Nish Kumar
Nishant Kumar (born 1985/1986) is a British stand-up comedian[2] and radio presenter. He hosts The Mash Report on BBC Two,[3][4][5] Hello America on Quibi[6][7][8][9] and has hosted BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical comedy show Newsjack,[10] the Comedy Central series Joel & Nish vs The World and the BBC Radio 4 programme The News Quiz.[11]
Nish Kumar | |
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Kumar in 2019 | |
Born | Nishant Kumar 1985/1986 (age 35–36)[1] Wandsworth, London, England |
Nationality | British |
Education | |
Occupation | Comedian |
Years active | 2004–present |
Known for |
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Website | nishkumar |
Early life and education
Kumar was born in Wandsworth in the mid-1980s and raised in Croydon, south London.[12] He attended St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington before reading English with History at Durham University.[1][13][14] He is of Indian descent.[13]
Career
Kumar performed with Tom Neenan as a double act, Gentlemen of Leisure, having met while students at the University of Durham and performed in the Durham Revue.[15][16]
He has been performing as a solo stand-up performer in shows since 2013,[17] including standing in for David Trent at the Charity Chuckle at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014. He also held a regular guest spot on Josh Widdicombe's Radio X show between 2013 and 2015, where he presented the feature, "Nishipedia". He has become increasingly well known for broadcasting and podcasting on topical news programmes.
- In February 2015, he was announced as the host for the twelfth series of the BBC Radio 4 Extra series Newsjack.[10]
- He has been a regular co-host[18] and nude correspondent [19] of The Bugle podcast since October 2016.
- His series Spotlight Tonight with Nish Kumar first aired on BBC Radio 4 in March 2017.[20]
- He was a guest on the BBC comedy show Frankie Boyle's New World Order in June 2017[21]
- In 2020, he hosted the first of 3 series of The News Quiz, with Angela Barnes and Andy Zaltzman hosting the other two series
He has performed solo Edinburgh shows since 2012:
- 2012: 'Who Is Nish Kumar?'[22]
- 2013: 'Nish Kumar Is a Comedian'
- 2014: "Ruminations on the Nature of Subjectivity".[23]
- 2015: "Long word... Long word... Blah Blah Blah... I'm so clever"[24] at The Pleasance Theatre, which continued as a UK tour running from October to December 2015.[25] The show was nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award.
- 2016: "Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Unless You Shout the Words Real Loud", which received a number of favourable reviews.[26][27][28] A joke from the show was featured in The Daily Telegraph's list of the 37 funniest jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe.[29] This show continued as a national tour.
As a live performer, Kumar has appeared at a number of festivals and events, including the Melbourne International Comedy Festival,[30] New Zealand Comedy Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival and the comedy tent at Latitude Music Festival. In 2017, he competed in series 5 of Taskmaster with Bob Mortimer, Sally Phillips, Aisling Bea and Mark Watson.[31] The same year, Kumar completed a six-part travel series for Netflix with fellow comedian Joel Dommett, titled Joel & Nish vs The World.[32] In 2018 he appeared on Netflix's Comedians of the World.[33]
He has also appeared as a guest on Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, Virtually Famous, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, Hypothetical, The Big Fat Quiz, Russell Howard's Stand Up Central, Sweat the Small Stuff, QI, Live from the BBC, The Alternative Comedy Experience and is a frequent guest on The Bugle.
In February 2019, it was announced he would be appearing in a new Sky One sport show, Comedians Watching Football With Friends.[34]
In December 2019, Kumar was booed off stage at a Christmas charity lunch event for the Lord's Taverners. The performance, for which Kumar was not paid, included political jokes on Brexit and colonialism.[35][36] Following the event, the Lord's Taverners released a statement emphasising the apolitical nature of the organisation and expressing that they did not support the behaviour of some members of the crowd,[37] which included booing, heckling and the throwing of a bread roll.[38] In response to the event, Kumar told The Guardian: "I'm sort of amazed by how fascinated people are by the whole thing. It's not the first time I've been booed off stage [...] I consider it the life of being a comedian – they have a right to boo me."[39]
In April 2020, Nish Kumar was announced as the host for the Quibi news series, Hello America.[40][9][8][6]
References
- Greenstreet, Rosanna (2 February 2019). "Nish Kumar: 'It was either comedy or being Jimi Hendrix'". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- "Nish Kumar". Chortle. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
- "BBC – BBC Two announces satirical news show The Mash Report (w/t) – Media Centre". BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
- "Politics has gone beyond satire – can the Mash Report catch up?". The Guardian. 18 July 2017. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
- "The Mash Report". BBC Two. 12 September 2019.
- Quibi - Hello America, retrieved 6 October 2020
- "Quibi announces satirical news show from British comic Nish Kumar". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- Tantimedh, Adi (10 July 2020). "Hello America: Nice to See Nish Kumar But a Baffling Quibi Choice". Bleeding Cool News And Rumors. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- Pedersen, Erik (23 April 2020). "Quibi Adds 'Hello America,' A Satirical News Show With Comic Nish Kumar". Deadline. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- "Nish Kumar to host Newsjack". Chortle.co.uk. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ."BBC – Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes and Andy Zaltzman to host The News Quiz – Media Centre". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- Khan, Coco. "My Favorite End: A Comedian's Guide to South London". New York. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- Maxwell, Dominic (21 September 2016). "Nish Kumar: 'It wasn't a masterclass in heckler response. It was a furious man reacting'". The Times.
- Laker, Chris (28 July 2017). "Who is Nish Kumar? Everything you need to know about the host of BBC Two's The Mash Report". BT Group.
- "Gentlemen of Leisure". Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- Humphrey, Florianne (13 June 2017). "The Durham Revue presents 'Allstars' review". Palatinate. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- Kettle, James (22 June 2013). "This week's new live comedy". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
- "About". The Bugle Podcast. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- "About". Who is Nish Kumar?. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- "Spotlight Tonight with Nish Kumar". BBC Radio 4. BBC. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- "Frankie Boyle's New World Order – Election Night Special". Retrieved 12 June 2017 – via YouTube.
- "Who Is Nish Kumar?". Nish Kumar. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
- "Nish Kumar: Ruminations..." Soho Theatre.
- "Nish Kumar: Long Word... Long Word... Blah Blah Blah... I'm so Clever, Edinburgh Fringe review: A trenchant and clear-sighted hour". The Independent. Independent Digital News & Media. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
- "Nish Kumar: Long Word..." The Pleasance Theatre.
- "Nish Kumar: Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Unless You Shout the Words Real Loud". Edinburgh Festival. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- Logan, Brian (17 August 2016). "Nish Kumar review – smart skewering from Britain's cheery clown-preacher". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- "Comedy review: Nish Kumar: Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Unless You Shout the Words Real Loud". The Scotsman. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- "Edinburgh Festival Fringe: the 37 funniest jokes". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- https://dailyreview.com.au/nish-kumar-melbourne-international-comedy-festival/41225/
- "Taskmaster: Alex Horne on series 5, casting, remakes, the future". Den of Geek.
- "Joel & Nish vs The World". Netflix. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- "Comedians Of The World: Nish Kumar – Very Clever Boy : Reviews 2019 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- "Comedians Watching Football With Friends – Sky1 Comedy". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
- "Comic Nish Kumar booed off stage at charity bash". BBC News. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- "Nish Kumar gets frosty reception at Lord's Taverners charity feast". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- "Lord's Taverners statement". Lord's Taverners. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- "Interview: Comedian Nish Kumar on Bread, Comedy, and Heckling". Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- "Nish Kumar gets frosty reception at Lord's Taverners charity feast". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- Holland, Patrick. "Hello, America host Nish Kumar tries to make sense of our dystopian nightmare". CNET. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
External links
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