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Romesh Ranganathan: ‘I’ll stop talking about race when I stop experiencing racism’

Is it OK to tell Irish jokes in a fake Sri Lankan accent? The comedian on talent shows, trolls and his right to offend

My first ever gig was at a Pontins holiday camp when I was nine. It had a talent competition and I decided to enter as a standup, with a book of jokes from which I took all of my material. A lot of the jokes seemed to have no problem playing with the stereotype of Irish people being stupid. They were incredibly racist, but the bigger crime here, comedy-wise, was that my set was entirely built on stolen material.

There was a joke about a man buying a Rolls-Royce who is a bit short of cash. He goes out into the street to see if someone can lend him 10p to make up the price. He bumps into an Irish man – we know he’s Irish, because his name is Paddy. Paddy says, “Here’s 20p. Buy me one as well.”

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