Comic pelted with bread rolls for gig that was ‘like a Corbyn rally’
NISH KUMAR is no stranger to controversy. An avowedly Left-wing comedian who hosts the satirical BBC show The Mash Report as well as Radio 4’s The News Quiz, he has made a career of anti-Brexit wisecracks.
Raised in Croydon, South London, Kumar studied at Durham University, where he performed with the university’s sketch troupe.
He joined the stand-up circuit after graduating and quickly earned slots on Live At The Apollo and Have I Got News For You.
But Kumar’s partisan, highly political routines have divided audiences.
Last year, he was pelted with bread rolls and booed off stage after performing a string of Left-wing jokes at a fundraising event for The Lord’s Taverners, a charity that raises millions of pounds each year to support disabled and disadvantaged children through sport. The gig descended into chaos when Kumar claimed that anyone who had voted Leave was stupid.
‘He really went all-in, as if he was opening a gig at a Jeremy Corbyn rally,’ one guest said.
His Live At The Apollo appearance, which has been watched hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube, ends with a two-minute rant about the failures of housing policy which he concludes by saying: ‘I’m very clever.’
Similarly, Kumar has faced accusations of bias for his performances on The Mash Report. In one episode, he pointed out that the Spice Girls were reforming, adding: ‘I’m assuming they’re calling it the Brexit Tour because it relies on nostalgia, assumes that minority is scary and, when it comes down to it, the posh one is nowhere to be seen.’