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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

The Cynic

Romesh Ranganathan

Netflix · 2022 · 62 min

A tired father of three returns home to complain about everything.

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Romesh Ranganathan operates on a low-key domestic irritation that makes his misanthropy feel like a form of long-suffering affection. The centerpiece of this hour is an anecdote about a family trip to Brighton where his wife frantically searches for one of their missing sons, while Ranganathan stands by, daydreaming about what he can do with the spare bedroom if the kid is gone for good.\n\nAt this point in his career, Ranganathan was omnipresent on British television, hosting everything from travel shows to quiz reboots. This Netflix debut, filmed at the Hawth Theatre in his hometown of Crawley, serves as the final stop for his long-running “The Cynic’s Mixtape” tour. It was released alongside a mockumentary about his family’s complete lack of enthusiasm for his homecoming gig, which grounds the special’s focus on the exhaustion of midlife.\n\nHe spends much of the hour focusing on domestic friction, whether he is watching his wife find inventive ways to avoid sleeping with him or trying to pretend her breathing does not annoy him. He also steps outside the house to poke fun at performative environmentalism, the hipsters of nearby Brighton, and racism in British football, before returning to his preferred target: his own middle-aged enfeeblement.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Losing track of one of his sons on Brighton Beach.

    Explores the sheer panic where everyone instantly looks suspicious like Prince Andrew, before suspecting the child orchestrated the disappearance just to get an ice cream reward.

  2. Double standards and parasocial attraction involving Idris Elba.

    Contrasts his wife criticizing him for finding Emilia Clarke attractive in Game of Thrones with her vocal lust for Idris Elba while watching Luther, culminating in sitting next to Elba at an awards show feeling inadequate.

  3. Lockdown strain in married life.

    Mimes marital tension during pandemic isolation, comparing struggling for things to say to a spouse to staring at a blank page searching desperately for material.

  4. The Will Smith and Chris Rock altercation at the Oscars.

    Wonders whether the mostly white production crew avoided stepping in out of fear that intervening would impinge on Black culture.

  5. The reality of visiting pebble beaches.

    Mocks the agony of sitting on stones at Brighton Beach while pretending to enjoy proximity to the sea.

How it plays

Tone
Cynical, cutting, self-effacing, irreverent, and grounded in dark domestic humor.
On stage
Deadpan, cynical, and self-deprecating; puts himself directly in the firing line with earnest and relatable delivery.
Pace
Tight control of pacing with structured digressions and tangents that consistently weave back to core set pieces.
About
parenting and his three children, marriage and domestic routine, veganism, aging into his mid-40s, celebrity perceptions and parasocial attraction, luck in comedy vs meritocracy

What the critics said

Praised for transforming familiar domestic and marital observations into fresh, cutting comedy through strong craft, self-deprecation, and narrative discipline.

In the room: Packed-out and receptive hometown auditorium crowd.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedy.co.uk, romeshranganathan.co.uk, decider.com, deadant.co, thereviewshub.com, en.wikipedia.org, ontheradio.co.uk.

Backstory

Filmed in his hometown of Crawley across the final three dates of his 2019–2022 tour 'The Cynic's Mixtape', released accompanied by a 30-minute behind-the-scenes mockumentary detailing his family's lack of excitement about the special.

Details

Released
Taped
Hawth Theatre, Crawley
Runtime
62 min
Where
Netflix
Topics
Before
Irrational Live (2016)

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