Tough Love, Parenting And The Marvel Universe

0:00Romesh Ranganathan:Yo! Hey! What's up, motherfuckers? What's up in the house, yo? It's Wolf and Al, baby. Tom's got Stetson on. Yeah. Nice. Really throwing myself into this country music. You're really into country, aren't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:17Romesh Ranganathan:Yo, yo, what do you want? Beak or jaws? Feathers or fur? Sharp teeth or feet with claws? Whatever's preferred. Just kidding, every word in this song's about two grown men dressed up as a bird and a dog. How are you feeling? Yeah, good, thank you. What's going on? Nothing. I'm just sort of thinking how has this got legs going forward? With a podcast? Yeah. What, you think I'm going to vent off and do my own country music one? Yeah, well, if you were to do a solo podcast, because obviously I've got one, but it's not really solo. I don't know what I'd do. People prefer mum to me and people prefer you to me on this.

0:50Romesh Ranganathan:That's not true. And people prefer Rob to me on Rob and Romish versus. I'm starting to wonder if I am the dud in everything I do. No, you're not. No, you're not. that's how you do it at Amazon with all the influencers you're the best thing I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind that I'm I basically do a number of projects in which I'm the weakest link in all of them literally yeah wow you're not the weakest link in the weakest link you're the strongest thing in that show by a long way well I'm the host it's not it's not a huge compliment

1:24depending on who's on I guess yeah that episode with Kate Garroway Garras yeah the Radio 2 special

1:34how's Radio 2 you're the best thing on that no not by a long shot well you think Sally's better than you

1:40Romesh Ranganathan:I think Sally's better than me on my show yeah Sally Traffic is very funny actually yeah there you go she's really sweet isn't she what a lovely person yes we all know about your fetish she's always got a gift with her isn't she what do you mean every time I've been there she's got a gift which is nice what do you mean she's always given me a gift like some food or a little drink or something. Does she? Yeah. Sally Traffic. Always gives you a gift. Yeah, when I asked her, she got some donuts. Right. That wasn't her. I wasn't at her? No. She's just taking credit. Yeah, that was from the head of Radio 2.

2:11Romesh Ranganathan:Oh, okay. And they weren't for you. I had three. So your interpretation of that is that Sally gave you some donuts. Yeah. Yeah, they were for the presenters. Well, she offered me the donuts. Okay. And you had three? Yeah. Because I was waiting for ages. That was for the whole of the Saturday team. I was so hungry. I had breakfast before I got there. Right. I got there and also I get quite anxious that I'm going to sort of, you know, it's a lot to live up to when I'm on Buddy Red. Do you know, by the way, I haven't told you this. Yeah. Because I know you don't listen to the show. Do you listen to the show?

2:45Romesh Ranganathan:No, yeah. Saturday mornings I'm playing football, taking grace to football. Yeah, yeah. So do you know you did a jingle? Yeah. I start every show with that jingle now. You're joking. I'm not. Are you? No, I'm not joking. Well, the Bridges one, do you? That Bridges one is insane. I wonder if I can... The Bridges one is one of the... It got produced up. Let me see if I can find it. It got produced up. Sorry, we can... That's the worst thing you can hear. No, we used all your vocals, but we added a bit of... Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for a radio revolution. Rubbish, Rick Nathan, the double R on radio.

3:16Wow. Fun, music, laughter, and a guy that cares. That's why I can't...

3:24Romesh Ranganathan:Every week we start a show like that. Wow, that is pretty... So thank you very much, Tom. How does that make you feel? I'm going to be quite honest with you. That's a hell of a legacy. Yeah. Bane that together. That was one take. Yeah. The Bridges one was a hard act to follow, by the way. Yeah. But will you start the show every week? Well, that's an incredible thing. So thank you very much. Thank you. What were you talking about, Tom? I slightly need to talk to Flo about if there's money in that. Hmm. Yeah. Well, are you owed money when I really had to convince people that you were big enough to come on?

3:56you get some big hitters on there i will say that i will say that you've got some big hitters

4:01Romesh Ranganathan:um you have that place at your disposal yeah yeah anyway the point is i'm not the biggest thing at radio 2 you're not the no but no you can't i'm the you actually no you've got to be close now i'm the dud you're not the dad i'm the dad i'm the dad i don't want to no in fact can i say you know you know i'm retiring you're like the that you're playing it a little bit there You're playing it there. I'm not playing it. You know I'm retiring soon. You're not retiring. I think the dud would be a good tour show. That would be a good tour show. Because it won't be a dud. The dud. I think you're very harsh on yourself.

4:35I think you're an incredibly talented person. You're very harsh on yourself. Yeah, but rightly so. I have to be. Why? Because I'm fucking... Look at how good you look. I'm not eating enough. Because at the moment I'm fucking... I'm literally... I'm like Cinderella at my house.

4:50Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, what's going on at your house now? so obviously we've heard about Well I've not been able to foray into my journey of becoming like a country music like countryphile You've always been a countryphile to me

5:04I've not been able to slip inside that quite as much as I'd like just because Are you doing it on purpose? No because at the moment Catherine's at her operation completely feet up bed bound

5:17Romesh Ranganathan:Her toe will return to completely normal Yeah Well, no, never completely what it was. Tendons, yeah, if she's really lucky, but there's a lot of rehab to do. Okay. No driving. So I'm doing everything. So you're really going to have to learn to drive, aren't you? I think I might have to. Actually, by the way, yeah, that's a shout out. If anyone is out there who could, so I've looked into it a bit, and being a giant, it's almost impossible to get a car that I can fit in to drive. You're not a giant, though, are you? I am, actually, by the way. Can I say, I was with Rob Beckett the other day. He measured me.

5:48I've said for years I'm 6 '7", I'm 6 '8".

5:51Romesh Ranganathan:It's funny you say that because I had to have a medical the other day and they told me I was 5 '9". You're not 5 '9". No way. That's what they told me. You're taller than that. You always feel really big to me. Yeah, but I always thought you were 6 '3 or 6 '4". I thought I was 6' dead on. Yeah, but I've always had you down because people used to call you Big Rom. So I've always like... Who called me Big Rom? Nobody called me Big Rom. Jay used to call you Big Rom. They'd call you Big Man. like yeah yeah big man he calls everyone big man if he couldn't remember he didn't remember my name for the first four seasons that's where big man comes from 6 '8 yeah yeah so I've shut up a bit you're 6 '8 that's good that's probably all the exercise you're doing and the diet no I think it's I don't know what it is I'm getting into a very tricky situation where the boys now I've been I've been holding off and I've been denying it yeah we're now getting to the stage where both not just Theo Alex now and Charlie's I am going to be like that talking to my sons and you lose any kind of fucking it's over man yeah any kind of by the way Theo's got a coolness about him Alex yeah he does because you have got a coolness about you you have you have got a coolness it's probably 90 % from Lisa but you have got a coolness about you Alex has got Alex by the way I adore Alex but Alex is like a bit more he's got he could be chippy which I adore I've heard his voice notes Alex, it's going to be very hard when Alex gets taller than you.

7:21Alex, you'll have to hope that that respect holds on. Charlie, an absolute save, by the way. Yeah. This summer, no excuses. Double down when everyone else disconnects. At Equinox, that's high-performance living. Science-backed training, real results. Start today at equinox.com.

7:42Romesh Ranganathan:Hello. Look what TJ Maxx dragged in. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is now streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu. We are digital. We are downloadable. We are streamable. The fashion event of the year is certified fresh. Pull yourself together. We have work to do. Critics say it's smart and witty and the perfect sequel. That's all. Get runway ready for The Devil Wears Prada 2 on Disney Plus and Hulu. Rated PG-13. Here's a little story about Alex. hit me I can't have favourites I love his boys but he is your favourite isn't he Alex has just got something about him that makes me so we've got a bit of a situation at the moment where Alex is on his electronics sort of late into the night so he waits for us to go to bed and he's like doing TikToks and stuff like that which there's a social media band coming so I don't know what he's going to do about that social media band for under 16 yeah oh my gosh so anyway how old is he now 14 yeah two tough years coming so every night when it's bedtime he brings in his phone and his iPad and he puts him in our room right and then he goes to bed two nights ago Lisa wakes up because she hears what she thinks is an intruder Alex is crawling on the floor past the bed to get his iPad back oh my god I know so now we don't know what the hell to do that's addiction well Well, he...

9:12By the way, her protocol wasn't to wake you with you. And we talked about this the other day on the podcast. So she didn't wake you. She checked to see if it was an intruder or...

9:19Romesh Ranganathan:Well, no, she didn't. No, she discovered it was Alex pretty quickly. Otherwise, I think I would have been waking up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the point is... Did she wake you up about Alex? No. That's good of her. No, she told me the next day. So... Lisa is a saint, by the way. Yeah. She didn't wake you up and go, guess what Alex has done? She's like, I'll let him sleep. I think she prefers me when I'm asleep actually you're a lovely sleeper we've got one of those marriages where actually being unconscious that's when it gets really charming it's the waking hours who talked to you about this you or Lace well we're trying to figure out what to do about it I said to Alex we now are in a situation where we can't trust you oh you didn't say that I did wow well it is broken our trust hasn't it yeah it has but that's yeah so I said we can't trust you so now I'm thinking to myself I said to him now I don't know what to do because I can't hold you you should never say that well no listen hear me hear me out I said I don't know what to do because I can't hold you to your word now right because you it's like he's living in Game of Thrones you're like by the way I love this side of you this is quite sexy no but I just said to him sexy by the way now by the way with this tone you've got a good kill what he is of Alex respecting you you're using words like yeah I don't fucking trust your word.

10:36Stop fucking being in a Scorsese movie. I mean, no, but what I'm saying is... You know what? I'll tell you, Alex. I don't know if I can trust your word anymore. I don't fucking... I don't think I can hold you to what you say, kid. That's fucking cool. Yeah, Alex is like, hey, hey, pop, pop, pop. Come on, pop. I make one mistake, huh? I make one mistake. You got to hold me to that? You hold me to that? I ain't got no other options. Shut up. Shut the fuck up. You shut up. Your mother wakes up in the dead of night. She thinks we got an intruder in the hole. She's too scared to even wake her father or her husband.

11:12Oh, God. She's too scared to wake me. Then she sees you slithering across the floor. How do you think that makes her feel? How do you think that makes me feel? Pop, pop. One more try, man. One more try.

11:24Romesh Ranganathan:That's great. Yeah. Do you need me for the rest of this? No, I do. Yeah. Anyway, so I said to him, now I'm in the thing where have I got to physically separate from this stuff like by putting it in a safe I said to him this is mad we all know you've got four or five big safes in your house for your money yeah I don't this is something I should tell people it's probably a dangerous thing to say I don't believe in bank accounts and so we just we have this big sort of money vault and I jump into it at the end of the day like Scrooge McDuck the house of actor and comedian Romesh Ranganathan was burglary last night we keep it in Sri Lankan rupees because it's more notes.

12:04Romesh Ranganathan:It just looks more impressive. It's a nightmare getting to go to the bureau de chambre every time you want to buy something. Why don't you just get loads more of this? Yeah, but I jump in at the end of the night. Sorry, I know it's inconvenient, but I like to jump in at the end of the day. I've got what is called a money room, and I know that makes me inaccessible to a lot of the people in Crawley. Oh my god. Guys, isn't it a nightmare when you're trying to pick which currency to keep your money room in? Am I right? you know when you pick your swimming trunks that you're going to wear to the money room there's a joke about trainers so yeah it's a bit of a it's a bit of a tricky one actually wow this is an advertisement from better help now anyone who listens to this show regularly knows that mental health comes up a lot and that's not accidental something we both think matters and every time it does come up we get messages from people saying it helped them feel less alone with something they were going through.

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13:22Romesh Ranganathan:So we are delighted to be working with BetterHelp because having access to a qualified professional, someone to actually talk through what's going on with, makes a real difference, not just in crisis, but for everyday stuff too, the things that build up. And the numbers back that up. Over 6 million people globally have used BetterHelp. BetterHelp therapists have at least three years and 1 ,000 hours of hands-on experience and hold all the required qualifications and certifications. There are over 30 ,000 of them worldwide, covering everything from work stress to relationships to major life changes and you can fit it around your schedule whatever your week looks like there are flexible ways to connect that work around it which honestly is the bit that makes it actually doable rather than just another thing you mean to get around to but don't if you've been thinking about therapy better help can help you take the first step sign up and get 10 off at betterhelp.com slash wolf owl that's better h-e-l-p dot com slash wolf hour this summer no excuses double down when everyone else disconnects at equinox that's high performance living science back training real results start today at equinox dot com

14:40what's going

14:41Romesh Ranganathan:on at your house can I say we've had a bit of this with grace well more of the so at the moment it's full on it's you know cleaning cooking all the meals making sure everyone's okay um and so then i said to grace like you know but she's she's got she's got a very silly side to her yeah no she's a she's a mickey taker right so the other day i was giving her a bath she's messing around in the bath and then she tries to throw water on katherine's uh cart foot cast i said we can't do that you shouldn't do that she did it on purpose yeah right and then she just sort of looks at me like that or whatever.

15:18And then I was like, so then I had to pull her aside and say, look, one mummy's ill and one mummy's... Look, your mother's ill. Your mother's fucking ill. Hey, we got a problem with your mother here. We don't know if she's going to make it. Her foot comes off of a sudden... Daddy's going to go and find her wife with two feet. So I said, look, we need to help Daddy out and not... But, you know, when I say to you not... And she was trying to do a thing where she was dropping into the bath and slipped and nearly fell over in the bath. So I'm like, look, I'm all up for you having, but you've got to be careful because mummy can't get you out if you fall in the bath.

15:54We're all up for you having a good time, sweetheart. Yeah. Get a little bit out of control.

15:59Romesh Ranganathan:I know you've seen dad do it a lot. Dad makes his money from being an idiot. This is how, if you can monetise it, you do it. But until then, you've got to be a good girl. Alex, Robbins' boy Alex, he's got himself a phone and he's making money out of being a wallet. and she just sort of shuns it up I had an awful recently the cat even you know like you realise that nothing no one in the house has any respect for you so our cat doesn't like me he loves Grace he loves Catherine it's like an alpha thing I don't know do you have this with Reggie the dog so in our house Reggie prefers Lisa Ivy prefers me yeah well Mary won't you know he'll sometimes walk behind me on a side I love him and he'll give me a little scratch and then yeah he just he's not having me so a couple of nights ago it's your musk or something i just think it's an alpha thing and i'll be sitting with kathy he believes he's the husband and father of the house yeah yeah and in a lot of ways he's a lot more respected than i am yeah um he gets out he's a house cat and he gets out there like he snuck out through the window and i'm trying to reason with him at midnight what sort of things are you saying i'm going come on mate come on come back through these just sat there staring at me no no no no no and then i'm going come on like please please mate please don't run off his foxes down you don't want to get in this is quite sad you don't you know it's pathetic you don't want to get in a row of the fox fox is horrible come on mate come in come in and he literally just walks like he's going to jump off the edge and then walks back then i try and grab him and he jumps out and now i'm half out the window and I had to wait caffeine and go he may always kind out the window and he won't listen to me and she's not for crying out now literally she walks out like goes into window in her crutches and goes Mary come here and he did she comes running and jumped in the window

17:54Romesh Ranganathan:that's a bad look for you yes yeah he's got no escape for me it's completely emasculating. He's like, you look pathetic in that. Yeah. I spend most of my life looking pathetic. Yeah, it is. Yeah. And that's what I'm saying. Like, Catherine's got up onto a crutch. I wish to God I was as brazen as you to, like, sleep through this ordeal that Lisa went through. And then the next... I don't think brazen is the right word. Right. No, but the next day, you garn so much respect in that house because of your speech. That speech you did. But no, but... Your wording that you said to Alex, by the way, is laying no fucking...

18:28There's no mistake in the house who the alpha is in that house. No, there is.

18:32Romesh Ranganathan:No, there's not. No, because... You say things like that. Yeah, but I've not done anything to back it up. You don't need to when you use dialogue like that. The most terrifying characters you see in films, the best characters, the best villains, right, are the ones who can just say it with words and a look. Yeah, you can have Thor or whatever you call it, the one with the big hand out of the Marvel movies. Thanos. Yeah, right? Yeah, he's smashing. I wouldn't say that, look, I don't want to get too nerdy, but I wouldn't say Thanos with the glove and all the Infinity Stones could be beaten by somebody with a harsh word.

19:04Oh, so you don't think Don Corleone would turn around and go... Do I think Don Corleone would beat Thanos? Not in a fight, but I think Don Corleone, if they're standing there together, Thanos is questioning his fucking motives if he's up against Don Corleone.

19:19Romesh Ranganathan:I mean, there's no point having this conversation. But there is. Well, the fact that you're saying this, you've got no idea what Thanos' motivations are. Well, I know the Marvel characters all beat Thanos in a fight, right? Right. Did that not go down like that? Well, it depends which film you're talking about. I've not watched any of them. Okay, so why are we having this discussion? Because I've watched clips. Right, and what's your take from the clips? Well, that Thanos, like all the superhero films, it's like, oh, fucking hell, we can't beat this guy. I've got an idea. And that's pretty much every superhero movie.

19:52Romesh Ranganathan:He wipes out half the universe's population. oh okay i didn't know that okay yeah but that's not yes he beats them yeah he beats half of them but then half the half of the universe is dead yeah but then yeah but then they weren't going fucking hell got away with that one no half the universe yeah but the half that live are going spider-man turned to ash and disappeared spoiler for christ's sake for infinity wars if you've not watched it by now i actually might i that is what i'm thinking about doing when i've got a bit of time to myself right is watching all the marvels okay well now I know the end of spider-man I'm going fucking oh yeah this bit was ruined that's not the end of spider-man oh has he got well now it's even fucking ruined twice now isn't it why well he gets ash and then he comes back yeah I mean you should have watched this by now there's a blip five years they're off and then they figure out a way to defeat Thanos what they're five years off that's fucking what they're essentially emergency services oh fucking hell this guy's going to destroy the universe when they come back Yeah, thanks for saving us.

20:52We lost our cousins, Jizz, when you were having five years off.