The Mash Report, the satirical news show hosted by Nish Kumar, will return to TV on Dave after it was axed by the BBC earlier this year.
The comedy channel confirmed today that nine episodes of the show, retitled as Late Night Mash, are due to air later this year.
The video posted on Twitter as “breaking news” shows various demands for the show’s return on social media, before culminating with Kumar saying: “We’re coming back on Dave? Really? Alright, fine, I guess.”
The comedian added: “Mash is rising from the dead. I’m not saying I’m Jesus, I just look more like him than most images would have you believe.”
Regular contributors Rachel Parris, Geoff Norcott and Steve N Allen will also be returning for the new series. See the full clip below.
BREAKING NEWS
— Dave (@davechannel) July 28, 2021
The BBC axing came after the corporation’s director general Tim Davie, who took up the position last year, said he wanted to enforce a “radical shift” to better represent the UK. However, he dismissed reports that he wanted to cull comedy shows seen as too left-wing as “ridiculous”, though added that he wanted “to nurture brilliant writers from all kind of perspectives”.
However, in an interview with The Observer in May, Kumar said that the BBC should not let claims that it was scrapped to pander to right-wing critics stay unchallenged.
“The concern for me is that it’s a useful myth for Tim Davie to have out there, because it placates the British right. It gives the sharks a bit of blood,” he said.
“If the BBC does not say something publicly to make it clear they were not reacting to the political content of the show, it will set a bad precedent,” Kumar added. “It may well stop people pitching new programme ideas. It is not about any reassurance they may have privately given me since.”
The post Nish Kumar’s ‘The Mash Report’ set to return on Dave appeared first on NME.
