How has developing this show at the Edinburgh Fringe prepared you for your tour?

The thing about the Fringe is that it reduces the variables. Seminal for me was splitting an hour in 2010 with Daniel Simonsen, now the toast of New York comedy. Day three or something, I was doing a joke that didn’t work and he asked why. I realised that because you’re in the same room, same time every day, the only thing to think about is the material. Improve it or discard it: you can’t blame anything else.

What would you say to people actively avoiding the news right now?

I wouldn’t say they are incorrect. I don’t even know how to engage with the enormity of Gaza, race riots on the streets and the breaking of all kinds of global average temperatures. The problem is that vested interests thrive in an atmosphere of apathy. Disengagement facilitates the worst, most toxic elements in politics. So I’m urging people to try. At the same time, as someone with a politics podcast, there’s an obligation on the media. We can’t just despair at low voter turnouts or shout at people about their great-grandparents fighting and dying for their rights. We have to make the case for participatory democracy now. If you look across Europe, that case is currently not being made strongly enough. The Bolsonaro years in Brazil, Trumpism in America; a groundswell of autocracy is building up around the world and we really need to push back against it. Because apathy, historically, leads to a very dark place.

Are you disappointed then that more comedians don't talk about politics?

I get that you can’t just tear up a year’s worth of work to engage with the news. It’s also been quite a weird half decade to do political comedy; I’ve certainly, at points, borne the brunt of that strangeness. I can perfectly understand why someone might look at the grief we got for The Mash Report and say, ‘you know, I don’t want any part of that shit’. Why would you do comedy about politics when the blowback is so severe? The whole country runs on not upsetting the Daily Mail or The Sun.

Speaking of blowback, there’s some blue-on-blue fire in Nish, Don't Kill My Vibe, directed at the likes of Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais…

I just think it’s strange when some very high-profile comedians are starting to align themselves with quite culturally regressive forces. With Jimmy, I’m less concerned about the things he says on stage. I don't think he should be doing Jordan Peterson’s podcast. With Gervais, The Office remains a masterpiece but in terms of his current act, it feels like he’s reheating Bernard Manning. There’s a joke he made about illegal immigrants in his last special that would play pretty well at a Trump rally. Maybe Jimmy, Ricky and I are two different sides of a philosophical dispute about the function of comedy, for which there isn’t a right answer. I have the self-awareness to know I’m not necessarily right. But it boils my blood. I really don’t know what Gervais’ problem is with the transgender community but I’m now sort of past caring. The one that really gets me is Dave Chappelle. He keeps saying these are just jokes and the comedian has no responsibility. But Dave, the reason that people like me loved you is that you told us it does matter. The reason he walked away from that insane [reportedly $50million] Comedy Central deal was because he didn’t like the way that white people laughed at his jokes about race. I was a teenager then. And he’s the reason that I think what’s said on stage does matter.

You’re also shit-talking James Acaster and Ed Gamble…

I hope people can see there’s a substantial difference between how I talk about the two Jameses, Acaster and Carr. There’s a lot of affection there. I find it very funny that I’m now watching James in Hollywood.

You’ve experienced a monstering in some quarters of the press and incessant attacks on social media. And yet you’re still making provocative jokes about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. You don’t feel inhibited at all?

No, I don’t. But I've had a lot of support. I see a therapist. I had a panic attack recently, a sort of after-effect of PTSD from the [incident where he was pelted with a bread roll at a charity gig] that I talked about in my last show, which was triggered by footage of the race riots. But I’m supported very well by my partner [comedian Amy Annette], my friends and the people I work with. After the riots, every person of colour checked in with every person of colour they know, about making space for the emotions you need to feel. I’m in a privileged position to be able to afford therapy when NHS waiting lists are horrendous, that's an important caveat. But I don’t like bullies. I don’t care whether the bully is Donald Trump or Ricky Gervais. I refuse to let myself be bullied by them.

Nish Kumar: Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe is on tour until Thursday 28 November.