Romesh Ranganathan receives ‘shameless’ gift from Rob Beckett during debut Radio 2 show
Romesh Ranganathan was presented with what he dubbed a “shameless” gift from Rob Beckett, the first celebrity guest on his new BBC Radio 2 show.
The fellow comedian gave Ranganathan a giraffe costume to wear during the London Marathon on Sunday (19 April), seemingly inspired by his forthcoming stand-up tour.
“I’ve got you a present Rom, to say well done on your new show and it’s just nice to get someone a present,” Beckett said.
“It’s a giant giraffe adult costume,” Ranganathan, 46, responded as he unpacked the gift.
“Let’s get to the bottom of that. I mean, it’s just absolutely shameless by you. You knew you’re gonna get a plug for your tour.”
Beckett also wore an inflatable giraffe costume to the Brit Awards last month as a promotional stunt for his tour.
He and Ranganathan star together in the Sky comedy series Rob & Romesh’s Vs; they hosted the Bafta TV awards together last year.
Ranganathan has taken over the Radio 2 Saturday morning slot from Strictly Come Dancing and Traitors host Claudia Winkleman, who left the station last month.
As he opened his debut show, the comic admitted he felt “very nervous’ and acknowledged that listeners would miss Winkleman.
“I don't know if you can tell, I'm very, very nervous because I'm excited. Saturday mornings with me and you, and I want to get to know you,” he began.
“I'm brand new to Saturday mornings. I know you guys will be listening to this slot thinking, 'Oh, am I going to miss Claudia?'
“We all will miss Claudia but I'm here to get to know you, and hopefully, you'll realise 'he's different, but he's still good'. So I want you to know a bit about me.”
Winkleman, who announced she was leaving her Radio 2 slot after 15 years on air in December, wrapped her final show in March as she fought back tears.
As Ranganathan prepared to take over, she sent him a special good luck message and apologised for the “chewed pens” she’d left behind.
“Listeners were very upset to see you leave Radio 2,” The One Show host Alex Jones told her last week.
“They aren’t upset, I can hear them cheering,” Winkleman joked. “[Romesh] is the funniest man alive, I cannot wait to listen to him.”
This week, Winkleman also offered up an interesting theory about why there were so many consecutive male “Traitors” on her hit BBC challenge show, The Traitors.
Additional reporting by Press Association
