‘I would rather have no career and live in a functioning country,’ says Nish Kumar-Asyia Iftikhar-Entertainment – Metro

The political comedian talks online trolls, election hopes and solidarity with Palestine (Picture: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)

When the UK government ‘dumped’ a July election on the nation Nish Kumar’s dreams of a quiet summer vanished into thin air as he got to work once more. 

The political stand-up comedian made a name for himself hosting the contentious BBC comedy series The Mash Report (later known as Late Night Mash on Dave). 

His satirical commentary poked fun at the Conservative government, provided biting analysis on the heels of the 2017 election, and navigated the public through yet another stormy election in 2019 which saw Theresa May demolish Jeremy Corbyn. 

As a vocally left-wing British Indian comic, Nish has found himself the target of vitriolic right-wing trolls online. But never was it worse than during the 2019 election period.

‘I don’t want to have a meeting with the police in any context ever again. But in December 2019 [the trolling] became so bad that we did have to involve the police,’ the comedian, 38, told Metro.co.uk.

The firestorm of hate fundamentally ‘changed’ his relationship with social media and he has been forced to take ‘professional measures’ to protect himself with the hopes of one day ‘extricating’ himself entirely.

The Mash Report flung Nish into the national spotlight (Picture: BBC/Endemol Shine UK)

He continued: ‘It is a sewer. Twitter [now X] was bad and then got markedly worse after Elon Musk took it over. I do think a big way that I handle it is by paying a therapist, that is genuinely a big part of it. 

‘I would love the temperature to come down a little bit in general, but more realistically I just need to figure out a way to not be on any of those websites.’

And he didn’t mince his words when discussing ‘professional trolls’ whose ‘business models [are] predicated on creating outrage.’

‘It’s purely a way of causing stress [by getting involved] with people like Laurence Fox because there’s no way to win that interaction. There’s no way to embarrass somebody who has no shame,’ he explained. 

And the anger isn’t contained behind the anonymity of a computer screen. Nish recalled the time one audience member ‘unplugged his microphone’.

The harassed comedian had some choice words for terminally online haters (Picture: Getty)

And he created an entire stand-up set, Your Power, Your Control, dedicated to the notorious 2019 charity gig where he had a bread roll thrown at him before getting booed.

Despite the fierce backlash, Nish shows no signs of stopping. 

In the past few years, the UK government has faced furious criticism for its handling of the cost of living crisis, the ongoing climate change debate and its involvement in the current Israel-Hamas conflict. 

As the Conservative trail woefully behind in the election polls [on a campaign Nish said he can’t remember ‘malfunctioning as badly as this one’] the comic has been gripped with an urgent need for change – no matter the cost. 

‘I’m so keen to see the back of this iteration of the Conservative Party, that it’s hard to focus on anything else,’ Nish explained. 

His satirical comedy has focused its fire against the Conservative government in recent years (Picture: Jane Hobson/REX/Shutterstock)

Shows gone by have never shied away from digging into the nitty, gritty of politics no matter how controversial from anti-Brexit spiel to pondering mankind’s self-destruction. 

Although his entire persona relies upon mercilessly tearing apart a failing state, for Nish the alternative is infinitely preferable.

‘If you told me that politics would function as normal and deliver an improved quality of life for the majority of people in this country [with] nothing to joke about I would say, fair enough. I’ll take that on the chin.

‘I would rather have no career and live in a functioning country.’

And he remains hopeful that a Keir Starmer administration wouldn’t spell the end of his career. 

‘I think people forget that comedy didn’t grind to a halt in the Blair years,’ the TV personality aptly pointed out.  

‘Not only did it not grind to a halt, it produced The Thick of It, which is such an enduring political satire that phrases from it [such as omnishmables] have entered the lexicon of political journalists.’

Nish has teamed up with Josh to immerse himself in local journalism with Sky series Hold the Front Page (Picture: Sky/Stuart Wood)

As the co-host of political podcast, Pod Save the UK, a regular comedy panellist, and co-presenter of Sky series Hold the Front Page with Josh Widdicombe which sees the pair delve into local journalism, Nish is a mainstay across UK TV and radio.

And he is currently using his wide-spanning platform to advocate for solidarity with Palestine, an area he believes ‘more needs to be done’. 

Although comedians such as Jen Brister are doing ‘really good, proactive work’, Nish slammed the majority of his peers for not speaking up. 

He said: ‘I’m surprised that lots of people I know that had very strong moral objections to Iraq now don’t seem to have those same moral objections.

He’s going back on tour in autumn with a brand new set he describes as a ‘catalogue of human misery’ (Picture: Amazon/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

‘The circumstances of this seem materially to be so similar to me. You have a terrible, terrible terrorist attack, that is awful which that is immediately followed by punishing a civilian population that had nothing to do with the terrorist attack.’

If anything, there are more issues than ever for Nish to tackle which is exactly the plan for his upcoming autumn tour Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe. Of course, the title is inspired by Kendrick Lamar lyrics. 

‘My stand-up setlists don’t look like an evening of comedy. It looks like a catalogue of human misery. I’d like to think there’s something funny about trying to make stand-up comedy out of the worst imaginable ingredients.’

He punctuated the statement with a bitter laugh. The itinerary for the fun-filled night includes ‘climate collapse, income inequality, and the emotional sensation of being a British Indian man who isn’t going to vote for a British Indian Prime Minister.’

Nish admitted there is no particular rhyme or reason to his routine curation, which probably made him ‘quite a bad comedian’.

‘For me stand-up is a way of processing and expressing the things that are just grinding around my head anyway. There’s no what I’m saying is there’s no skill or art in what I do.

‘Unfortunately, all I’m thinking about is income inequality, climate change, Gaza. I wish that my shows were more fun. I agree with all of the criticism of my work,’ he concluded.

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