wife's birthday cake. He did like an Idris Elba birthday cake for Lisa.

• 16:30Speaker 02

  What, the face of Idris Elba?

• 16:32Speaker 04

  Face of Idris Elba, yeah.

• 16:33Speaker 03

  Really?

• 16:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 16:34Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 16:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's really... It's really nice to do something for your wife that also undermines you as well.

• 16:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:43Speaker 03

  Does she appreciate it?

• 16:44Speaker 04

  She loved it. It was horrible. It was disgusting to watch.

• 16:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:47Speaker 04

  And then we kind of built up a relationship. And then he was looking to get some investment or get somebody else involved. And we'd become friends and I was going there all the time. So I just thought, "Well, I think you should invest in something you actually really care about and love." And I really love that stuff, so I just thought I'd get involved. So now I'm like a co-owner of Coughlin's Bakery. So and every now and again, I'll go and do a shift at one of the branches.

• 17:11Speaker 03

  Do you?

• 17:11Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 17:12Speaker 02

  And what are you doing on the shift?

• 17:13Speaker 04

  I just work the tills and like be just a general...

• 17:15Speaker 03

  They don't let you make the donuts?

• 17:17Speaker 04

  No. Well, no, they do. No, that's... I have been into the actual main bakery and like kind of dipped the yum yums.

• 17:23Speaker 02

  Oh, yes. Come on.

• 17:25Speaker 04

  Although, I'll tell you what a weird thing that happened. It's like, so we sort of pre-announce, "I'm going to be working at whatever, the Oxford branch or..." And then like people had turned up for like selfies and stuff like that. And then this woman said, um... I'm just telling you what she said. She said, "Do you know that you're the thinking woman's crumpet?" And I said, "No, I didn't know that. And furthermore, I don't think it's true." And then she said, "I got your present," and she gave me a pair of knickers.

• 17:51Speaker 04

  Whoa.

• 17:52Speaker 05

  At the bakery.

• 17:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, I know, that's. Exactly. That's not the weird bit.

• 17:56Speaker 05

  That's weird.

• 17:58Speaker 04

  A pair of knickers. Yeah. Were they in an envelope? No, she pulled them out of her pocket. Whoa.

• 18:04Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 18:04Speaker 04

  Wow. I'd just arrived in Oxstead. Wow. I reckon three minutes before. What time of day are we talking? This was like, Nick, I hate to tell you, man, it was one in the afternoon, something like that. One in the afternoon? When do you think would be a good time to do that?

• 18:20Speaker 04

  I don't think there is one. If I'm thinking was crumpet, give me a Rubik's cube. What, why?

• 18:27Speaker 04

  But the rest of it was fine, the rest of the visit was fine. What did you do with them? What did I do with them? I don't know. I definitely took them home. No, you did not. Did you?

• 18:40Speaker 04

  I can promise you, I wasn't expecting fallout questions about what I did.

• 18:47Speaker 04

  I panicked. I felt like a politician on the BBC on Sunday morning. It's like, shit, what did you do with them? I think I took them home to like, because I wanted to tell Lisa what had happened. And yeah, nice to re-gift.

• 19:03Speaker 04

  Valentine's Day. We're gonna go through the rest of the lines because there was a diversion. You also nearly killed yourself eating Lao Gan Ma crispy chili oil. Yeah. Yes? Yeah. What the hell happened? Do you guys like that chili oil? I don't know that, do I? It's like crunchy, it's got like, I think soybeans and onions fried and stuff. Oh, yeah, I do. It's wicked. Anyway, somebody had, somebody said to me, oh, I'd seen somewhere this stuff is amazing on pretty much everything, right? So I'd started getting into it and it started to become a bit of a problem. So I was eating it all the time and then it got to the point where I would happily eat it on its own. Oh, wow. So what would happen is I'd get back from like, it was like one of the early nights of, one of the previews of the play.

• 19:46Speaker 04

  And I got back and as a little. As a little treat for myself, I'd have a tablespoon of the chili oil. I can't believe you saw that. So it's like a little well done rummage, you did well in the plate today. Have some chili oil. So I opened the jar, everyone's asleep, and I took the, um, took the tablespoon. I'm eating it over the, you know, I'm here, like this, I just quickly shovel it in, because I want to minimise being caught doing this.

• 20:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:15Speaker 04

  It's beyond ick.

• 20:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 20:17Speaker 04

  Do you know what I mean?

• 20:18Speaker 02

  He's eating the chili oil.

• 20:19Speaker 04

  So I shove it into my mouth, and then as I do that, it just, a little tiny bit of it goes the wrong way. And then I just go, and I like spray every cupboard. Oh my god. Um, every cupboard is just completely pebble dash with chili oil. And then I start choking, right, I start really choking, and I start panicking. And then honestly, I think I'm going to, I'm gonna die, and I thought I'm gonna die now. And then for some reason, I started doing circuits of the kit, I started trying to walk it off. So I started like just doing circuits of the kitchen going.

• 20:57Speaker 04

  And, and as, as I, and I, yeah, honestly, I'm not, I, I thought I, I am gonna die, I thought I'm gonna die today. All right, this is, I, but the thing was, I just thought, what is Lisa gonna walk into? The next morning, my body on the floor, with the jar with the spoon there, cupboards.

• 21:21Speaker 04

  Like, what, what a horrible way for your husband to die.

• 21:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:25Speaker 04

  How did he go?

• 21:26Speaker 02

  Chili oil.

• 21:26Speaker 04

  Oh, he was having one of his late night chili oil tablespoon treats.

• 21:35Speaker 02

  So food has arrived, but just to finish your dislikes, don't like tempeh.

• 21:40Speaker 04

  Right.

• 21:41Speaker 02

  Tempeh, what is tempeh?

• 21:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:43Speaker 02

  Is it just gluten?

• 21:45Speaker 04

  No, it's like that sort of like, it's often like used as a, if you don't like tofu. It's awful.

• 21:51Speaker 02

  So no tempeh?

• 21:52Speaker 04

  No.

• 21:53Speaker 02

  I like that it's written here, the pronunciation, it says tempeh, not like tiny temper.

• 22:00Speaker 04

  That's one of his big bugbears. Yeah. Tried to. Jesus Christ.

• 22:04Speaker 02

  On drinks, you said you stopped drinking because we're having alcohol free. You said basically you don't drink because when you do drink, you can be your words a twat.

• 22:11Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 22:12Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 22:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, I, I, I just, like, my dad was a big, my dad ran a pub, he's a massive drinker. And, and he was great, but like, he was like what I would describe as a charming liability. Do you know what I mean? Like, he was really, he was really fun in a cameo. But being married to him, I can't imagine, like, my mum had a hell of a time, do you know what I mean? And, and like, so, but I have got that, I feel like I've got that gene in me, do you know what I mean? Where like, about everything, you know, I will, I'm eating chili oil. Yeah. On my own.

• 22:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 22:41Speaker 04

  You know, like, I've got that addictive person, I'm, I'm trying to find something to get addicted to. Yeah, yeah. So when it's with drinking, especially with comedy, you are around booze a lot. And you finish a show and everybody's drinking, you know, the audience is drinking, you do a TV record. People are drinking, you know, so it's around a lot. I think being sober gives me just the right level of inhibition. And I don't want to lose that. I just, I, I've got so many memories of just being a complete dick. I don't, I don't know if you, we did an episode of Rob and Ramesh versus, and we did Rob and Ramesh versus heavy metal. And we drank with Queens of the Stone Age, right? And, and I got obliterated on camera, like completely obliterated.

• 23:24Speaker 04

  And I, I've just got vague sort of recollections of running around backstage while like Raw Blood were on. And just go, yeah. Rob and I like snogged on the side of stage, right? And, and obviously like, production found. Great TV. It's great, yeah, it's really funny TV. But, but I went to, I, I was, I have a great time. Yeah, yeah, I'm a **** legend. Then I went to bed, I woke up the next morning, obviously I just got the fit, the hot, the fear, right? What happened? What did you do? What happened? So I immediately put on the production WhatsApp, I just said, I'm really sorry. Yeah. If, um, for my behaviour, if I was out of order last night or whatever, you know, I was sort of really all over the place. It was half an hour before anybody responded.

• 24:07Speaker 02

  Oh, God.

• 24:08Speaker 04

  That was. That was the decision.

• 24:10Speaker 02

  Longest half hour.

• 24:11Speaker 04

  That was the worst half hour of my life. I do think people need to think about.

• 24:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:16Speaker 04

  What that effect that's having on people.

• 24:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:18Speaker 04

  Is that you need to respond to people when they say that. You need to have an alarm, get in quick.

• 24:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  And go, you were fine, or there's a police investigation.

• 24:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, either way.

• 24:27Speaker 05

  HR have been called.

• 24:28Speaker 04

  You just wanna know either way.

• 24:30Speaker 02

  You wanna know, please reply quicker.

• 24:32Speaker 05

  Right, eat before it goes cold.

• 24:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, you start eating Ramesh and then Ange, please, what we have here, this looks fantastic.

• 24:36Speaker 03

  So we have a cauliflower and spinach curry.

• 24:38Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 24:38Speaker 03

  And we're serving it with loads of little popadoms and we've got a lovely array here of some fantastic mango chutney, some lime pickle.

• 24:48Speaker 02

  I love lime pickle.

• 24:49Speaker 03

  Fried onions, some lovely, oh, God.

• 24:52Speaker 02

  Riter?

• 24:53Speaker 03

  Riter, thank you, yeah. So to have with it and rice.

• 24:56Speaker 04

  This is so good.

• 24:57Speaker 03

  Oh, good, I'm glad.

• 24:58Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. I can't remember this. So Ramesh said that, well, Ramesh, you said that you'd be happily having, you know, chef's choice with what we eat.

• 25:04Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:05Speaker 02

  You'd leave it up to Angela, which is the way I would do it if I was coming on here as a guest.

• 25:09Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 25:10Speaker 02

  Well, because obviously it'd be like, come on, Ange knows what's up.

• 25:13Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:13Speaker 02

  So what made you go for curry, Ange?

• 25:15Speaker 03

  Well, one, obviously, Ramesh is vegan.

• 25:18Speaker 04

  No, I'm good.

• 25:24Speaker 02

  Ange, what made you go?

• 25:26Speaker 03

  For a curry.

• 25:27Speaker 02

  What made you go curry?

• 25:28Speaker 03

  Yeah. Why did I go curry? Um, seasonality, cauliflower.

• 25:33Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:34Speaker 03

  Yeah, lovely.

• 25:35Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 25:35Speaker 03

  See, and cauliflower is a great thing when you make a curry.

• 25:38Speaker 04

  Mm.

• 25:38Speaker 03

  Because it absorbs all the flavors of all those different spices and everything like that.

• 25:42Speaker 04

  Wow, this is delicious, Ange.

• 25:43Speaker 02

  How did you make this?

• 25:44Speaker 04

  It's so tasty.

• 25:45Speaker 03

  It's the layers of flavor, isn't it?

• 25:46Speaker 02

  I was gonna say it's layers.

• 25:47Speaker 03

  It's all the stages. So you start off, you put your little oil in the pan, put curry leaves and cumin seeds, toast those off for a couple of minutes, add your spinach, and then take that out of the pan. So in a way, you've seasoned the pan. And then it's onions, garlic, coriander stalks and ginger in the pan. Cook that down till it's softened. But a good five, 10 minutes, you know, not just quickly in the pan.

• 26:09Speaker 04

  This is, sorry.

• 26:11Speaker 03

  That's all right.

• 26:11Speaker 04

  It's so good.

• 26:12Speaker 03

  Thank you, I'm really pleased.

• 26:13Speaker 04

  You have smashed this.

• 26:14Speaker 03

  Oh, thank you.

• 26:15Speaker 04

  It is wicked.

• 26:16Speaker 03

  It was very good. And then you add your different spices, so your turmeric and grand masala and a bit of tomato puree. And then you add your cauliflower.

• 26:23Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 26:23Speaker 03

  And then you cook it really quickly, only for about ten, twelve minutes. Um, and once that's cooked, then you add um your spinach back into the pan, a little bit of yogurt and a touch of lime.

• 26:33Speaker 04

  Because the thing is cauliflower and spinach curry.

• 26:36Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 26:36Speaker 04

  If somebody comes down to your house.

• 26:38Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 26:38Speaker 04

  As a, you know, as a vegan host.

• 26:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:40Speaker 04

  There's a lot of pressure on. People don't want to come around really.

• 26:43Speaker 03

  Yeah. They don't want to come around.

• 26:44Speaker 04

  But then.

• 26:45Speaker 02

  They just don't want to come.

• 26:46Speaker 04

  No, and then if you go cauliflower cauliflower and spinach on paper.

• 26:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, it doesn't sound great.

• 26:50Speaker 04

  Well, it just sounds fine, right? You're not going to not enjoy it.

• 26:53Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:53Speaker 04

  But this is like, it's so good.

• 26:56Speaker 03

  But it is, you know, it's the, the point is, it's like anything, take time a little bit, don't rush it.

• 26:59Speaker 02

  And then the cauliflower you just cook in, because it's not really a sauce, if you're listening to this, is it? It's not like a.

• 27:05Speaker 03

  No, not a wet current, no.

• 27:07Speaker 02

  No. So the cauliflower just sort of cooks ten minutes, that's it?

• 27:10Speaker 03

  It cooks in the spices, but you add a little bit of water as well, about three hundred mils of water.

• 27:13Speaker 02

  I'm surprised it it's cooked. Because I've tried roasting a cauliflower.

• 27:16Speaker 03

  Yeah. No, I always think that's quite dry. Yeah, you need a liquid.

• 27:20Speaker 02

  Yeah. Tell us about the little uh salad that you've made here.

• 27:24Speaker 03

  So we've got this kachumba salad, which is diced tomato, cucumber, red onion, coriander and mint, a little bit of salt in there as well. And then the raita, which is cucumber, yogurt, a bit of shallot, finely diced, and again, mint and a bit of seasoning.

• 27:38Speaker 02

  It's vegan, so what, yogurt?

• 27:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, vegan coconut yogurt, yeah.

• 27:41Speaker 02

  Coconut yogurt, yeah.

• 27:42Speaker 03

  Perfect, now you've got it all.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  Okay, so there's a wine pairing as well. The pairing that we've got is a Gruner Weltnerne, uh which is an Austrian wine, dry and crisp, will be great with something spicy and rich, like a curry. If you want to get this wine, or this recipe, or all the ingredients, waitrose.com forward slash dish recipes.

• 28:04Speaker 03

  Would you like some more rummish?

• 28:05Speaker 04

  Of this?

• 28:06Speaker 03

  Curry.

• 28:06Speaker 04

  Yes, please, I would love some. I didn't know, is that allowed?

• 28:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course it's allowed, isn't it?

• 28:12Speaker 02

  Now, this is for our Valentine's Day special.

• 28:15Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:15Speaker 02

  We were talking before you came on that we don't really celebrate in our respective homes. Do you? Do you guys do anything on Valentine's Day?

• 28:24Speaker 04

  Hmm, not really. I mean, I've, uh, I think, I think when, in the early days, when you weren't sure if the other one was as...

• 28:33Speaker 02

  Cynical.

• 28:34Speaker 04

  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then you go, I should really do something. But then, then eventually, I think, once we had, we had a conversation going, should we not?

• 28:42Speaker 05

  And save the money.

• 28:43Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:44Speaker 02

  Not do it.

• 28:45Speaker 04

  Yeah, but I remember that, I used to, when I was a teenager.

• 28:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:48Speaker 04

  I took a girl to Pizza Hut on Valentine's Day and it felt, it felt incredible.

• 28:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:53Speaker 04

  But like to do that now.

• 28:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:55Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 28:56Speaker 04

  I mean, I guess now it would be Pizza Express, but.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:58Speaker 05

  Now you're going up in the world.

• 29:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's made a bit of money.

• 29:02Speaker 05

  Crispy pizza.

• 29:03Speaker 02

  Listen, not, not, not no. It's a Saturday night in Pizza Express, listen.

• 29:08Speaker 05

  No salad bar.

• 29:09Speaker 02

  Not no. Not no.

• 29:11Speaker 04

  Oh, do you remember the Pizza Hut, the Pizza Hut salad bar?

• 29:13Speaker 05

  Salad bar.

• 29:14Speaker 04

  Oh my god. When I first discovered the concept of a salad bar, not I didn't discover it, you know, for myself. Yeah. I couldn't believe it. Yeah, like, wow. And then you finish and they go, you can go up again if you want. What?

• 29:27Speaker 05

  It's true.

• 29:29Speaker 02

  I remember it opening, a Pizza Hut opening in Rochdale, you know, where I lived, and I was like, wow, America.

• 29:34Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 29:35Speaker 02

  Felt so modern.

• 29:36Speaker 04

  Because the pizzas were like, before that, you'd have those little like...

• 29:39Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 29:39Speaker 04

  I will never forget, honesty, man, it's like a core memory, the cheese pull when they, on the first Pizza Hut. It's like, there's strings of cheese.

• 29:49Speaker 05

  America.

• 29:50Speaker 04

  Yeah, you're allowed. Oh my god, wow.

• 29:53Speaker 05

  Bring that back on a date night there.

• 29:54Speaker 02

  What a time.

• 29:55Speaker 04

  It's glue, it turns out, can you hear it?

• 29:59Speaker 04

  And they stapled the pizza down.

• 30:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. Well, we're gonna do something now because we wanna share some love with you.

• 30:07Speaker 04

  Share some love. Oh, thanks, man.

• 30:09Speaker 02

  Not the normal type of love you may have with someone on Valentine's Day.

• 30:12Speaker 04

  No.

• 30:13Speaker 02

  But we did our Ramesh research and we found out you're quite hard on yourself.

• 30:17Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:17Speaker 02

  You know, you were asked by The Guardian to describe yourself and the words that you used were lazy, disorganised and lucky.

• 30:23Speaker 04

  I do still, I still stand by that.

• 30:25Speaker 02

  Quite hard. We felt quite hard on Ramesh. So what we thought we'd do is we'd put some of your big achievements.

• 30:31Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:31Speaker 02

  Into some oven gloves.

• 30:32Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:33Speaker 02

  As is tradition. So you know the game and we could just dip in and take a pick. So this is our way of instilling some self-love into you. So these are your great achievements.

• 30:45Speaker 04

  These are some of my achievements.

• 30:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:47Speaker 04

  You are acting in the West End with Sheridan Smith.

• 30:50Speaker 02

  Look, yeah.

• 30:51Speaker 04

  There you go. Thanks, man.

• 30:52Speaker 02

  Yeah. I don't know if it's good, but you're doing it.

• 30:57Speaker 03

  Let's have another one. Go on, we'll read one now then.

• 30:59Speaker 04

  No, yeah, this is good.

• 31:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, we'll read into you. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, okay. You've hosted the BAFTAs.

• 31:05Speaker 04

  And you've won BAFTAs. Yeah, yeah.

• 31:07Speaker 03

  Come on.

• 31:08Speaker 04

  Thanks, guys.

• 31:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, there we go.

• 31:11Speaker 03

  You have rapped at the Scala in London and have your own rap name.

• 31:15Speaker 04

  You're a rapper.

• 31:16Speaker 03

  Come on.

• 31:16Speaker 04

  Hold on a sec. I just wanna pull you up on that.

• 31:19Speaker 03

  All right. I'm just reading this.

• 31:21Speaker 04

  No, well, can I tell you about that? I'll tell you the story about the Scala.

• 31:25Speaker 03

  You're putting yourself down again. Come on.

• 31:26Speaker 04

  Well, no, I'm just, listen, it was a great, it was a great night. Yeah. I was in a battle, a rap battle at the Scala. Mm-hmm. I got to the final. It was me against this guy that was actually really good at it. Mm-hmm. And I said, my rap name, Ranga. I said, this is gonna offend you, I think. Okay. Because of the lack of culinary knowledge. Mm-hmm. And I said, this is Ranga. I'm here rocking the Scala. You can't handle the heat of my chicken tikka masala. Right? Now, that, that got me knocked out of the competition. Now, obviously, chicken tikka masala.

• 32:01Speaker 02

  Not that hard.

• 32:02Speaker 04

  Nobody's going, oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a bit punchy, that tikka masala.

• 32:06Speaker 02

  No.

• 32:08Speaker 04

  Right? So I, I got humiliated so badly in that competition, genuinely, my friends asked to leave separately.

• 32:16Speaker 04

  All right. Scrub that one.

• 32:18Speaker 05

  All right.

• 32:18Speaker 04

  But thank you. But scrub that one.

• 32:20Speaker 05

  Scrub that one.

• 32:20Speaker 04

  No, but I did it, I did it. But you did it. I did it, I did it. Yeah, I did it. Guys, you've got a shift. I mean, you've got a whole, you've got a whole crowd here. When you're pulling this out, they're staying silent. They're like, they weren't bothered about the BAFTAs.

• 32:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, they didn't care about that.

• 32:34Speaker 04

  They were like, no, sorry, you're not good enough. Um, you've won, not won, well, let's just say it. You've won the London Marathon.

• 32:44Speaker 04

  You've won it.

• 32:45Speaker 05

  Twice, honey, twice. There you go.

• 32:47Speaker 04

  Won it twice, yeah. You've ruined it twice. Are you gonna do it this year? No. No.

• 32:51Speaker 05

  Done.

• 32:51Speaker 04

  By the way, this sounds like I'm taking all of your compliments and trashing them. No. But I'm just gonna tell, I'm just, I'm just gonna tell you something that happened. This is a genuinely true story. So you know, they've got this, at the beginning of the London Marathon, they've got like a, a profile competitor's tent, right? You know? And one of the guys that organizes the London Marathon came up to me on the second one and he said, "Ramesh, I just want to say thank you for doing the London Marathon last year. You really helped spread the message of how accessible it is."

• 33:22Speaker 05

  He did, no.

• 33:23Speaker 04

  He did. I promise you. And I was like, he's like, you're really like, you know, it's not just for elite. I was like, yeah, cool. I'm just about to start, by the way.

• 33:35Speaker 04

  Thanks for the pep talk, wanker.

• 33:41Speaker 04

  But it was fun, it was a cool thing to do. It was, it was a fun thing to do.

• 33:44Speaker 05

  One more? One more.

• 33:45Speaker 04

  One more! One more, one more. What are we going for, Em? Yeah, there's so many achievements.

• 33:49Speaker 03

  There's so many. So you taught maths and learnt stand-up at the same time.

• 33:52Speaker 04

  At the same time. Yes, I did, yeah. Thank you, yeah. I like this one, wait. You've put Crawley on the map.

• 33:58Speaker 05

  There you go. There you go!

• 34:02Speaker 04

  Never heard of it.

• 34:03Speaker 05

  Crawley on the map.

• 34:04Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. There you go. But I mean, you know, Gareth Southgate's from Crawley, so not even the most famous guy from there. And, and you've got Chico. Oh, Chico! Chico's from Crawley. He was famous. Mate, proper. I didn't realise that Chico Thomas was the number one, wasn't it? Wow.

• 34:19Speaker 05

  Was he?

• 34:20Speaker 04

  Chico Thomas, number one. Yeah, big song. Massive. Yeah, massive. Um, well, there we go. That's our love gift for you this Valentine's Day. Genuinely, that was actually very sweet. Yeah, good, yeah, yeah.

• 34:31Speaker 02

  Ramesh, you're up on tour. Romesh Ranganathan will change your life with the name of this tour.

• 34:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  It's not this year.

• 34:37Speaker 04

  Next year.

• 34:37Speaker 02

  It's next year.

• 34:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 34:39Speaker 02

  2027. How do you feel this far ahead, knowing that something is next year? It's gonna be full on, it's a lot of dates, a lot of travel.

• 34:47Speaker 04

  I love going on tour, so it's not so bad. I don't find it that bad. Obviously, you get a bit nervous about when you start the tour. But I love going on tour. So the reason I started doing TV is to go on tour. Because I wanted people to come and see me. And I think after, you know, after all the TV goes away and whatever, stand-up will be the last thing I'll continue to do. Do you know what I mean? I think I'll always do that.

• 35:10Speaker 03

  But you said it earlier, that's the thing.

• 35:11Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 35:12Speaker 03

  That's the thing, that's what you want to be known as.

• 35:13Speaker 04

  Yeah, that's what I...

• 35:14Speaker 03

  Above everything.

• 35:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, that's what I love. But the one thing that I do think is weird about, because it's so far in advance.

• 35:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:22Speaker 04

  This is the first show where I've really had, not a concept, but I know what I'm trying to do with this show.

• 35:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:28Speaker 04

  But I haven't written any, even a minute of it. You know, I know the concepts and the, you know, what I'm sort of gonna try and, what I'm aiming for. But then when you haven't written something and it's on sale, you feel like a bit of a con...

• 35:39Speaker 03

  It's risky.

• 35:40Speaker 04

  Well, you feel like a con artist, really. You know, and then they'll go to me, "Oh, it's sold out, we're putting on another date." And I go, "What?"

• 35:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:46Speaker 04

  What sold out? It doesn't exist. Do you know what I mean?

• 35:49Speaker 03

  Are you gonna be, like, there's some comedians will go and do a really small theatre to try it out, like do three or four nights and sort of try out the material. Will you do that or you'll just hit it hard?

• 35:59Speaker 04

  No, how I tend to do it is you start with like a 10-minute routine.

• 36:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:04Speaker 04

  And then I'll phone a mate who, you know, a friend of mine that runs, I often go to Brighton because I live near there.

• 36:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:09Speaker 04

  So I go, "I've got 10 minutes of new stuff, can I just come and try it tonight?" And then you unannounce.

• 36:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:15Speaker 04

  And then he'll go, "We've got a special guest who's trying out some stuff." And then I'll go on with a notebook and just go, "Look, I've got some ideas, can I talk it through with you?" And then maybe like sometimes all of it works, sometimes a minute of it works. And then you start to like, you keep that stuff and refine it and then gradually it gets bigger and bigger. And then you've got more stuff. And then you start to go, "Okay, I think I've got a show now." That's when you start going, "Okay, I'm doing a work in progress." And then people come and come watch you. There's a theatre right down the road from my house, which I do do new material there. The only problem is, is like...

• 36:49Speaker 04

  I would, I remember once I did like a new material hour where it's just like me and a notebook. It's like Ramesh, try some shit out is what we called it, right? And I just, I walked in, well, that didn't go very well, but who care? Not who cares, you know, I'll be back to the drawing board.

• 37:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:01Speaker 04

  And then I was at the shops and then somebody comes up to me and goes, do you know what would make that superhero bit work? And I thought, oh god. I don't want, I don't want to get people giving me feedback on this when I'm out and about living my life. Do you know what I mean? Going to school run. And somebody goes, I found a punchline. So I started moving them a bit further. Gotta move out of your county to do the comedy. Yeah, too much, too much, yeah.

• 37:27Speaker 03

  And that was his mum, she was there telling him.

• 37:29Speaker 04

  Change that bit.

• 37:30Speaker 03

  Well, I always like it when I see live comedians and they, I mean, a lot of the time it's in London. But if you watch it on TV, you see if they're in Glasgow or they've gone somewhere, they'll refer to where they are. Because everyone does have different humors as well. And the audience you must react to in different areas of the country, I imagine.

• 37:45Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, I mean, the worst one was like, I went to, um, I went to America to do some shows over there. They're just offended by different things. And also they don't, they don't have as many like brown people, right?

• 37:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:58Speaker 04

  In public, kind of, so they don't sort of, they can't, can't process your background. So anyway, on one of my tours, I had a bit that the gist of it was I would join ISIS if they had good wifi. That, that, that is, that is the, that is the, like, that is the premise of the bit, right? So, so when, when, when, when I was doing it, when I was doing it, when you do it in the UK. People just go, he's obviously joking, you know, like, they get it, it's a joke. I was doing Hollywood improv and like, I was doing a set and it was going really, really well. And then I started doing this bit and honestly, the arse dropped out of the room immediately. Like, I think they thought I was like announcing, like my, yeah. You could just feel them go, oh my god, oh my god.

• 38:41Speaker 04

  He's one of them, he's one of them, shit. It was horrible. So like, you know, like you kind of, um, you kind of get a sensibility for, for, for different places. But I do, I do, I tend to think like, I mean, up north is like wicked to do stand up. I think, I feel like Glasgow audiences, for example, when they like you. Yeah. They love you. Like it's insane, like the energy is insane. So you just, you just, you do feel differences, regional differences and stuff like that.

• 39:11Speaker 03

  That is true about the Scots. I did a dinner up in Aberdeen and I went around to talk to all the tables and I've nev-, they literally kept standing up and hugging me to the point they were like too much. And I was like, right, this is now weird.

• 39:22Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 39:23Speaker 03

  You just, and I called my husband who's Scottish. I said, what is wrong with you lot? Why do you all, what's the matter?

• 39:27Speaker 04

  That was nice.

• 39:28Speaker 03

  I said, everyone has hugged me. It's just mad.

• 39:30Speaker 04

  What's going on?

• 39:31Speaker 03

  And I said, and they won't let go. And then they talk at you, you know, but it's really like enthusiasm. They love it.

• 39:37Speaker 02

  We should go, Ange. Have a date night. Go see Ramesh.

• 39:40Speaker 04

  I'd love you to come.

• 39:41Speaker 02

  I'd love to come. If you want to go to Ramesh's tour, you can get tickets now. I imagine it will sell out soon, even though it's not until a year away.

• 39:48Speaker 04

  Once this goes out, I mean, this is.

• 39:49Speaker 02

  Once this goes out.

• 39:50Speaker 04

  They said, do dish. It's the final push.

• 39:53Speaker 02

  Whole tour sold out.

• 39:54Speaker 04

  And then you can relax.

• 39:54Speaker 02

  Worldwide. This is it. One cauliflower curry.

• 39:58Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  Arena's sold.

• 40:02Speaker 02

  Ramesh, it is time for your fast food quiz.

• 40:04Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, great.

• 40:04Speaker 02

  What is your favourite sandwich filling?

• 40:07Speaker 04

  Peanut butter and banana.

• 40:08Speaker 03

  Oh, nice. What's your favourite doughnut filling?

• 40:11Speaker 04

  Oh, well, there's a yum yum named after me, Ranga Yum Yum.

• 40:14Speaker 02

  Ranga Yum Yum.

• 40:15Speaker 04

  It's got chocolate and Biscoff.

• 40:16Speaker 03

  Oh, nice.

• 40:17Speaker 02

  And what's your favourite form of potato?

• 40:19Speaker 04

  I like mash.

• 40:21Speaker 02

  Why did you say it like that?

• 40:21Speaker 03

  What are you saying? Yeah. Don't be embarrassed. I like mash. I like mash.

• 40:27Speaker 02

  That's okay.

• 40:27Speaker 04

  I said it like I like S and M, didn't I?

• 40:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 40:31Speaker 02

  You're like, okay, I'll say I like it.

• 40:34Speaker 04

  Because people are quite passionate about potato.

• 40:35Speaker 03

  Well, everyone at school goes roast. So it's good you've done mash. It's good it's something different. What about your favourite herb?

• 40:40Speaker 04

  Oh, rosemary?

• 40:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, lovely.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  Favourite crisp?

• 40:43Speaker 04

  Torres, black truffle.

• 40:45Speaker 03

  Dish you miss the most when you're away from home?

• 40:48Speaker 04

  Uh, dish I miss the most is probably my mum's aubergine curry.

• 40:52Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 40:53Speaker 02

  Um, Ramesh.

• 40:54Speaker 04

  Sorry, Lisa.

• 40:54Speaker 02

  Sorry, Lisa.

• 40:56Speaker 04

  Happy Valentine's Day.

• 40:59Speaker 04

  Step your f***ing game up.

• 41:10Speaker 02

  What's your favourite kitchen utensil?

• 41:13Speaker 04

  I'm a big fan of a spatula.

• 41:14Speaker 02

  He is.

• 41:15Speaker 04

  I really like it. I just think it's versatile and it's handy.

• 41:18Speaker 02

  Like a bendy, like a silicon.

• 41:20Speaker 04

  I like the, yeah, bendy, bendy.

• 41:22Speaker 03

  Is that like you're in T each, like slapping the room or sort of thing?

• 41:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, I just like it and I like, sometimes I'll just walk around with it when I don't, it's not really used.

• 41:28Speaker 02

  Great word as well.

• 41:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's also great for scraping like really dried chili oil off a kitchen cupboard.

• 41:34Speaker 03

  Yeah, I bet, yeah. It's stuck there for 24 hours. What's your favourite chocolate bar?

• 41:39Speaker 04

  Um, there's a, there's like a, uh, green and black's like dark one with like little bits of orange in it.

• 41:46Speaker 03

  Oh, right.

• 41:47Speaker 02

  What's your favourite nut?

• 41:49Speaker 04

  Um, I'd probably go pistachio.

• 41:52Speaker 02

  Hmm, I think that's correct.

• 41:55Speaker 03

  We like a pistachio.

• 41:55Speaker 02

  I think it is, isn't it?

• 41:56Speaker 03

  Favourite topping on toast?

• 41:58Speaker 04

  Uh, favourite, I mean, I'm a Marmite guy. I'm a big Marmite guy. Marmite and peanut butter's good.

• 42:06Speaker 03

  Oh, I've never tried that.

• 42:07Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:07Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, good.

• 42:08Speaker 03

  Oh, I like the peanut. I've tried that one. I like that one. Yeah, I like that. I've never had that one. I like Bob Royce's.

• 42:13Speaker 04

  It's peanut butter and Marmite and you just blend.

• 42:16Speaker 03

  You blend, yeah. On the toast or separate?

• 42:19Speaker 04

  I, I do a little separate.

• 42:20Speaker 03

  You do a little bowl?

• 42:21Speaker 04

  I get a little ramekin.

• 42:22Speaker 03

  Oh, right, okay. And peanut butter in first or the Marmite?

• 42:26Speaker 04

  Um, what I like to do is

• 42:30Speaker 04

  is I, I get the peanut butter and then I'll put a little well in the centre.

• 42:33Speaker 03

  Oh, then add the Marmite, yeah. I can see how that works with a spatula, no doubt, yeah.

• 42:40Speaker 04

  You have to have a massive ramekin.

• 42:44Speaker 02

  Okay, Ramesh, we come to the end of the show.

• 42:46Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:46Speaker 02

  Uh, this is your end of the show question to win the Waitrose goodie bag. Usually Angela Hartnett will wheel it in on that trolley. As you can see, there's no bag there. Uh, as a special guest to bring in the Waitrose goodie bag, please welcome the one, the only, Mr Tom Davis is here.

• 43:03Speaker 04

  Yes, welcome.

• 43:05Speaker 03

  Hey.

• 43:07Speaker 04

  Hi Tom.

• 43:08Speaker 05

  How are you?

• 43:09Speaker 06

  You well? Nice to see you.

• 43:10Speaker 05

  How are you?

• 43:10Speaker 04

  I'm good, how are you?

• 43:11Speaker 03

  How are you? Thank you for bringing that up.

• 43:14Speaker 04

  So, you can't even get a spot as a proper guest, are you?

• 43:17Speaker 06

  No, no, no, I haven't got, I'm literally having to come in, I'm doing the bags now.

• 43:20Speaker 04

  He's just doing the bags, he's doing the bags, yeah. So good to see you.

• 43:24Speaker 06

  He's so good, in this scenario, we keep saying we'll have to go for food.

• 43:27Speaker 03

  And now look.

• 43:28Speaker 06

  We'll have to go for someone else's.

• 43:29Speaker 03

  Now he's still there, he's done for you.

• 43:31Speaker 04

  He's going out of his house, yeah.

• 43:32Speaker 03

  Well, thanks for bringing that in, Tom.

• 43:33Speaker 04

  Ramesh, here is your end of show question, to win that goodie bag, if you don't answer, Tom gets it.

• 43:39Speaker 06

  Oh wow, what, the bag?

• 43:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:41Speaker 06

  It's got full of vegan stuff, is it?

• 43:45Speaker 04

  Throw a lamb chop in it.

• 43:46Speaker 03

  Maybe the odd thing, yeah.

• 43:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, stick something in there. Hi Ramesh, thanks for coming on Dish, you made it look effortless. You did. To win the Waitrose goodie bag, just answer the following question. Of all the celebrity weakest links you've had the chance to meet, whose performance stands out? Who is the weakest link of the weakest links? Thanks, team Dish.

• 44:07Speaker 03

  Thank you so much.

• 44:09Speaker 04

  So what they're saying is slag someone off.

• 44:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:12Speaker 04

  To win some shopping.

• 44:15Speaker 06

  Just quietly, weirdly, you've never been asked to do that show, even though I'm one of your best friends.

• 44:19Speaker 04

  Unbelievable. Reid, have you never been asked?

• 44:23Speaker 06

  No, no, no, no.

• 44:23Speaker 04

  Can I tell you something? I would, I said to me, I think I said you'd never come up to do it, it's in class, guys.

• 44:28Speaker 06

  Yeah, but by the way, there'd be an easy answer right now, because I'm awful at that sort of general knowledge.

• 44:32Speaker 04

  Yeah, but this is like, I don't, just, you know.

• 44:35Speaker 03

  It's about Ramesh.

• 44:36Speaker 04

  I love a quiz. I love quizzes.

• 44:39Speaker 03

  Have you been on?

• 44:40Speaker 04

  I've not been on.

• 44:41Speaker 03

  Do you want to go?

• 44:41Speaker 04

  You wouldn't do it, would you? Just be honest. Just be honest with me now, would you do weakest link? A bit far, isn't it?

• 44:50Speaker 04

  It's a bit far. It's a bit far.

• 44:54Speaker 03

  All that way. No. No, because I like playing quizzes at home and games at home, but under the spotlight like that, I'm free, so I would never be able to do it.

• 45:05Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 45:05Speaker 03

  No, I can barely remember recipes on this half the time, I could never do that.

• 45:11Speaker 04

  I think the worst answer that, well, two people spring to mind. Tony Blackburn was the first person I ever asked a question to on Wiz's thing. And the question was, to Tony Blackburn, what does the B in R and B stand for? And he said, soul.

• 45:36Speaker 04

  Tony. I think the one that was the most familiar. Yeah, this was more, because I think it was just so, it was so bad that I think it was the, like, you know, you're talking about the nerves.

• 45:49Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 45:50Speaker 04

  It's got to be, it's Helen Flanagan.

• 45:52Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 45:52Speaker 04

  And the question was, are the White Cliffs of Dover made of chalk or cheese?

• 46:06Speaker 04

  I'm going to go watch that. Oh, wow. How's that not become a more, let's tell them.

• 46:13Speaker 04

  It was like, she, because we did. That is awful. She's been back on again since, because we did. Oh, I'd have her back on every week.

• 46:22Speaker 04

  We did a redemption special where like, everybody that did ask for that came back on. But she did alright. She did alright. There's a lot of reading, that's the night show. Round of applause, Ramesh, everybody. Give him that applause.

• 46:46Speaker 04

  If that episode has left you wanting more, find us on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Just search Dish.

• 46:53Speaker 03

  If you want to make any of the meals I cook on Dish, head to waitrose.com/dishrecipes for all the ingredients and the recipes.

• 47:02Speaker 04

  Email your questions, thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].

• 47:08Speaker 03

  Dish from Waitrose is a cold glass production.

• 47:12Speaker 04

  Waitrose, the home of food lovers.