Judi Love On Self-Care, Posh Gyms & Comedy Acting

19:04I'm not advising anybody to do this. Get on the stage and kind of have like a little bit of like a blueprint of where I'm going and just kind of free throw in a moment. And then maybe after something, oh, that worked, that worked. And then I'd write it up. And as time has gone on now, I write specifically. This is what I'm writing about. But I always kind of practice the material and see where it goes.

19:25Romesh Ranganathan:But that's exactly how I write. Oh, thank God. No, what I mean is, I can't think of the last time I wrote a joke, and a lot of people online would say, no surprise. But what I mean is, like, say for example, I'm writing a tour at the moment. The tour that's out? Huh? The tour that's advertised? Yeah. Huh? Okay. The tour that's starting later on this year doesn't exist yet. Right, okay. It does exist in part, but if people say to me, will it be a good time? Currently, that's up in the air. It will. It will be. But, for example, I'm gigging tonight. I've not written any jokes. I've just written the topics I'm going to talk about.

20:06Romesh Ranganathan:I've got sort of a rough map of what I'm going to say. And then you try and find it on stage. And that is really exciting when it goes well. When it doesn't go well, it's about, I don't know how many people will be there tonight, 150 people that will walk out going, never seeing Ramesh again. It's the stare. You know what it is? It's the silence of when you've kind of practiced a bit and it hasn't gone where you wanted it to go. So you can't go to the next little topic and then you're just there on the stage like, yeah, so, yeah, you're from where everyone's from? Yeah. You go back to where everyone's from.

20:41Yeah.

20:41Romesh Ranganathan:Do you know when you see a comedian like struggling and they go, so what else was I going to say? So I got kids. Give me a shout. Have you got kids? Make some noise. You got kids? Yeah, kids, man. Yeah. What the fuck? Yeah. We are literally, we were saying, give us a shout out. Shout out, you wear glasses? Yeah, give us a shout out. Who's into breathing, man? Yeah. Give us a big, yeah. That is where we're going, shit, shit, shit, shit. But it's good to have the high wire act. This is what I think. I think if you've got all of the stuff written down, and some people disagree, we had Ben Elton on here, and he scripts everything to within an inch of his life.

21:17But for me personally, you're kind of trapped within the page. Yes.

21:22Romesh Ranganathan:And then you can't find something that isn't there. and so so what I try and do is like I'm hoping that the adrenaline of of being on stage is going to give me an idea that I would have never come up with if I was just sat at a laptop I think so and then you kind of listen to it but I mean listening back to yourself is it's hard work but that what you're saying about that kind of vibe especially if you don't know how the audience is going to take it you end up having a conversation interaction with an audience member and it just brings up a whole other topic and I think that works well but yeah having that little bit I think we're quite free people where we need to live in the moment and see where it takes us totally yeah and don't get me wrong when we get to the tour we'll be you know we'll have hopefully you know a full hour but there'll still be bits I found I don't know if you find when I'm on tour there's still bits that I add in from the interaction that I've done I sort of think you have to because you get to a point where your tour's locked in you know there's a point where you go okay this is the show right and then you can sort of see into the future because you know i know they're going to laugh here you know you know what the show looks like but then your brain starts to just go i know the show now i feel like you have to throw new bits you have to otherwise you're not really live no you're not you're just kind of robotic in that kind of sense i mean my my show started at 50 59 minutes that's like an hour and 20 yeah but that happens oh good that happens my show always i i can't think of a tour I've done where I haven't added half an hour by the time the show it's insane it feels really good to do that I remember an American, because American comics don't do that long, no they don't and then an American audience member messaged me saying was your show supposed to be a test of endurance?

23:06Wow they are so different over there face it, well because they like

23:11Romesh Ranganathan:American comics go on and do, I don't know what the fuck American comics do, 37 minutes they have four support acts do you know what I mean, lazy Well, I'm not saying that. Look, Judy, let's just say it together. American comedians fucking step it up. You're so lazy. Rommish is saying... By the way, Judy was saying this before. I love American comedians. Judy was saying this before. I've learned when I go to New York and LA. Judy was saying this before. Thank you so much. That's a wrap on this podcast. American comics, do a bit more work, man, because it's lazy. What was it you were saying about Chappelle?

23:45Listen, Dave Chappelle, my friend yeah listen American comics when you go to America you do see a different level like they they're constantly practicing they're constantly it's insane we are a little bit more relaxed we're like yeah we'll do we'll go do a little warm up gig yeah

24:05Romesh Ranganathan:a lot of the time like the tradition of American sign up is they're trying to build they're trying to get like a tight set together by the way I'm slightly simplifying it but like get a tight set together so that if they go on the late show or something like that. They've got a bulletproof set. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And then that used to skyrocket you. It doesn't in the same way now, but it used to skyrocket you into suddenly people, everyone wants to know who you are, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. The audience is different. The American audience is, I mean, what do you think? I find, depending where you go, when I've gone over there, I've gone to certain shows, certain well-known established comedy clubs.

24:39I find the audience is quite mixed and I find the bill is quite mixed as well. All sorts of comedians. But the audience, they want that interactive comedy where it's like you're learning something, it's political, it's diverse, it's relatable. They want a bit of it. You've got to really stimulate their minds. You can't just go up there and be, oh, whatever. You've got to have a little bit more.

25:05Romesh Ranganathan:I sort of think if you're a massive comedy fan, and I know we're getting a bit comedy nerdy now, but if you're a massive comedy fan, you'll have seen simple observations like do you know i mean like you'll have seen that so many times if you've watched a bit of comedy you go what's the deal with like when a kid and by the way i'm somebody's guilty of saying this what's the deal with when your kid says this you feel like just shut the fuck up kid you know all that like loads of comics are doing that right and so then when you watch a lot of stand-up you want you start to want something a bit different it's like you want something that maybe there's a takeaway to it or it makes you think differently about something a bit more and american comics are i almost feel like that i don't know if there's just because there's more of them but but in new york in particular because there's so many more comics and i think new york is the best city in terms of standard of stand-up comedy i don't think there's a city that comes close to new york in my opinion i went to new york and i you know i you know i went there and there was comedy and you could go on and do your little five minutes or whatever and it's not paid it's nothing like that it's just all open and I tell you what I was like oh I would have loved to have gone on and then I saw the comedians that went on and I was like thank you that I did not go on that stage okay thank you that I did not go on that to make a fool out of who my little black British self for five minutes no no the context they brought in five minutes I saw this comedian and he spoke about being in Central Park as a black man and a pigeon.

26:46And let me tell you something, I left there thinking about my life. And I was going up there talking about being a mum from South London. No, no. You're like, oh, do you know what I mean? They sandwich your ass and they bring in a headliner.

27:01Romesh Ranganathan:But then the other thing is like they keep serving food. I mean, one of the things, delivering a punchline as somebody's getting chicken strips. Can we just explain? Good seasoned chicken strips. I mean, that wasn't the point that I was making. That was the point for me. Listen, that was the point for me. That is a whole nother level. And bear and the waiter's good looking. Everybody's, no, no, no. You're going to move, aren't you? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, look, your tour has been extended. you have written your tour show. Yes, I have. All about the love. It was due to end on the 19th of June.

27:38Yeah.

27:38Romesh Ranganathan:Been extended. Apollo, yeah. Canterbury. Yeah. London. Yeah. Dublin. Yeah. Belfast. Yeah. Peterborough. Yeah. Plymouth. You don't know that I'm saying this. Exeter. Yeah. Northampton. Swindon. That's right. Poole. Say it again. Yeovil. What? And a special return to London's Clapham Grand. Yes. Thank you. Never done Clapham Grand, but I'm back there. Yeah. Can I tell you a story about Clapham Grand? Tell me. Do you know what I mean by the no splash, no gash guys? No. Do you know what I'm talking about? The toilet guys. The toilet guys. What about them? So back in the day, when you used to go to the clubs, there'd always be a guy that would go freshen up for the panani.

28:20Romesh Ranganathan:Do you know what I'm talking about? Are they going to be there on my night? They've got rid of them now. But every time you go to the toilets, there'd be a guy, there'd be some chupa chups there'd be what's chupa chups? the lollipops oh chupa chups I call them chupa chups the chupa chups the one with the bubble gum yeah they don't always do they have bubble gum? no they don't always bubble gum chupa chups what do you call it? are they chupa chups? chupa chups? chupa chups chupa chups chupa chups just call it chum chum at this stage what the hell is chupa chups? so they've got a little pum pum on stick and then they have like a range of aftershaves yeah And then they go, freshen up for the panani.

29:02Romesh Ranganathan:No splash, no gash. Yes. No Armani, no panani. They'll say all this. The man in the toilet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was at Clapham Grand. Right. I was the only non-white person in the whole venue, right? I walk in, there's a black guy in the toilets, and he goes, oh my God. He goes, you're the first non-white person I've seen in here. He goes, you can have whatever you want, my brother. What? He goes, take what you want. He goes, you can have as many lollipops as you want. He goes, you want a spray of all the aftershaves? And I was like, okay, cool, I'm all good. And then I left. And then every time I came back, he'd go, oh my God, my brother.

29:38Romesh Ranganathan:What do you want now? Do you want to try a bit of this? Oh, I thought every time you went back, you went, you're the first I've ever seen. Thinking that you were someone else. No, no, no, no. He was just very excited to see a person of colour in there, right? Anyway, I go back in, Judy. Yeah. Late on in the night. Yeah. I'm quite drunk. Yeah. I walk in. Lollipop's there. The Chuppa Chups. are there. Yeah. Aftershaves. No guy. Right? And so I'm just stood there thinking, oh, shit. I hope he's all right. And then I hear, my brother, help yourself to anything you want. I turn around. He's not washing his dick in the sink.

30:10Romesh Ranganathan:He is, in one of the cubicles, taking a shit with the door open.

30:23What flavour of Chuppa Chupp was that?

30:30He was in desperate need of a shit,

30:33Romesh Ranganathan:but you cannot allow those aftershaves to go missing. Babe, listen, let me tell you something. Those guys in the toilets, don't rap with them, you know. I know. So my question to you is, what did you help yourself to, meanwhile this man was openly shitting? I actually declined at that stage because I'm not going to open a lollipop where there's a guy actively having a shit. It's absolutely insane. I don't know about foodstuffs in bathrooms as it is. Do you know what I mean? When somebody, you know, I don't even like taking a drink into the toilet. No, nor do I. We just talk to people who do that.

31:06It's just nasty.

31:07Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, you're fucking animals. It's just nasty. It's disgusting. There's molecules in the air and stuff. And then it just settles on the top of you. Jesus, what are you doing? You're drinking batty juice. You fucking rank animals. Is this going to be edited out? No.

31:25Can I say about my Our Table show, please?

31:28Romesh Ranganathan:Oh, yes, of course. Yeah, please. Judy, I understand you also have a podcast. I do have a podcast. It's a little bit different to this one. It's not like for months. I do it once a year and it's called Our Table. And it's got, you know, it celebrates amazing West Indian fine dining food. And it's a round table with amazing guests. I think I did ask you to be on there. But you was busy. and we've got some amazing guests and it's the second series and yeah, it's all done by myself produced, exact by myself, funded by myself it's all me and it's for the people Okay, well I'd love to do the next one We would love to have you on Yeah, I mean, listen, let's be honest, I'm on a lot as you said at the back of the show Yeah, but this is a completely different platform Okay, completely different platform for me We need those viral videos The viral platform, yeah Yeah, well, no, we need the viral videos.

32:23We need you, aren't we?

32:24Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, yeah, fine. I'll be on. I'm in. I'm in. We've got a question from my mum, Judy. Oh, how is your mum? It's on voice night. She's good. She's very good, actually. She's so sweet. I've actually just asked if she wanted to... Actually, I should talk about this on the mum episode, but I've asked... I've sent her a text today saying, do you want to go on holiday together? That's so lovely. No reply. Okay, let's... Let's... Let's have a listen to mum's question. Hi, Julie. This is Romesh's mum, darling. Julie, love. it's fantastic I heard that this is not your real name, why did you choose it and if you have to choose a stage name for Ramesh what would it be love to know, love your work, be happy enjoy life, God bless love you darling, bye bye I just wish one day she'd take that time with me She does.

33:22You just don't hear it.

33:23Romesh Ranganathan:No, I don't hear it. Okay. I love mummy, but I always tell people Judy Love is my real name.

33:33Romesh Ranganathan:So Judy Love's your real name? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Some people go on the run. Yeah, yeah. Some people go on the run and some people do comedy. Okay, let's... What would I give you as a stage name? Yeah. Or I'd give you something like Sugar Drops. Do you know that, have you ever seen that comedian, I can't remember his name, but is something Cheeseburger something? No. And he'll go like, hey, this is my vague recollection, but he just kept saying Cheeseburger. He would keep saying Cheeseburger, so he'd go, oh, my kids, man, feel like clipping upside the head. Cheeseburger. Like that. He did that the whole time during his act.

34:21Romesh Ranganathan:He just kept saying cheeseburger. Is he still around now? I don't know. I only saw one clip. I think we know.

34:29Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. He's one of those American, you know how you're saying you hate the American acts? He's one of them. Your name is your name. Yeah. And it was given to you for a reason. Yeah. And it just, there's nothing else I could. You do have a look of a Steve. You've got a little look of a Steve. What do you mean by that? I don't know if it's the glasses or what. There's a little Steve in there. Steve? Yeah, I feel like I could have seen you in an office job. Do you know my next-door neighbour on the estate I grew up in, grew up on. Did you grow up on an estate? Yeah, he introduced himself as Steve, Indian guy.

35:03Romesh Ranganathan:Right. And one day I said, what's your real name? You know what his real name was? Garba. Garba. Shorten that to Steve.

35:13When immigration is calling.

35:17Romesh Ranganathan:right let's talk about Rebel Wilson's new film with Sheridan Smith and Jennifer Coolidge and you're in it I am in it baby girl group girl group I was speaking to Rebel the other day actually because she just had a second lovely baby yes Rebel Wilson I was speaking to her one to one speaking to her numbers exchange and stuff so lovely she's so sweet but I was speaking to just in case you didn't hear Rebel Wilson the other day because me and Rebel we chat quite often do you know what I mean phone call and stuff like that do you know what was so funny One time, right, I was in the gym. It's quite a nice gym.

35:49And my door, you know, the lockers, it was slightly open. So the lady was like, and I was like, I'm sorry. So I let it close. And she had a little bit of attitude with me. My phone was there. Why did she have attitude with you? I don't know. Something else I've got to say about these posh gyms. I'll get to that in a minute, right? But the phone was down. She was a bit, so I let her pass. I said, sorry, whatever. And she was a bit. You said sorry? Yeah, I just, it's just automatic. You know, little. and then my phone was there and then the phone rang and it said Rebel Wilson and she saw it and her whole attitude changed and I was like that's right bitch yeah it's Rebel Rebel Wilson that's right yeah tell me about tell me about Malocca now do you know what I mean I was kind of banned

36:32Romesh Ranganathan:but anyway listen so I'm going to change all of my numbers to Idris Elba this is what I'm saying it's so mad how people are so fickle just by her name it's not like me you know what I mean I know it's Rebel Wilson and she's my friend Yeah. So Rebel Wilson, your friend, called you while you were at the gym. Right. You were a posh gym and your friend Rebel Wilson called you. Okay. Did you have to add the posh gym? I mean, that's the takeaway from the story, isn't it? Well, can I say about the posh gyms? You tried to make it relatable. No, it was really posh gym. Can I say it's about the posh gyms?

37:00Yeah. I've been to many gyms.

37:02Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. But you see how more elite the gyms are? What are we talking about? David Lloyd? No. Posher than that? I don't. I don't. I just actually might have been gifted. I don't know oh shit okay so a really posh gym a really posh gym the more elite the gym is the more nasty some of the people are agreed I've got to let me tell you something I don't know if it's the working class in me but generally times I've been like pick up your towel off the floor like flush the toilet yeah why do you feel like the staff is supposed to be here picking up your dirty towel but that's because they're at the posh gym isn't it no it's because they're spalled no that I mean that's partly true as well.

37:43Because when you go to the little local gym, no one's leaving a towel on the floor

37:47Romesh Ranganathan:for the work people to pick up. It really ticks me off. Yeah. But I will be back there. So the movie is, it's about, it's a girl group thing. It's a girl group. And it's got lots of former girl band members in it. Yes. And they have this bid where they, you know, they're worrying about whether they're doing well as a group. And then they bring in this ex kind of star and I don't want to give it away but she does some magic some magic and some things that are not magic okay and how did it come about did you audition for it um or did you bump into rebel at the gym or something no you know it was a discussion that happened you know i met i met rebel and i'm gonna be honest i met rebel and we just kicked it clicked from start and she was she really encouraged me saying i really feel like you could act like do comedy acting and stuff like that and we have a little a chat and then you know it came up that she's got a film and then yeah the this is networking networking yes and the film the shit is a film and um so her people contact my people and this was the position and yeah i went for it and got it i'm very happy so you're a film star now well listen i gotta give a shout out to my rebel wilson yeah um you know for seeing something in me and saying like i feel like you could really do this well.

39:10Romesh Ranganathan:Was it nerve-wracking going on to a film? Babes, hello, it's nerve-wracking going on to a BBC budget, and then you go into a movie, but it was insane. You know, you're seeing all these amazing actors, and it's just like, I was just so nervous of, like, messing up and wasting people's time. Yeah. And then the pressure of working with all these, like, you know, established actors, so many cameras, there's just so much people. I just, it was just insane. And at the same time, you're sitting in it thinking, am I really here? Yeah, yeah. Like, am I really, is this, what the hell has happened here? Am I really here?

39:52And so just, just, yeah, it was, it was an amazing experience. I hope to do a lot more acting. I definitely want to do a lot more acting.

40:00Romesh Ranganathan:Do you want to do acting with stuff that you've written or do you want other people to write it? Do you know what? I've written a sitcom and it's been written over some years when I first got into TV people say sitcoms take ages and I used to think oh they're chatting pup it's insane babe I'm amazed that any sitcoms get made how the hell can it take years it is ridiculous how much rewrites do you want it's unbelievable what you want it authentic and then by the five years they're like who wrote this who wrote this isn't that what I wrote Who the hell is this character you brought in? What is this?

40:43Romesh Ranganathan:I know. Don't get me wrong, I'll still take it. Yeah, obviously you're still going to do it. You're still going to do it. But it's mad, the development, the constant development over it and everything has to be so tight. And so I would definitely love to act in something that I've written myself because I feel like I can depict my life and particular characters that run around in my head. or people that I connect with, or people feel that they connect with, I think I could write them well. But I would also like to push past necessarily that boundary and maybe do something outside of what's in my head.

41:21I suppose in my head, I think of a working class black woman, East London, South London, a single mom, an office working woman, all the things that I've kind of lived.

41:31Romesh Ranganathan:Like write what you know. Write what I know. But I would love to definitely do something that I don't know and see. That would definitely allow me to see how much I can push my acting ability. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But sometimes I feel like, you know, I did when I did, I did a sitcom called Avoidance. Yes, I was going to I was going to mention that. Yeah, the people that were in that, I think that you can learn a certain level of acting. But I think there's a certain certain level of acting ability that is just you've either got it or you haven't. But sometimes I'd be opposite like somebody like Lisa McGurlis or Mandeep Dillon who are both brilliant in it and the director, Ben would say action and something would happen to their face.

42:10Romesh Ranganathan:Like suddenly they'd be the character. Do you know what I mean? But the thing with you, you've got that same face, haven't you? You've got that same expression, happy or sad. How many seasons? Series. Two. Yeah. That feels about right, do you think? Yeah. No, no, no. No, it's just the way you said yeah. No, because I was making it on one. That's what I expected it to be two. I was going to say, when's the next one? I'm just saying that's how it came across. When's the next one? There's no next one. Oh. Can I tell you how it looked? You went, how many seasons? I went two and you went, yep. No. That was yep in yep.

42:42I watched both. Okay, fine, fine. I watched both.

42:44Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, good. Thank you. Can you tell me about Schooled? Schooled? Channel 4 Schooled. Tell me all about this. So this is another exciting project that I was involved in. Really excited. I play a character of a school receptionist. And yeah, I mean, she's a little bit spicy. She's a little bit does what she wants. She knows how to run the front desk of the school, but she's going to run it her way. And I think I looked at the character. You know, sometimes you look at something, you think, why did he pick me? No, I read that character. I was like, okay, I see why you picked me. I see exactly why you picked me.

43:26I'm really excited for that to come out. I think it should come at the end of this year.

43:30Romesh Ranganathan:And did they let you improv and stuff? Yeah, there was little bits of stuff where they would like, I just pushed a bit more or exaggerated a little bit more. But I feel like when you're first going in, you're so nervous. Like I've done the two, last year I did two different roles. You so want to get it right to how they want it. And then once your foot's in a little bit, you're like, oh, let me just add a little extra spice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So now I'm like, listen, the next job I get acting, yeah, I'm going to add, I feel a little bit more confident. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, look, I think you'd be brilliant.

44:04Romesh Ranganathan:I think you'd be brilliant at anything you do. Oh, thanks. I really do. Yes, I went for, I auditioned for a very big show. I didn't get it. I was gutted. Do you want to slag them off now? No, because I want to be in their show and I think I'll be in it at some point. No, but it's good to take shots. No, I don't want to do that. I'm not going to take shots with them. No. How close do you think you came? How close? I mean, the fact that I was asked to audition, for me, that was really, really big. So that just means... And then you fucked it. It's not necessarily that I fucked it. It's just maybe there was someone else that was better.

44:37Sure, sure, sure. And then there'll be another role next time.

44:40Romesh Ranganathan:Sure, which is why you don't want to throw him under the bus now. Never. What I would say, I always say this to people that didn't get, and I'm speaking to somebody that's not got a lot of parts, you know, is that when I've been on the other side of it, because we had to cast for avoidance, we've cast for a couple of other things. Sometimes the performance is amazing. It's just that they've got somebody slightly different, you know, they've got a slightly different energy in mind. So you might be as good as or better even than the person that they've gone for. But it's just so like, and I know actors don't want to hear that because they sort of think, well, I didn't get it.

45:13Romesh Ranganathan:So that means nothing to me. But actually, I think you're right. They might just go, if you give a good audition, even if you don't get it, they'll go, do you know what? let's keep her in mind because and that's what you've got to think take that and that's a lot of people make the mistake of if they're on a big podcast and then the host tries to get them to shit on the production they do it and you that was a that was a test for you and you you dodged it very very well so good luck to you in yeah whatever it was I see you yeah and I hope those fucking mugs that didn't give you the job oh my recognise talent and put you in something else fucking idiots we were talking about it before I remember you saying they're fucking absolute nest of tricks never this guy now Judy is it true you want to do a PhD yeah I do I am going to do a PhD I'm going to do a PhD I haven't got I was talking to a friend of mine in America who is a psychotherapist a trauma psychotherapist actually and was going through names and I haven't got the name yet but I want to do around how the impact of laughter and joy on your mental health.

46:24So I love working in aspects of mental health. But at the same time, I love what I do with regards to laughter. And I feel like if you could bridge between the two, if I could have a study about that and how it actually physically and emotionally affects us, I think that will help me when I write more shows. That will help me if I decide later on in life I just want to be a therapist. I think it will help for myself as well. Because it's not just the laughter, it's the joy. there's so much shit going on in the world that we've so displaced joy like even sometimes when we do feel it we feel guilty to feel it because you're worried that other people's going through stuff or maybe you feel this joy for too long it's going to run out or something bad's going to happen so I really want to combine the two and yeah, get that doctor

47:11Romesh Ranganathan:It's Dr Judy Love I am already Dr Judy Love I got an honorary from the University of East London No, listen, let me tell you something You just turn up there. I worked hard for that. And they get a bit of PR away. They recognised my achievements in entertainment. No, I get it. And I came to their university. You're an honorary one. You don't have to literally have to turn up for the graduation. I'm winding up. I'm happy to go back there and study. I want you to recognise how upsetting what you said at the BAFTAs was.

47:47Rumish, we're still here.

47:48Romesh Ranganathan:No. Are we still here? I'm joking, I'm joking. But I do think, I remember when, because one of the things I felt bad about, not bad, that's an exaggeration, but when I moved into comedy, I thought I've left teaching to do something really trivial, right? It's how I felt. And then when COVID happened, I was doing like, we were doing like, and I know you were as well, we were all doing our online stuff. Great, do you remember that one we did? Yeah. Absolutely crazy. And we're doing all of it. The only one that was watching us was COVID itself. Covid said let me take a break from spreading And let me watch these asses Try to make me laugh through the screen It I was speaking to you I was like I don't know what we can do I was like well I'm just going to act like it's a video I'm just going to act like it's a video Yeah yeah what's up people I don't know who we was talking to And then they're telling us Oh yeah there's 37 people watching From a bed or what Like what is happening here I know I mean, when COVID finished, not that it has finished, but when the lockdown ended or whatever, I did say to Flo, my agent, we need to find a way to absolutely scorched earth everything I've created during this period because I went slightly mad.

49:07Romesh Ranganathan:Judy, I was doing fucking every day. I was logging onto a Facebook Live going, hey guys, another day. not a lot going on please do any questions you've got questions about what we're all at home motherfucker have you got any masks you can send to me and I go Lisa's with me is that what you was doing oh mate it was crazy never tell you something I started a dating show yes in lockdown yeah I can't remember what the hell what was it called quarantine date night that's what it was called what the hell we even I had to cheat Do you know, I've had two marriages and a baby from that. And there's another engagement.

49:49Romesh Ranganathan:Oh, congrats, man. Yeah. Really good. That's really sweet. Yeah. But anyway, that does lead me on to the point that after, during COVID, a lot of people get in touch with me and say, you laughing about it actually helped keep me going. You know, it was actually a real great coping mechanism to see somebody that's going for exactly the same thing as me and making light of it. Not in an undermining way, but like, and then you realize actually a lot of people of people get a lot from comedy and laughter. I mean, what you're saying is right. It's true. In those moments, that's what I'm saying. In those moments, those hard moments, no matter what your background, your age, you know, your culture, you kind of can come together and unite through this one thing of laughter because our lives kind of like, you know, they can overlap each other.

50:33You might be for your background, I'm for mine, but we've had children. We know what love feels like. We know what loss feels like. Do you know what I mean? These basic things we all know, no matter what society tries support around us to separate us these basic emotions we have sometime in some stage in our life have felt it and that's how we connect so I can say something that you might relate to and then it brings a laughter and it brings a joy for that moment for me one of my nicest thing is if someone comes to my comedy show and they've left and said you know I had a really hard week or they're dealing with an illness or they not that they lost someone that's very heartbreaking because that's sad to me, but the fact that they can leave and say, for that hour and a half, I felt joy.

51:14That, to me, is why I do this more than anything.

51:18Romesh Ranganathan:Do you do self-care? I know that you're, I mean, there's a lot of self-care, and I know you're good at pep talks online and stuff like that. Yeah. Do you do a lot of self-care yourself? I do now. I never used to, but I still struggle with it in a strange way. Like I have grown around very strong black women and, you know, to the detriment of their health. So for me, it is entrenched in me to ignore my body sometime and ignore my mind and ignore my emotions to keep going. So if that's taken me, if I've been like that for, say, 35 years and now I'm 45, it's unlearning. I've got to unlearn 25, 20 years of all I've known to now move it into this new era of my life.

52:11And then I'm living completely different than I've ever lived in my life. So I do things like I definitely will be like, hi, guys, team, I'm off for the week. no emails I'm not on socials this is what I'm doing and I let my followers well know that oh I'm going to have let's have a down time off socials or I will say to my kids yeah mummy's going spa I'm going spa or I'm going gym in the two hours in gym you know unless there's an emergency this is my time so I do put those things in places but what I have done is learnt myself my mind mentally a lot more know that that I know my body can tell me when something's not right not necessarily physically but emotionally i mean i get that i think it's like being across how you're feeling is a skill it's a skill yeah and then

53:03Romesh Ranganathan:recognizing that and doing something about it yeah but i think people don't realize you have to unlearn it that's why so much people fell in self-care yeah i'll just do this i'll do a holiday but they haven't unlearned all this stuff they've had and like my mom she's amazing mom but she's like if you're busy that's good right you know working hard is good yeah and you know that's your upbringing is like work as hard as you possibly can and these opportunities are amazing but then what happens is you have that so drilled into your system that when you're like i'm knackered you go well i can't be knackered i can't be i can't feel down about this because what am i going to do start turning this you know yeah i'm going to take a break i'm on great you know i'm getting all these things that you know it's been amazing that i'm getting off of this i can't yeah that louis vuitton bag yeah what am i gonna do take a month off the louis vuitton yeah i mean yeah but it's true that guilt that guilt of um and and also remembering of where you've come from in that sense of like you've had those really hard times yeah um and to honor the struggle that you've been through you have to keep yeah hammering it keep hammering it you know i mean ignore yourself yeah your last words yeah but no i definitely now try to have a lot more that's why I'm going to the gym and trying to take care of my body, take care of my mind.

54:20My kids are at a nice age. They're coming up to 21 and my son's 16. So I'm like, oh, I'm getting a bit of time back now. I've been a single parent for most of their lives. So I used to feel parent guilt. You know, like, oh, I'm going to go out. I'm a bit tired. Now I'm like, mum's tired.

54:36Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, and they respect that. They have to.

54:42Romesh Ranganathan:No, fair enough. Yeah. Right, we're going to play a little game with you, Judy. I hope you're going to enjoy this. Okay. It's called Misquoted.

54:55Romesh Ranganathan:It's misquoted. Misquoted. Okay. Five quotes. Some of them you said, some of them you didn't. Oh, that I've said? Yeah. Oh, my. And then... I need more than water. What's going on? Hold on. Here's your first quote. You just have to tell me if this is true or false, and then it will lead to some light chat, and then hopefully something we can clip up and stick on the socials to give this a bit of a spike. Okay, so here's your first one. He knocked us out bit by bit, a comedy assassin. Did you or did you not say? He knocked us out bit by bit. He knocked us out bit by bit, a comedy assassin. I don't feel like I said that.

55:37Romesh Ranganathan:You don't think you said that? Comedy assassin. I get tongue-tied. I wouldn't have said the word assassin. So you think that's false? I think that's false. I could tell you it was true. Oh. You said it's the Daily Mirror this year. About who? About what? Bob Mortimer. Oh, Assassin. I don't know. Oh, maybe I did. Yeah. You said, it really made me appreciate laughter and joy. Bob was the most dangerous. He was gentle with it. You didn't ever see it coming. Was he the most difficult guy to deal with? He was the one's name I could remember. I'm going to keep it real. how did you find last one laughing it was wicked it was such a good when you started laughing babe the bit after when Bob the chair yeah it looked so innocuous everyone it was so funny that spread it was so funny did you see how many shades of red Rob went huh it was so good it was and then you just like once you realise okay I'm laughing now you just went for it gone did you enjoy are you allowed to say it they all know you what?

56:43have you done it? what you? huh? no you haven't done it have you?

56:47Romesh Ranganathan:I have done it as you know Judy oh yes you have yeah it's Romesh again and again and again so yes I did do Last One Laughing did you enjoy it? I did enjoy it yeah I mean it's I did enjoy it it's a horrible experience trying to make people laugh and them not laughing yeah it's not good for your self esteem no especially as a comedian it reminds you of when you first used to do comedy isn't it? yeah yeah It reminds me of my first probably four years of gigs. Here's your next quote. Right. So you're 0 for 1 at the moment. Did you or did you not say this? If you want to feel zen, take a trip to good old Elephant and Castle.

57:24Never. Never. Never.

57:29Romesh Ranganathan:Why do you think? To drive by Crackheads? Never. Sorry, Elephant and Castle. Do you know why? Not even that. Do you know why? I know I didn't go around that. No. Do you know why I know I never said that quote? Have you been around that roundabout? I did a whole video about that about nine years ago. Absolutely insane. That's no Zen. That's no Zen. You'd have to smoke a split first before you go around it. Here's the actual quote. You're right, by the way. Who the hell, this is you, you say this. Who the hell invented and designed Elephant and Castle's roundabout? It's the kind of roundabout you bring your Bible with you, your Koran, because you just want to get to the other side safe.

58:09Do you know what's terrible about that? Yeah. I did a whole video cussing at the people and the borough. And then I went to this event and this man came up to me. I bust joke about it. And he went, hi, I'm the gentleman that designed the rock. I said, wow, what happened to you? I had to be in the moment. I said, what happened to you, Bridget? Why did you do that? It was fine the way it is. I had to, I had to like, you know, you had to carry on. I couldn't back down. I was like, I felt so bad. I was like, Jews, now you know when you do a video, anybody. Yeah, everybody. But you have to double down on those moments, right?

58:44It has to double down. Because people want to catch you out and they want you to go, oh, I'm sorry for offending you. No, I was like, yeah, it is what it is. And I hugged him afterwards and just was like.

58:52Romesh Ranganathan:I don't know why you hugged him. Yeah, I did hug him. You invented your least favourite roundabout. Yeah, I know. But I mean, if he's a man who is designing roundabouts, he's quite established. Yeah, imagine. You don't know where that hug could have led to. Do you know what I mean? Oh my God, your roundabout was terrible. You're head on heads. Are you single? What are you saying? I got a roundabout. I needed to design. Imagine him going, I mean, I'll design the roundabout. What's the worst going to happen? I want to check out what my favourite comedian Judy Love's saying today. It was so bad. So bad.

59:25Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, so you've got one correct so far. Here's your next one. Did you, Judy Love, or not, say this? I was a total bookworm as a kid. You're taking the piss, right? Did you or did you not say that? No. I'm a bookworm now, but not then. Okay. The real quote is, my favourite book was The Worm Book. What age? I wasn't a big reader growing up. In my household, growing up in East London as young as the five children, we had loads of our own stories. We were the book.

1:00:02We were the book. Do you know what books I did have Which I think was a very working class thing I don't know if I can say it properly You know like the 13 encyclopedias Oh my god Oh it took my mother about a year to pay it off

1:00:13Romesh Ranganathan:We had encyclopedias Oh did Look it up Look it up Yeah Look it up M Go to M Look it up Do you know what that was All the information you need is there sana That was our AI That was our AI Because I had the one that was about the earth Yeah The one about You know what I mean Space The one about animals The one It was Oh my And any time I had homework And I was like My mum would be like You know see You're in Psychopedia Something there Go look upon the Psychopedia Yeah Me spend how much money Upon the Psychopedia Go Psych upon the Pedia Right Go look it up I'd be like Oh god Yeah Bored We got a whole lot of books here Learn about the world Learn about the world You don't see the world In front of you The whole world right there All of the information Everything the light touches I want to play out.

1:01:05Play out for what? You know what I'm saying? I have a book for you. Go read some of the book there. My book got peeled. In time you have peeled, you can play and I learn.

1:01:13Romesh Ranganathan:Oh my God. The investment they put down on that. That's why I needed therapy. I contributed to it. But that is a part of the comedy that we have. Here's your next one. Did you or did you not say this? You're just going down this slippery slope, trying not to break nothing. Your heart, your neck, your knee. You're going through red flags, green flags that sounds like something I would say your heart your neck your knee that sounds like something I would say you did say it on this morning and you were talking about dating being like skiing dating being like skiing yeah ha yeah that definitely sounds how is your what is your dating situation well I'm I'm going to give you an exclusive I never talk about my dating situation and people I've never actually said that I don't talk about I always just go yeah I'm always dating and the reason why I don't really talk about it is because I feel like there's someone in the public eye any part of our life can be sold and that is one part that I'm not willing to sell that or my children and as well I want to get into a relationship for someone who more time wants to get in a relationship with me for me not because, you know what I mean I don't want people, I don't want to be doing a video and be like oh I've lost my husband, can you help me find him and then we find him in Dubai I don't know who you're talking about but can I tell you something that has been all I've looked at online for the last two weeks I said what I said he has been found he's in a Dubai prison do you know what I'm saying the maddest, sorry not the maddest but when she did that you can wish me back no cross the river on the hell out No.

1:02:58I don't care how you get here. No. Get here if you can. No, with my Visa card. No, no.

1:03:07Romesh Ranganathan:Anyway, glad you're back, Lee.

1:03:12Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, here's your next one. Final one, you've done very well. Thank you. Did you or did you not say this? It doesn't matter how rich or successful I am, bitch, you're Alison Hammond today.

1:03:26before you got to Alison because you said bitch I knew that was me I knew that was me it's me innit

1:03:33Romesh Ranganathan:yeah it is you discussing being mistaken for other well known black women yeah yeah yeah annoying isn't it yeah it happens a lot I mean now like level me up and mistake me for one of the American ones yeah do you know what I mean level me not saying that those are not the ones here but move on now yeah I know and then you know me and Alison are both doing our thing now and you know I love her to pieces yeah but I mean it's getting compared to other other people that fit you know do you know what I mean I find that like me and Nish Kumar for example well yeah no yeah of course you know we're different people yeah yeah yeah so but people go oh who do you prefer out of Nish Kumar Ramashang and Nathan you go what the fuck are you talking about Perry what the fuck are you talking about they're so different obviously I'm better oh wow but what I mean no but like we're completely different so different he smiles when he talks you know there's so much difference he's got joy in his life you know but the thing is with Alison what I can understand is we've got we've both got very big laughs yeah yeah do you know what I mean very bubbly personality but still Judy come on that's you being kind here it's a piss take you know you know it's so I had one guy one time, it was so funny, he came up to me, he was adamant.

1:04:55He was adamant to the point when we got into an argument because he was so, he thought, come on, you're taking a piss. I know you're famous and you might want people to know you're here, but I know it's you, Alison. And I was like, my accent, can't you tell my accent? Like, hello. And he was like, I know it's you, I've liked you for so long, so I slept with him. And I'm joking, I'm joking.

1:05:17Romesh Ranganathan:I had a woman, this is not like quite the same as getting mistaken, someone else but I had a woman come up to me after a gig yeah I was outside she said to me I just wanted to thank you and I said uh oh right for the gig and she goes yeah she goes like after like all of the sort of terrorist stuff that's happened she goes I didn't think I would like feel comfortable around people that look like you she goes but then when I watched your stand up I realized that you're just a she thought she's being nice she goes I thought I realise you're just a person too and you've got the same kind of

1:05:55Romesh Ranganathan:and I just stood there like I couldn't at first I was like what the fuck is she talking like I couldn't but what she was basically saying was people that look like me she no longer trusted and then because she saw me do like my stand she said oh no there's good ones she thought that was alright to say to you it's crazy isn't it anyway I blew her up Oh my god! Okay, Judy, it's time for your final question. Are you excited? I am very excited. Could you give us some sort of exclusive? A dream you have, a hidden talent, or something you haven't said publicly before? That would be amazing. A dream hidden talent.

1:06:27I could give you something maybe that I've never said before. Okay, go on. Maybe I should have spoken to my agent about this. I got banned from a local housing. From the local housing, I got banned. Banned? Yeah.

1:06:45Romesh Ranganathan:Well, like lifetime ban? Well, no, they lifted it after like, I think it was three or five years. It was banned. Three or five years? Yeah, it was banned. Okay, so what happened? So basically my old, sorry, basically my last house that was social housing. Yeah, I moved in. And just me and the kids had hardly anything. And about two days later, I started to see some flies. And so I called my bedroom. And I was like, oh, I had a garden this time. So I was like, this fly, she goes, oh, that will happen because you've got a garden in the summertime. but then there was like loads of flies and then it was like a horror movie.

1:07:17There was maggots on the floor. And so I phoned the housing to say, listen, I think there's like... They say it's summertime. Yeah, they say it's summertime. It's like, come on, what the hell is this? And they were like, oh, well, you need to clean the house. And I was like, what? I ain't got nothing in the yard. Like, what do you mean? I've got kids here. There's obviously something like... And then I was like, oh my God, it must be like a dead person. There were so many flies. Didn't know the neighbour properly, but I knocked him. and he came and he helped to try and get rid of the maggots and the fly we had to lock the bedroom and put like something at the bottom of the door so after going back and forth to the housing there's something rotten there's something dead there's someone dead they sent someone and they put down like some what's it called when you've some like pesticide thing to kill off the flies still more flies I'm telling them no one's not listening to me so I got mad

1:08:11Romesh Ranganathan:Right? Understandably, by the way. This is wild. I covered my head, headscarf and a bally. They asked me why I had a bally. And some gloves. And I went into the bedroom and I collected all the flies. This can't be real. And the maggots. And I said to the kids, come on! And I walked down there with the yellow gloves and the containers of dead flies. And I bused open to the house and I said, do you believe me, blood clot now? Yeah. and the woman thought I was doing witchcraft they ran into the back poor security

1:08:51trying to escort me out of the building yeah my kids were going I was like what the hell yeah I've got two kids I can be sick what do you mean I'm lying if you babes a container you know black people love containers I had nothing in the house but I had a container and I collected those little motherfuckers little blue bottles scooped them in and it was a bit of a walk I walked did you tip it out? I don't think I tipped out but I did slam it down I said get someone now yeah you're telling me look at these flies in this yard are you mad? I said I'm not leaving here kids lie down on the floor we're sleeping here tonight I'm not going back in that yard you better find somewhere for me me and my babies are you crazy they put me in a hostel yeah yeah dude they put me in a hostel for the night well two nights actually but the hostel was I was like no let me go back to the fly let me go back to the fly that is a great exclusive yeah so I got banned maybe it was a year I got banned I don't actually think

1:09:54Romesh Ranganathan:you've done anything wrong there to be honest no I didn't but obviously I haven't spoken about it and that happened and then what then they came out and they were really like they took us out of the house and the amount of flies then they started to worry they started to look who lived there before then they started to worry, is actually their dead body? That's how bad it was. So then, babe, it was a whole thing. What house taped off? Then they had to dig up all the floorboards. It was insane. They couldn't find anything. And then the guy said, no, let's take down. They'd covered like the chimneys and stuff.

1:10:26They took that down. And what they found was a dead bird. It was a massive bird. And the time the bird had been there, you know, four or five weeks. So it really was like decomposed. and that's where all the maggots and the flies was coming from. So if I didn't, I'm not saying to anyone to do that because obviously staff needs to be respected and kept safe at all times. At that time, I was emotionally high. My babies needed protecting. And yeah, so they found it and yeah.

1:10:58Romesh Ranganathan:That is an amazing story. Well done, Judy Love. You stood up for your family. please give it up for our fantastic guest the legendary multi-talented friend of Rebel Wilson Judy Love everybody thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode before you go if you've enjoyed this episode and you've not subscribed that's a bold decision crazy behaviour follow and subscribe to the Romish Ranganathan show wherever you listen it helps me really like really helps me it helps the team and it costs you absolutely nothing we drop episodes every Monday and Thursday Monday's I'm joined by great guests Thursday's my mum Shanti joins me to answer your questions and family dilemmas I'll see you Thursday with mum who, let's face it is who you're actually here for If you've got a problem you want to solve or a story you want to share send it to podcast at rangabi.com voice not or text us on 07731 623 355 We can't promise good advice but you might end up on the show See you soon!

1:11:59Oh shut up Romesh