Hackney Empire, London
There is real skill in making us laugh about things that are depressing. And the gags come thick and fast in the ex-Mash Report host’s touring show
Nish Kumar is angry. And why shouldn’t he be? The world is one big, damning catastrophe. So here the ex-Mash Report host is, in his trademark linguistically dextrous, mile-a-minute style, to run us through the current affairs and colonial-history hellscape. Yes, we get Donald Trump jokes. And yes, there’s more than one mention of how the internet has corrupted us all. But, God, does it feel good to hear someone, clearly enraged, scream the things this Hackney audience is, more than likely, also thinking.
He’s the UK’s leading lefty comedian – and for good reason. There is real skill in making us laugh about things that are, broadly, very depressing. Of course, Kumar knows he is preaching to the converted; he states plainly that his audience are a bunch of non-heckling, hand-raising “geeks” who are already on board with his views. Part of the show grapples with that discomfort; he believes passionately in standup as an art form – and it has made him big money – but for the first time, he’s wondered whether now is the right time for his usual political satire. Should we really be laughing when things are, well, this bad?
