After a sold out debut season last year, Nish Kumar is back in New Zealand to give us more of his signature left-leaning, topical comedy. In this year’s offering, his commentary focused particularly on the themes of history, colonialism and capitalism.
Kumar treats the stage as his personal soapbox, conveying his brilliantly perceptive observations in the form of a running diatribe. From current affairs to popular culture and everything in between, he tackled them all in rapid succession and to superb satirical effect.
Hipster trends, gentrification, his idea for a Friends remake – these were just some of the things that got examined, mocked and ranted about. Some of his opinions were a little incongruous but always unmistakably witty and often punctuated with some really excellent punchlines.
Much of the entertainment came from witnessing Kumar unravel around certain topics. He would get increasingly animated and worked up but what was impressive was how he managed to strike the right balance of being relatable and cleverly facetious without appearing to be ‘just a raving lunatic’.
Back with a New Show is a sharp, energetic and frenetic hour of intelligent, insightful discourse that is highly accessible and frequently funny. His style may not suit everyone but if you do enjoy political humor that is also thought-provoking, you can’t go wrong with this show.
Nish Kumar is performing at the Classic at 8:30pm until April 30th then from May 3rd – 7th. For more details and to book tickets, click here.
comedy | theatre | live entertainment | performing arts 