Nish Kumar: People need The Mash Report for a laugh in dark times

There’s a video clip of Nish Kumar on Twitter, strumming a guitar and singing a few chords of Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue, but when asked about it, the comedian wants to make one thing clear: this is no attempt to launch a music career on the side.

Not that he needs to – the 34-year-old has enough on his plate, first and foremost the upcoming fourth series of the hit BBC Two satirical news show The Mash Report, which he fronts.

The series sees Kumar joined by other comedians including Rachel Parris – as the team lampoon the week’s news headlines. We speak (on the phone) about the upcoming series in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic – before it was confirmed the show will not have a live audience – but even then, Kumar is realistic about that possibility.

“My entire career has been building up to a TV show in front of a sparse studio audience,” he says lightheartedly. His tone shifts within seconds, and he explains: “There’s a reason we have studio audiences for these shows – it creates an atmosphere and gives the feeling in the room, but it’s a public health issue, isn’t it? So we’ll obviously just work around it as best we can.”

The BBC has also since announced that filming on EastEnders and top BBC dramas including Casualty, Doctors, Holby City and River City has been halted amid the coronavirus outbreak.

As such, the new series of The Mash Report will see the whole cast filming themselves at home. Kumar will be joined virtually by guests including Parris, Geoff Norcott, Ellie Taylor, Catherine Bohart, Desiree Burch, and Ahir Shah.

The show has cultivated a loyal following and clips such as Parris’ sketch titled How NOT to sexually harass someone became viral hits.

Kumar’s take on why the series has been a hit with British viewers is in part down to, he says, the need for people to have a laugh during dark times.

“I would say that there’s been a space for this for a few years; there’s certainly an audience for it. I think also in the last few years, the pace of change and the intense – at times weirdness – of current events... I think there’s an appetite to see people talk in a funny way about things that happen in the news, just because it’s been so chaotic the last few years.

“There’s definitely an appetite for people to watch something that engages with current events in a less serious way.”

The freedom to be more risque than other shows with how it tackles news events is an “exciting opportunity”, he says.

“Sometimes people are more receptive to listening to things if they’re presented in a funny and entertaining way. So you definitely understand that there’s an element to which you are able to get things across that people might not otherwise want to listen to – as long as you can package them up in an interesting and entertaining way,” he explains.

Speaking of entertaining, it’s time to get back to his impressive music skills and that Dylan video.

Music he says is “something that I absolutely love doing, but I’m aware that I’m pretty terrible at it”. The same can’t be said for his Mash Report prowess.

The Mash Report returns to BBC Two on April 3.