Appearing on Sky Arts Late, Nish Kumar talks about how they made The Mash Report during coronavirus lockdown.

Sky Arts Late will air Tuesday 15th December 2020 at 9pm on Sky Arts, Freeview channel 11. Catch up on previous episodes on NOW TV / Sky On Demand.

Hosted by Tim Marlow from The Design Museum, the episode also features Oscar nominated Cynthia Erivo, Russell Tovey, Rufus Norris, Kate Maltby and musician Yungblud. Filmed at the iconic Sadler's Wells theatre in London, the episode also features special appearance from Sadler's Wells' very own Sir Matthew Bourne OBE.

Speaking about the charity gig he did a year ago in which he "dropped a couple of spicy meatballs, and they were poorly received by some millionaires", Nish Kumar says: "Almost exactly a year to the day I did a gig for a charity lunch and made some jokes about Brexit and Colonialism, and it was not my finest reception audience wise. I've certainly never had bread thrown at me before, or since, but that did happen. So, in conclusion, I hope to never perform to the British public again!"

On filming The Mash Report in lockdown:

"My producer, to his eternal credit, had absolutely no confidence in the Government's messaging, and he was correct! He had made a frantic, last minute plan. Our first episode was the first week of lockdown and they basically sent a camera to my house. A camera operator came, disinfected it in front of my house and then brought it in and set it up...I'm pretty sure my neighbours, who don't really know what I do for a living, think I've been making pornography. I'm about 90% sure, and why wouldn't they? If I was in their position, I would assume that I was making pornography!"

Positives / learnings from this year:

"I think one of the enduring things for absolutely anyone who works in television is that you have realised how little you contribute to the mechanics of a TV show getting made. I cannot tell you how long it took me to learn how to change a camera battery!"

On the Black Lives Matter movement:

"Big institutions have learnt the language of diversity so they know how to say the right things but I want to know what the policy follow up is going to be"

"I think what happened with the Colston statue in Bristol, this extraordinary moment where I see Britain reckoning with its own past, which historically we have not been fantastic at doing. We're very quick to make racism an American problem."

On the future:

"I think the pandemic itself, doesn't damn us into oblivion as an artistic community, but how we respond in the aftermath of this I think is going to define the next twenty or thirty years. I think in terms of access in the arts, that's a conversation we've needed to have for a long time. Race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic background - class is an obstacle in a lot of the arts."

Featuring

Nish Kumar

Self