Straight Outta Crawley: Memoirs of a Distinctly Average Human Being by Romesh Ranganathan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book’s subtitle is memoirs of a distinctly average human being. I am pleased to report that the memoir itself is slightly above average. The book shows in detail how hard it was for him to make it as a stand up. From humble beginnings to Maths teacher and finally a comedian. He also mentions what actually causes his right eyelid to be “lazy” or droopy: an infection as a child. He admits there’s no actual deviation there. He mentions, how he is often critiqued about talking about race too much. He responds on two counts. First, it’s up to him what he talks about, and given he is Asian, he’s hardly going to talk about being white is he? Two, if what he talked about wasn’t funny market forces would put him out of business.

My boss was shouting about how he had let down the school, his parents, himself … It was all very standard except that the boy, apart from looking sorry for himself, kept farting loudly every thirty seconds or so. What confused things further was that the lad kept apologizing, but I couldn’t figure out whether it was for what he had done or for the farts. My uncertainty was settled when my boss said, ‘Now go to bed or the toilet, or whatever the hell you have to do!’

‘Can somebody explain to me why somebody as unfunny as @RomeshRanga keeps managing to get on TV?’ And then I feel the warm glow of knowing that my very existence is making that person angry. The rage might even shorten their life. I feel so fortunate.

Have you watched any Eddie Murphy recently? It’s still amazing if you’re a fan of homophobia.

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