NISH Kumar is one of the fastest rising stars in British comedy. Nish, one of the minds behind hit BBC show The Mash Report, and Rachel Parris went viral last year with their comedic take on world politics and social issues. His new show, It’s In Your Nature To Destroy Yourselves, is coming to Brighton. Jamie Walker spoke to him about it and what’s to come in 2019.

Nish Kumar

Brighton Dome, Brighton

Friday, February 1

You’re coming to Brighton soon. How have you been finding the tour?

Yeah, I’ve been really enjoying putting the show out there.

What can people expect from this show?

It’s a hard-wired hour about the state of play in the news.

I know that I will have to be continually adding to the show to keep up with what’s going on in the news.

So who knows what’s going to crop up by that time.

With the ever-changing world of news, is it a negative or positive when things change?

I think it keeps things lively and fun, I’d much rather news was normal, on a human level.

I wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that.

But it does keep you on your toes.

It must be great when news breaks and it fits into your routine?

The optimum situation is that western civilisation is not going down the toilet, that’s the dream.

Speaking of news we have to mention your role on BBC show The Mash Report. Clips from the show have gone viral. What is your reaction when you see that?

To be honest it was a mild bemusement.

You do these things, and with the nature of the show by the time it airs it’s already time to think about the next one.

We were really excited that it was resonating with people but there’s not a huge amount of time to get excited because you’re already planning the next show.

Once you’re in it and doing it you don’t have an idea.

It was only once the series ended that we really saw the impact it had.

We found out we’d been renewed after the series ended.

It was a really exciting time for us.

How much have you enjoyed making the show in general?

We love it, it’s a great group of people.

People like Rachel [Parris, fellow comedian] I’ve worked with for a decade, so it’s a great thing to be a part of.

I imagine it’s very different to any news bits that may be coming in this stand-up set?

The Mash Report is its own distinct and different thing.

Sometimes I will use the odd line I do in stand-up because it fits a situation.

But the premise of my monologues is that they have to be as relevant as possible.

How much do you prepare beforehand?

There’s very little prep work I can do.

The video technology team will start working on packages a couple of weeks before the filming starts.

When I’m back from the tour I stay across stuff but in terms of my content there’s very little prep I can do because it’s very current.

The week before filming started I was in the office the full week.

But it’s good to drop in and see what the producers are working on in the interim as well.

Your new tour is named after a famous line from Terminator 2. What was the thinking behind that?

I’m a massive fan of the film and it was just in my head.

When you name these shows you roughly know what you’ll be talking about and I thought a lot about that piece of dialogue.

Since Brexit and Trump I’ve thought about it quite a lot and it captures what’s going on at the moment.

We are, of course, talking because you’re coming to Brighton. What do you make of the comedy scene down here?

It’s a good comedy town.

Brighton has always been, since I started doing stand-up, a great place to do comedy.

The audiences are great and it has its own distinct comedy scene as well.

There are people I know well who have come through that scene – Seann Walsh, Romesh Ranganathan and Angela Barnes to name just a few.

They have all come through that system so it has got its own distinct comedy scene.

How important is that for any town or city?

I think it improves the quality of gigs in any town.

If you go to a place that has its own comedy scene it’s proof that there’s a thriving engagement for comedy.

Do you get time to go out and explore the places you play?

It depends venue by venue and where we’ve come from the previous day.

There are some places where we turn up early.

Sometimes I will get to a venue close to start time and make sure everything is OK.

With places like Brighton, if I have time I prefer to get there early and because I have a relationship with those places.

I know where I’d go for a coffee or something.

Being in stand-up as long as you have been, do you get used to knowing how certain crowds will respond to your comedy?

It can be tricky because you don’t like to draw generalisations based on regions.

Generally if you’re talking about Brighton it’s a bunch of leftie, hippie agitators.

You know who you’re dealing with, broadly speaking, in Brighton.

Especially the people that come and see me.

It can be hard to make generalisations but there are towns and cities where you know the audience is engaged and others where you never have any idea.

Why is this going to be the show to see?

It will be a real… just come and see it. I’ve been doing this too long to do anything else.

My family were already on the fence about this as a career option.

You don’t even have to laugh, just buy a ticket.

The Dome is a great venue, it’s very comfortable.

Just buy a ticket so my dad can stop telling people that I’ve been on a gap year for ten years.