24 | BIGISSUE.COM 30 APRIL-06 MAY 2020
comedy double act.
Rob Beckett: Speaking personally, I think it was nice to
have a little break because our schedules are insane. But
after about two weeks of sitting down and having that
break, I'm gagging to get out and work again. I love gigging
and I miss it. Don’t know about you Rom?
Romesh Ranganathan: Initially it was a great but it turns
out my wife doesn't like me as much as I thought she did.
Rob: And you never thought she liked you much anyway.
Rom: Yeah, the gloss has very much come off
this relationship.
Rob: My wife did something that was quite dark. She was
watching my Instagram videos and I said, ‘Why are you
watching that when the real deal’s right here?!’ And she
said, ‘Because I can turn this one off.’
Rom: The novelty of being at home’s gone and we’re just
trying to slow the descent into madness. We check in with
each other quite a lot because every now and again one
of us will post something online that makes the other one
concerned – ‘Just seen you singing with your top off again,
everything alright? Little tip mate, not quite as funny as
you thought it was, actually quite bleak.’
Rob: Why are we such workaholics? Some deep
psychological worry, but that is a bit bleak to put in
print. Our upbringing though, we’ve both got
hardworking families.
Rom: We both come from families that had their struggles.
My parents worked constantly. It was difficult for us
growing up and I think it was the same for Rob. You have it
in you that you want to work hard, but on top of that, you're
trying to work hard in an industry that's difficult to break
into. You start off accepting any gig, wherever it is in the
country to try and get your name out there and get paid
work. And we just haven't lost that attitude, I guess.
Rob: My dad used to drive a lorry for 12 or 14 hours a day.
So how can I not do this?
Rom: We both do a job that we love. I don't ever dread
work. I dread getting up, I dread being away from home,
but I don't ever dread what the actual job is.
Rob: I find it difficult just now because I basically can't
do the thing that I'm good at. I'm rubbish at everything
else. I've tried to clean the windows and I made them
worse. I keep wandering around my house making
everything worse.
Rom: Doing live stand-up is so addictive. I mean, we are
doing stuff online but it's not the same as being in front of
an audience. You riff off them and hone your material, so to
not have that does feel like you're not exercising a muscle.
Comedy is quite a lonely job, going on tour is stressful. So to
have people that you can chat to is important.Comedy dream team Rob Beckett and Romesh
Ranganathan have an onscreen rapport that
is not fake – they really are the best of pals.
They've missed working, and each other,
during lockdown. With their second series
together about to air, we eavesdropped on
the pair getting their frustrations out