Comedian Nish Kumar has Cambridge in his sights

Comedian and television personality Nish Kumar certainly has a lot to say on the issues of the day, and he will be doing just when he appears at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on January 27.

The title of double Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Nish Kumar's latest tour, It’s in Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves, is not one of the star's personal musings, but rather a quote from the 1991 film Terminator 2, and in this new touring show are jokes and observations about politics, mankind’s capacity for self-destruction and whether it will eventually lead to the end of days.

Host of BBC2's The Mash Report, the comic's other television credits include Live at the Apollo (BBC2), Have I Got News for You (BBC1), Taskmaster (Dave), Live from the BBC (Netflix), QI (BBC2) and Joel & Nish vs the World (Netflix/Comedy Central - with Joel Dommett).

Speaking to the Cambridge Independent on a "day off" from The Mash Report, Nish says: "We've just done the first episode of the new series. It was good to be back in the chair and nice to see everyone - it's a really nice group of people."

London-born Nish, 33, seems busier than ever these days. "Yeah, I'm doing a lot of stuff," he agrees. "I've been very lucky the last couple of years to work on a lot of different types of things. I'm just grateful for whatever work comes my way."

On his latest touring presentation, Nish says: "It's a political comedy show about what's going on in the world. About an hour of the show is pretty fixed, and then there's space for improvisation.

"Things can change because obviously when you're trying to keep pace with what's going on with current events, it's got to have some room to kind of change things up.

"It's Brexit and Trump and it's about the situation that we've found ourselves in over the last couple of years, and maybe trying to trace the roots of how that happened.

"It's me looking at the kind of reckoning that's going on in my industry as well, so there's a bunch of different elements to it. But mainly it's a stand-up show by a man who's very concerned about everything."

Nish continues: "There's so much going on; there's Brexit, there's Trump, and also the behaviour of a lot of high-profile men in the public eye has been found to be absolutely unacceptable. A lot of the show is about how the world is blowing up and how I feel about that. Spoiler alert, not good."

The entertainer, a guest on the BBC's Question Time last Thursday (January 10), is a big fan of Terminator 2, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is why he turned to it when deciding what to call the new production.

"I really love that movie," he explains, "and it seems very relevant given what's going on. I had that line - 'It’s in Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves' - rattling around in my head a lot."

Nish says It’s in Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves is "a lot angrier" than his previous shows.

"I always felt like I had to be more measured before," he says, "but a stand-up show is really just a snapshot of how you're feeling at that moment in time, and I don't feel particularly calm or measured - I feel frustrated and angry and so that bubbles over on stage."

Nish notes that the first "full blown" version of the show was actually at The Junction in September, where he found audience members of a similar mindset.

"I'm coming back for a second go in Cambridge," he says. "So far, I've been drawing some pretty like-minded people, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the new year."

Nish Kumar will be appearing at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Sunday, January 27 at 7.30pm.

Tickets: £25.50 (tickets include a £3 booking fee)

cornex.co.uk