S4 Ep 35: Meat Feasts & Mango Chutney

25:10Romesh Ranganathan:Here is my question for you. Yeah. Because we actually did have a debate about this. Because the restaurant we went to last night, the service wasn't great. That sounds like an awful meal, by the way. Yeah, I'm not going to name it. And you were in, like, one of the best places in the world to eat curries. Well, look, I mean, Jeff felt very guilty because he'd really been raving about this place. By the way, can I just say, by the way, I had one of my best curries I've ever had in my life with you in Manchester. Yeah, I know, I know. Well, you had three tables' worth of food. Yeah, no, no. And by the way, if I could eat more...

25:38Romesh Ranganathan:You're playing fast and loose with the phrase one of the best curries. I think the more accurate thing would be seven of the best curries I've ever had. But yeah, I was eating off other people's plates. Also trying people... Not only eating off other people's plates. They had to... This is... I've said this, as we've told this report, that they had to bring over an extra table. Because the food was so fucking good. Right. And may I say, by the way, even now I'm knocked into a dizzy spin just thinking about the fucking mango chutney. They had to give us like four bowls of that stuff. Everyone was on it.

26:08Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, it was great. It was great, yeah. Why didn't you take him there? Because Geoff was really adamant that we went to this other place. And as you know... Well, probably because they've got ketchup and mayonnaise, bless him. Yeah, and also the other thing is, I was grateful that somebody else was choosing, because if you choose a restaurant, I think it's very difficult for you to enjoy the meal. That's the honest truth of it, because it's like you've made it, and you're bringing it up. I would say, arguably, that Micah, the other night, it didn't seem to matter to anyone. Oh, Micah, he didn't.

26:35Micah resolved himself of any responsibility. No, he didn't resolve himself. He was so... Can I say, I've seen some meat eaters in my time. Micah Richards is a beautiful meat eater. The way he just savours it. He just takes it so nice.

26:49Romesh Ranganathan:It wouldn't surprise me if that Chinese... He takes it so nice. An insane phrasing.

26:58Romesh Ranganathan:As soon as I said it, I thought, oh, that just sounds weird. It wouldn't surprise me if that Chinese restaurant had a field out the back specifically for animals that Michael Richards is going to be eating. That's the number that he went for. He ordered, by the way. he reordered like the wings the wings are incredible and the ribs again I thought it can't be any more than this here's my question to you if you go into a restaurant as we know the restaurant business is a tough business if the meal is bad and the service is bad over and above because I always think they're trying not they're trying their hardest but they're trying to make a living so don't be too out of order but do you think it is the decent thing to do to say to them nicely in the way that you just said, would you say, look, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm not angry about this, but I do think this wasn't good enough?

27:50Romesh Ranganathan:Are you doing the restaurant a favour if you do that, I guess is the question. It's hard though, isn't it? Because if you go away and write a review, quite often when, and I was addicted to TripAdvisor for a bit, just reading TripAdvisors, even if the restaurants I was planning to go to, I'd read and I'd get into my head about restaurants. And quite a lot of the time you'd read and the way that restaurants would often come back is like why couldn't you have just said this to us in the restaurant it's quite an awkward thing to do i do think there is an element of like if food isn't good enough and if the stuff that you've got isn't good enough you should just say something during the meal and going you know complain i will say if the food's not very good and the service is bad i i think you're you know you're fighting a losing battle there because i think they've almost given up i think like if the service they've either given up or that's the level at which they're able to to survive at right like they don't because the truth is most unless you're really passionate what you're going to do is you can operate at whatever level that keeps you profitable so it's possible that that restaurant because the number of options around there that's just like they're happy to operate at that level and it's fine they might you know they're turning a profit so who cares unless you you know unless you're super passionate about it we've got to make a living we've got italian near me which is like an absolute cesspit We went there on the first day that we moved around this area.

29:09My dad went in. We took my own dad there. They'd helped us move in. The service was woeful. It was like there was no one in this place. It was like the guy didn't want us there. And then my dad got the worst food poisoning I've ever seen. And we've never complained. We obviously never go back. And word of mouth does spread. But I've never seen someone who wanted to be anywhere less than the guy essentially running this restaurant. and in my head it's like why why be doing this like why do something that seemingly you hate doing like there is there's so many things as well to beat to take into account you know you don't know that the guy serving your table might have had an awful day that day or you know but i always think if the food's always if the food's bad the service is bad and there's no and and i just think it's always a direction of going in that place i was just like that italian restaurant like these they're just waiting to be closed down they're waiting for the food health service to come along and just say oh this is a you know this is a you know you you're gonna get a fucking one here and we're gonna close you down like one key one keys was that i loved one keys for so long it was something that i took pride in going to i'd you know i had some of my happiest and some of my worst memories in that place and then to hear it being closed down man it was like really hit

30:26Romesh Ranganathan:I know, I know. It was a tough time. It was very hard being your friend during that time, actually. It was tricky. You were really, really low. Yes, it was. Yeah. But anyway, the point is, it wasn't great. I think Geoff Norcott's going to write a TripAdvisor review, which I don't know how helpful that is, but he was pretty passionate about it. He's quite a passionate guy, and I like that, because his passion comes out through an empathetic surge of compassion, but also when he's angry, I can imagine he's not to be crossed. I've never seen him angry, so I don't know, but I imagine so, yeah. You're quite the wordsmith.

30:58I can imagine you'd be quite good at writing a trip. I want to be on the wrong side of a Robert Shrankenhathan trip advisor.

31:03Romesh Ranganathan:I don't think I've ever written a review of anything. You know what, actually, while we're here, just a little surge of concern has rippled through my epicentre. Jesus Christ. I was just thinking, we need to know restaurants when we're in the places we're going on tour that we can go to. Some recommendations would be good. Yeah. A place we could go that have got a vegan menu as well. They don't have to have a full vegan menu. Just one option would be... Yeah, but more than one option. It makes me sad when I see a vegan or a vegetarian and they've only got one thing to choose. I always feel fucking sad for them.

31:42Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, and on behalf of the vegan community, can I say thank you for your sympathy?

31:50Romesh Ranganathan:I do want to address very quickly, because I don't want to get too deep into this, but we've had a couple of complaints or comments directed at myself for me making jokes about people protesting outside hotels, right? And I just want to get into this a little bit, right? First of all, I'm not going to apologise for making jokes about people protesting outside hotels. If you're upset about that, I'm sorry that you're upset, but I'm not sorry for saying what I said. In my opinion, and I understand if you are, I don't think these people are idiots at all. I think if you have got concerns about immigration, then that's valid.

32:35Romesh Ranganathan:I've got my opinions on that, but this is not a political podcast. What I would say is the reason I was taking the piss out of people protesting at hotels is because if you do have a concern about that, I want you to just be a bit empathetic And imagine that you've travelled from horrific circumstances. You've undergone a horrible journey to try and find some sort of respite from the horrific conditions that you're living in. And then you get put in a hotel, by the way, because the asylum process has taken ages to process, right? You get put in a hotel. And contrary to what you might have heard people say, they're not being given incredible facilities and all of this shit.

33:17Romesh Ranganathan:A quick Google would debunk all of that. If you are then in a hotel, bunked up with a load of people, and trying to find a better life for yourself while you get processed, and you've got no idea what the outcome of that's going to be, you then see a load of people from that country waving their flags, shouting, get them out. All it takes is a little bit of fucking human kindness to realise that that is not a great thing to do. and that is separate from if you've got a conservative immigration fine but I just don't, that is not an empathetic and kind thing to do so I'm not going to stop thinking that it's out of order it happened down the road I'm away filming at League of the Round it happened down the road from my house there's a protest outside a hotel in Copthorne and you know I watched some of the speeches these people are giving about you know the the idea that um it's a i understand it's a peaceful protest or whatever and they're saying it's not we're not we're not saying that all of these people are wrong but you are saying that you don't want you want to you don't want to help anyone in case some of them are wrong ones or whatever it's just it's bananas to me and the idea that it's not racism i don't want to get deep into it but it does it is a close friend of racism you know and we are seeing in this country now an increase, you know, there's a Chinese restaurant that got done up with England flags and get the fuck out or whatever.

34:48Romesh Ranganathan:Chinese restaurant that had been there for years. I don't know if you saw the clip of this Asian guy that's been interviewed. I don't know what he's been interviewed about. I was about to talk about that. Because I think that's the threat. The worry is that, you know, everyone's got a right to opinion and everyone's got a right, you know, that's a part of, you know, what we are as a country, it's what we should have, is people should have a platform to say, as long as it's not aggressive and not in that nature. I think the trouble that we have is that video, weirdly, it felt like that was something else entirely, which this is a guy who's a business owner who openly was talking about how much he loved the area and he'd lived there for a number of years and then all of a sudden he's there with his family and he's then given an insight in which everyone, if you are going to make a politically charged statement and if you are going to stand on a picket line or take place in any of these sort of marches, you have to have some context of what you're talking about and where you stand in and what do you believe in.

36:00And to do that, I think you have to look at things from every side. And for this guy to stand there and then with his family to then have his interview and his moment where he's telling people what he thinks. And actually, if you listen to his interview, he was a very insightful guy. And all of a sudden that's interrupted by a load of drunk people just pushing in with quite abhorrent racist language that then actually just spills into calling him a paedophile and a rapist. And you're like, well, none of this is true. And that's the thing that we are dealing with. while some of these protests, and again, this isn't a political podcast, but a lot of this is leaning into something that when I watch it, it feels like when I've been at football and things are getting quite tested.

36:49If you're going on a peaceful protest, if you're saying your point or whatever, you don't need 20 pints of Stella to do that. That's not a point.

37:00Romesh Ranganathan:And you don't need to be doing England chants. No. And not just England chants and some of the chanting and stuff is something very different from what people are saying it is. And I think that's the worry we have. And I think it's feeding out. There's more and more footage that's coming out of people feeling that actually it's fine just to say, and like, oh, okay, it's you, well, the lid's off and I can say what I, you know. And I want to be quiet. I find it terrifying. I find it a very scary place. it's like mad and I don't want to dwell on it too long, but like, but I would say to you that in the last week, as you know, Tom, I've told you sort of, um, uh, one of my kids was racially abused at school in the last week.

37:46Romesh Ranganathan:Right. Like racial slurs used at him by, by like other kids. And then, um, Lisa, the Swan received some messages online saying you're an interrace breeding scum and suggesting that they wanted to gun down her and her children. So like, so like, All of this, luckily, the swan is like, she's very remarkably relaxed about it. But the truth of it is, it's worrying times. What I would say to anybody who is worried about it, worried about the rise of racism and all of this sentiment, is that these things are being amplified and most people don't feel like that. You know, if you're and I think that it's easy to get to fall into like this funk of like thinking that this.

38:38Romesh Ranganathan:And I think I said to you, Tom, it got to a point where you start thinking, I start walking on going, does everyone feel like this? You know, it's very easy to fall into that into that way of thinking. And the other thing I would say is, you know, I've seen people speaking against it and being a bit measured. The other thing is, on the other side of that, I understand moderate people saying that they want the England flag to not be weaponized. And there is nothing wrong with feeling proud in the way, in your flag, in your country. There's nothing wrong in being proud to be English. In fact, that's a great thing.

39:09Romesh Ranganathan:It's a lovely thing. But it is being co-opted. And the idea that if you get rid of all immigration, that suddenly your problems of poverty and cost of living and all of that are going to disappear. It's just, it's not, you're just being, you know, people are just being pointed in the direction of immigration, in my opinion. and anyway look that is just my opinion and um but the truth of it is it's it's slightly worrying it is just slightly worrying i think and and so i guess the main thing i wanted to address was people getting gnarky with me because i was taking the piss out of hotel protesters you can look forward to a few more jokes like that do you know i mean if you don't if you don't like it then i suggest if you want to if you want stuff that isn't like that then listen to another podcast i guess i mean it's your choice to do that um i know parenting hell are very much on the other side politically so that's probably where you'll find a little bit of solace um but anyway that's what i wanted to say about that uh it's a piece uh by the way would you like to say i'd yeah i want to shout out this one because when she when i heard that it just yeah that that quite i mean i don't want to go on and go on it but it brought genuine and i text you about this and it broke you know when i spoke to katherine and and it made me feel so so just sad man just so so sad and yeah that that is something that's happened in 2025 and and yeah yeah yeah but but i mean in in in um in defense of the person that got in touch with her i did say to lisa do you know i mean like don't be a race traitor if you don't want stuff like that you know what can i say to you you know sometimes i look at her and i think you should be ashamed of yourself.

40:51Romesh Ranganathan:Do you know what I mean? What are you doing?

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42:50Romesh Ranganathan:Right, let's have a look at some emails. Sure, true emails. This is from a cumbersome giraffe. Buenos dias, you absolute beast. Long-time listener, big fan of you both. Tom, my husband and I chatted to you at the breweries in Walthamstow once. Is that this thing about you? and you were a lovely egg Rom I've never met you but I'm sure you're an equally lovely vegan equivalent I've thoroughly enjoyed this is I don't know how I feel about this because basically as we know and you haven't actually done it on this episode but as we know you've become very comfortable in doing your impression of me now it's got to the point where I had been laboring under the illusion that people knew this was a caricature but now I'm being really closely tied to this impression okay um I've thoroughly enjoyed hearing the evolution of the weaselly wrong voice on the podcast and have cracked up many times so that's why that's upsetting okay it's wormed its way into my everyday life for example whenever my husband gets uncomfortable while on a long drive I like to say oh my bum in a wrong voice that I hope the wolf will be proud of anyway I digress this evening I was reading the book willie and Hugh by esteemed children's author and illustrator Anthony Brown to her almost two-year-old son the deranged dingbat.

44:11Romesh Ranganathan:For those not familiar with the characters, Willie is a lonely, nerdy chimp who finds an unlikely friend in Hugh, a big, friendly gorilla. I found myself reading Willie in the Rom voice and Hugh in the Tom voice and the deranged dingbat was enthralled. Would you consider pitching yourselves to see Beebe's Bedtime Stories to do a joint reading? The Children of the Nation read you. Need you. Thank you, cumbersome giraffe. Can I just say... I actually weirdly think this is quite a nice like because i will say by the way i'm obsessed with your voice of me i'm obsessed with it no but i no but i i yeah but you've got it now you've got no no no i think the original one was funny i think the new one is hysterical it's to the point where i've actually stolen it to put it into my stand-up it's so good so you've nicked it and you do it you do it so well yeah because it's such a good voice for me.

45:03It's like people always do my voice how you used to do my voice, right? It's just a really easy get out for a big guy to go, oh yeah, but the actual way you did my voice is actually more, I think, closer to what my actual, and also the inclinations you used were fucking hilarious. So I think you found your version of the, oh for crickets' sake!

45:32Romesh Ranganathan:Hello, Ramesh and Tom. This is from Anonymous Andy, which kind of is a bit of a contradiction. I hope that title... The title of the email is My Mate's Powerful Prostate. Okay, cool. Hello, Ramesh and Tom. I hope that title caught your attention. Spoiler alert for anybody that's of sensitive sensibilities. This is a bit of... Well, it's a bit blue. Let's just put it that way. Okay, okay. My mate really looks up to you two. He's got a problem I think you two could help with. I find this absolutely remarkable. Every so often he'll tell me about an incident where he's ejaculated a vast distance accidentally and iced a household item, which is fairly humorous.

46:10Romesh Ranganathan:However, while receiving oral sex from his girlfriend, he recently jizzed in his eye. What the fuck? Which was exactly my reaction. Jesus. Which has caused some irritation. I told him we should go to the doctors. He's probably got chlamydia over the... Okay, I'm in this. But he thinks not. Could you help him out? I don't think we can help him out, but first of all, can we just comment on... I don't know what you think. how the hell did that happen well yeah i mean yeah that's insane what my i don't want to be too graphic and i don't want to be too blue yeah sure i understand yeah uh my semen sort of like comes out of my penis now like someone sort of braving the rainy day from their front door like it's just sort of gingerly stepping out into the fucking it doesn't really it there's no intention of going out for long it's just like bops its head out yeah it certainly wouldn't be spraying household items.

46:58Romesh Ranganathan:No, no. It's very lethargic. Yeah, I would say the same. It's sort of like, it's sort of the end of a ketchup bottle, I'd say. Do you know what I mean? It's sort of the best way I'd describe it. You've really got to bang the back of it just to get something out. That's insane though. Yeah. And also, by the way, I think if you get semen in your eye, you've got to be quite careful. I think it actually can, it can turn into quite a nasty infection. Yeah, I'm sure it can. So I'd say, I'd say if you get any bodily function or any bodily liquid into any of your eyes or your ears or your, well, not your mouth, because sometimes people like that.

47:34But it's, yeah, just worth going to see someone. You tickled yourself there, didn't you, with that little bit of rudeness? Yeah, I did, yeah.

47:42Romesh Ranganathan:I don't usually go, I don't usually sway into that kind of filth, but they're all right. No. Do you talk about sex in your, do you talk about sex in your stand-up? A little bit. Yeah, yeah, I haven't been going to. Do you? You love, yeah. Well, I mean, I didn't think I loved talking about Sex and My Center, but my last two shows I have talked about it. So I think probably I'm thinking now I'm not going to again. You've got to move on from these. Well, you know, it's nice to develop as an artist, isn't it? You know? Yeah. Yeah, anyway. This is from the Pissy Python. Okay. Hi, Wolf and Al. I'm sure if you follow South Park, but the series Return is focused on a Trump-style character as a target of their comedy.

48:23Romesh Ranganathan:They clearly use his face on the character. But to try to get around any legal issues, they've depicted him as having a micropenis. And a micropenis means that in order for Trump to sue South Park for using his character in the cartoon, he would have to admit he also has a micropenis, otherwise the character is just a parody, and therefore the show is protected against any lawsuits. I don't know about the legality of that. If they put his face on, then aren't you allowed to sue on the basis that they're suggesting you've got a micropenis? I don't understand how that's protection. Anyway, it still remains a hilarious show.

48:52Romesh Ranganathan:hilarious show if you are yet watching but my question is through your comedy have you ever done anything similar where you used a real person for your comedy live or tv shows but changed the punch on a character enough that they're not that they're not a true lightest individual but those who would know would know it's those who know would know it's about them sorry for misreading that um tom have you i mean i i watched your last show yeah i've not seen the preview of your new one but you definitely i mean you name people in your show don't you yeah Yeah, yeah. I mean, can I just say about the micropenis thing, there was a guy we used to hang around with when I was younger.

49:27I won't name him, actually. But he had a micropenis. And he was, he sort of, I don't know if I'd say double down is right, but in a way of dealing with having a micropenis, he, I've never seen anyone get their penis out and sort of be so confident about his micropenis. He almost was like, he fought against the norm of being embarrassed or like, because I think people, there's obviously a stigma around this, you know, just in the basis of what we're talking about here. He would literally use it as a, you know, almost like a handshake when he met people. Sober, drunk, whatever. Like, you know, we played in the same football team.

50:04We'd often, you know, pull his shorts down to celebrate a goal. He would, and also he was quite, you know, he was a bit of a cad. He had a number of different girlfriends and yeah, it was sort of quite, yeah. I would say he was a credit to the micropenis community.

50:20Romesh Ranganathan:I'm going to say this now. I'm going to say this. I respect it a lot. I respect it a lot. He's taken ownership of it. He's decided, I'm going to get there first before anybody can lay into me. And you know what? Fair play to me. He's found a way around it. I respect it. I respect it a lot. It's not an achievement. Sorry, it's not up to you whether you have a micropenis or not. The size of your penis is purely out of your control, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. You know, so, you know, he's got a micropenis, decided to make a thing of it. But he owned the penis. I like it. He owned it. Yeah, I mean, he did own it.

50:55But I mean. And he even did the fucking crazy thing of giving himself a nickname that everyone went fair play. That's a fucking great nickname. He called himself Pip Dick. Pip Dick. So you actually kind of respected it. And it was like, fuck, man. And also, no one ever took the mic out. It was like, cool. like it was never something there was other things we used to banter against him because there's other you know things he probably wasn't sort of but because he owned that moment owned that thing we could never yeah it was just like cool man good for you yeah yeah he was actually a bit of a bully as well he was he was an alpha he was definitely an alpha yeah um i mean look

51:32Romesh Ranganathan:all i would say is uh well done to you the friendship group for seeing somebody overcome something they were they might have been embarrassed about and finding something else to bully him about well done to you and your friends he would by the way use pip dick would turn around quite a lot of time and not only sort of show off his you know his micropenis but then through doing that he then he'd do the usual thing that alphas do and then sort of like pushing the fact that anyone else with inadequacy or anyone else is sort of something that they had a bit of hang up about uh should should be the same and if they weren't he'd absolutely destroy them and well i mean that's where Pip, Dick and myself diverge in terms of our opinions on things.

52:11Romesh Ranganathan:I think, you know, it's very much up to the person how they handle what their perceived affliction is. Do you know what I mean? There's a part of me that would like to get Pip, Dick on the podcast to see if he wanted to come on. Well, by the sounds of it, Pip, Dick would come on. We'd have to make it a visual pod because it sounds like Pip, Dick would be, you know, be out and on show for the entire duration. Yeah. He'd definitely show you it if you wanted to see it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good to know. Have you ever seen a micropenis? Have I ever seen a micropenis? I don't think so, no. I've only seen Pip-Dick, but yeah.

52:45Romesh Ranganathan:I mean, that wasn't the... It's not actually the question in the podcast. I know, but I haven't thought about Pip-Dick for some time, and I'm just saying, obviously. Yeah, but also... How do you feel about using... I mean, anybody that's watched Underdog, which is available now to watch on Skymax, will know that you talk about Tony the Driver. Yeah. and his conspiracy theories? I mean, by the way, with Tony the Driver, he was around when I was developing that whole bit. And I did say to him, are you okay if I do this? And he was like, yeah, he found it funny. And also it was a quite fair representation of him as a person.

53:25So, yeah, I think, but I think number one, you've always got to ask the person. um i mean also i you know i do bits about a few celebrities in there as well so um yeah uh so yeah yeah but you've done that right you've done bits about well i mean i talk about the swan

53:43Romesh Ranganathan:on stage um and she's totally fine with it she's uh completely unbothered um talked about the kids on stage i did worry about you know there's a couple of shows ago in the show irrational um I talked about my kids a lot in, I would describe it as quite a derogatory manner. And I thought that was okay because I assume that people knew that I love my children. But actually, I do think that ethically, probably there's a question mark there because the kids haven't chosen to have a stand-up career. They haven't chosen themselves to be out in the public domain. So do I regret it? Can I say, by the way, don't say it.

54:24if you're literally if you if you were to finish this sentence it kind of means that when you talk about spud gun and my work in progress if i'm not to talk about my kid i've sort of got nothing

54:35Romesh Ranganathan:no but no no no but what i'd say is the other side of that is the kids actually love it like like what i mean is like when they what like they'll they they've saved that you know they love those clips and they actually you know it could i guess it could have gone the other way but i guess what i was hoping is that my kids know that i love them yeah and and thankfully they do they've reacted to that in like in fact i joked with them that i was going to stop talking about them on stage and they were they were gutted they were like no go on like you got like it's fun it's fun dad it's fun so they actually do like it but at the same time yeah i don't know i don't know it's a difficult one but i do talk that there's what there's one thing that um i told a story you know the show the show's gonna it's not out and it's not been released yet but the the last tour that i did in that show i talk about going on holiday with another couple and that couple exist.

55:24Romesh Ranganathan:So, you know, it's a real, it's a true story. So I imagine, you know, I've anonymized it, but they'll know if they watch it. Yeah. How do you feel about that? Because that's the other thing, because, you know, just in the nature of how we, the things we talk about, you know, that on stage and even on this podcast is that you mentioned things. I don't always name people. Sometimes, like you, it's an anonymous thing. But then I have, you know, By the way, on Pooporgate, I've had a number of people contact me about various holidays they've been on with the poos and different measures that were taken.

56:04So, yeah, maybe that's something to delve into another time. But, yeah, it is a weird thing, isn't it? Actually, the only time someone's got quite annoyed was I told a story on stage. Actually, yeah, weirdly, it was a story I've told on here before. the Poo-Pourri story. Actually, a lot of my stuff is poo-based. And the person...

56:26Romesh Ranganathan:Did you call it the Poo-Pourri story? Yeah. Poo-Pourri, Poo-Pourri. Yeah, because there's a poo in it. Really good. Really good. I don't think I knew that you called it that. That's good. Yeah. Anyhow. Poo-Pourri. The woman involved, or the girl at the time, whose house it was that I went to, heard it on the podcast and then also came to a show where I did it and was just really pissed off that I hadn't named her. Oh. She was like, you could just say my name because I keep telling people that was me because they don't come across badly in the story. They're not. No, but at the same time, nobody cares apart from...

57:02Romesh Ranganathan:I don't mean they're not a disparaging. Nobody cares who the name of the person is. No, no, but also I'd done that as a measure to go, I don't want this person to be... Yeah, you were doing it as a courtesy. Yeah. And also I don't think it really, without being... like it kind of there's times where i think it if you're building the character around you know like tony for example was a great sport and he was hilarious and and that was very much who he was and that was where my life was at the time and it felt like naming him was you know and he was up from what he was actually almost pushing for that to happen but then i don't if someone i haven't spoken to for like 30 odd years you know for me to take the sort of you know the idea that i could just name them that would be yeah a weird thing yeah yeah uh okay Well, thank you so much, Pissy Python, for your...

57:47Romesh Ranganathan:What's up with you, Tom? What's going on? I was just thinking... No, there was probably one of my favourite ever bits of your stand-up that I'm not going to go into. Yeah. You did a bit about Captain Tom, which was probably one of my favourite things that you've ever done. That is actually... The Captain Tom bit will never be in public domain because it's not going to be in the special whenever it comes out. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, maybe it is. I don't know. Because by what I said, that was nothing against Captain Tom. It was more about the framework around him. Yes, yeah. I don't know if it is.

58:23Romesh Ranganathan:I can't remember. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe. When is the special album about Christmas? No, it's out. Actually, I'm not allowed to say when the release date is yet, but I think it's going to get announced next week. Can I say, if anyone hasn't watched it, the trailer for the accompanying documentary looks absolutely banging. I think, can I just say, and that I'm not going to we get criticised about sucking each other's dicks too much and being too fucking but you are a very talented guy in a number of different realms I think you're a fucking amazing host shout out League of the Run weakest link you're fucking sick of that I think you're I think you're a very fucking brilliant actor you know the reason King Gary I thought every episode you did with us you got better and better and better shout out you know you is a fucking I think you should be doing more of that and it annoys me that you aren't doing more and you should be casted more stuff because I think you are a genuine actually you'd be a really good dramatic actor I think and that's anyway that's another thing that's very sweet of it so I will say this right when you do those shows where you go and find out you know you go to other places and you're very open you're very always very vulnerable you're always hilarious they are the things where I watch you do those and as someone who I'm not very well traveled I've stepped out of Europe I think once in my life when I watch you do those things it just makes and I say this as someone not just myself but a number of people I think they're just fucking eye openers into a world that a lot of us will never see and a lot of us will never ever be a part of and I think in what we were talking about earlier in a weird sort of way I think it's just such a it broadens a lot of our horizons and a lot of those places you've been a lot of places you go to in this documentary you've just done because you talked about it a little bit on here I think they're just really important bits of work but it shows you I think is the best version of almost rang and everything because I think you allow yourself to be naturally so funny but also just vulnerable and you just there's always just a point to these things that at the end of each and every one I don't think you as a viewer you're not just watching and learning a bit uh and laughing I think that's just I think that's what we all should be trying to do oh thanks so much that's very sweet of you but um yeah so I don't know exactly I think we're announcing it next week so look out for that hope you enjoy it if you don't don't tell me okay tom it's about that time my g where we wrap things up could you please do us the honor yo hmm where to start where to go raining outside today how to get an umbrella it's weird isn't it Each and every one of us complains.

1:01:03There's dark clouds, the rain, colour, it's windy out. Snow, we all relish it until it arrives and before you know it. Traffic is stopped. Can't go anywhere. Snow quite quickly turns to ice. Old lady's just fallen down to her house up the street. Oh no, Elsie, are you okay? Truth of the matter is, really, even when it's too sunny, it can sometimes be harsh as well. There's an ambient weather. It's kind of just perfect. Am I talking about weather? I'm guessing why I am. But in a way, maybe I'm talking about something else. If you choose to work out how someone's day will unfold, surely you want everyone to have a nice day.

1:01:48Surely you want everyone to have an ambient temperature where they can go about their business in the most perfect way. So when you're given the choice of how you can affect someone's day, why would you choose rain snow a blistering heat that ruins their intentions we all need to think a little bit clearer a little bit better about the things we say and the things we do having a knock-on effect to somebody else so for example if you're gonna say any kind of word try and make it positive try and see things from someone else's point of view there's an old adage to know my brother's journey. I have to work a mile in his shoes.

1:02:29And sometimes those shoes aren't going to fit. And sometimes you don't want to wear another person's shoes. You haven't got to wear the shoes to envisage where they've come from, where they're going, and how they've got here. Sometimes it's just worth taking a little breath, taking a little step, and thinking, could I be better? Could I say a nicer thing? That I have to put rain in someone else's day. Did the best version of you be true? My sweet, sweet selves, I'll see you down the road.

1:02:58Romesh Ranganathan:Thank you so much, Tom. What a beautiful sentiment. I've been listening to sort of an old-school pop playlist recently. And Go West did a song called We Close Our Eyes. JT, could you close out with that? Thank you so much for listening to The Wolf for now. We will see you next time, my Gs. Take care of yourselves. Peace. One love. And while we miss chances, you can almost hear Time's slipping away We close our eyes We never lose a game Imagination never lets us take the blame We close our eyes To see the final flame We close our eyes The time's slipping away

1:03:50Romesh Ranganathan:If you have a problem, opinion, feedback or anything at all, please email us at wolfowlpod at gmail.com. That's wolfowlpod at gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you, mainly because we don't have any content ideas. Thank you. Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-CONTACTS. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry.

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