THERE can’t be too many comedy touring shows this year revolving around the throwing of a bread roll. However, Nish Kumar’s Your Power, Your Control features the time he was on the receiving end of a baked-product hurling.

A star of British stand-up with a series of Edinburgh Fringe successes, Nish is also known for hosting Newsjack on the radio and The Mash Report on TV, as well as cropping up on everything from Question Time (twice) to Sunday Brunch (five times).

But success doesn’t mean you please everyone – and one non-admirer saw fit to chuck an oblong loaf in his general direction during an anti-Brexit routine he was delivering at the Lord’s Taverners charity Christmas lunch in 2019.

“I looked to my right and saw it rolling near me and I just had to say ‘Did someone throw a bread roll at me?’,” recalls Nish. “There was a table of comedians there and I saw Tim Key’s face through the darkness. He was just nodding at me.

“I think Chris Addison was having an argument with the bread thrower, but the identity of that person remains unclear to me.”

During Your Power, Your Control, Nish places the bread roll incident into the context of his worst five gigs ever. They include a night during his Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2012 when a seat was taken in his 50-seater room by Victoria Wood.

This national treasure – who he had long adored – was not especially rolling in the aisles, but also looked extremely displeased throughout.

“It’s like your nightmare day,” recalls Nish with a grimace. “I saw her when I walked on stage and in that venue she was too famous for all the attention in the room not to be fixated on her.

“I go to a show and know I’m very visible, I definitely do my best to make sure that it looks like I’m having a good time. Obviously, her having a bad time at my gig is a low career point for me.”

The title of his latest show is short compared with previous outings. “The long-winded title is my metier, that’s my brand,” Nish confesses. “I did have more long-winded titles in mind, but my therapist told me ‘you’ve got to focus on what’s in your power and in your control’.”

Nish Kumar brings Your Power, Your Control to G Live, Guildford, this Saturday 26 February.