On 5th January 2026, a new episode of the podcast Romesh Ranganathan Show was broadcast in which the charismatic vegan comedian interviewed another famous vegan comedian, Ricky Gervais, who recently donated almost £2.5 million from his “Mortality” stand‑up tour to a range of animal protection organisations.
In the episode available on YouTube, Ranganathan said that they had in common that they were both vegan because they loved animals. Gervais said he has been vegan since 2020, and when asked how he found it, he said the following:
“I find it pretty easy. Sometimes you’re on a plane and even the bread’s got milk in it, but that’s rare. You do have to plan ahead. Or I take protein bars with me just in case. But honestly, if you’re in control, I think it’s easy. And I did it quite gradually. As I say, I went veggie, and then I cut out eggs when I found out about eggs. And then I cut out cheese, which probably was my favourite food”
When talking about fake meats, Gervais said, “Vegan hot dogs. You can’t tell the difference. You know, it’s a hot dog, right? But then it’s like the mustard, and the ketchup, and the bread, and the onions. No one’s going, ‘There’s no anus in this!’. They can’t really tell the difference. They are so good now, that I have a really good plant burger and I go, ‘Sorry, can I just check if this…?” It’s great. I don’t even like vegan things being too realistic. It makes me a bit squeamish, you know. But they’re so good. They’ve got chicken fillets now, so I go, ‘How is that not chicken?’ But it’s great because it’s guilt-free. It’s probably better for you. You have got to be a bit careful. You’re not out of the woods, health-wise. Look at me, I’m still fat… there’s this amazing documentary. I think it’s called ‘Live to 100 blue zones’. This guy, basically, his whole life has been researching certain areas around the world called blue zones, where people live to like 95 or 100, and he looked at what they had in common. And it was usually a vegan diet or an organic diet. Because a bad vegan diet is worse than a non-vegan diet. If you live on nothing but plant burgers, you’re probably in trouble.”
The Romesh Ranganathan Show is a Ranga Bee Production in Partnership with Listen.
