*This project was supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a Division for the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Bio:
The NY Times called him “one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today” and described his 2018 Netflix special “Warn Your Relatives” as “an incisively funny and formally adventurous hour that reveals a comic in command of his powers.” It was named on many “Best of” lists, including for Time, Paste Magazine, Cosmopolitan, E! Online, and Mashable. He was also named one of 2018 “Comics To Watch” by Variety. He currently co-hosts the Netflix food competition show “Snack vs. Chef” with Megan Stalter.
In 2017, his truTV documentary “The Problem with Apu” was released and created a global conversation about race and representation. The Nation described it as “a devastating critique of the ultimate comedic sacred cow: The Simpsons.” It is now used in high school, college and grad school curriculums around the country.
Hari has also released two comedy albums, “Waiting for 2042” & “Mainstream American Comic” with legendary indie rock label Kill Rock Stars. Additionally, he has performed on Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show with David Letterman and among many others. He is also a former writer & correspondent on the much loved, Chris Rock produced FX show “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.”
A regular on the public radio, Hari is a regular panelist on the NPR game show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.” He was also a regular guest host on Midday on WNYC. As a podcaster, he co-hosted the popular “Politically Reactive” with W. Kamau Bell. Additionally, he also co-hosts what he politely describes as a “pop up podcast,” The Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Podcast with his younger brother Ashok (“Dap” from HBO’s Chillin’ Island and rap group Das Racist.)
Hari attended both Bowdoin College and Wesleyan University, graduating from the former institution with a B.A. in Comparative Politics. A former immigrant rights organizer in Seattle who worked under the leadership of now-Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Hari also earned a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics in 2008. He was the “Artist In Residence” at NYU’s APA Institute for the 2014-2015 Academic Year and at Shangri La Museum in Honolulu in 2018.
Transcript of radio interview:
Demia Avery: Let's start a little bit at the beginning. So I know you transferred from working as an immigrant rights organizer to a full-time comedian. How did that shift come about?
Hari Kondabolu: I mean, I always did comedy, like, from from high school onwards. And you know, when I was in college, I became politicized post-9/11, like a lot of us were seeing the amount of hate, violence, and deportations and detentions, of brown people around the country.
I was 19 when it happened, and by the time I was out of college, I wanted to make a change. I wanted to be part of a movement, and so I joined an organization in Seattle that worked with immigrants, victims of hate crimes, victims of workplace discrimination. And comedy was something I always did. I did in high school. I did it through college. It was not something I thought I could make a career out of. Just at the time, there weren't that many South Asians doing stand-up on that level. And so privileges of a college education and the ability to speak and to organize, so that's where I figured I should be doing with my life. So comedy was something I did at night. It was a stress release, it was a hobby. It was a passion, finding funny ways to express painful ideas or personal things – comedy was so liberating,
DA: And I'm glad you mentioned that, because I noticed much of your comedy addresses race, identity, and politics and things like that. How do you balance humor with the seriousness of your topics?
HK: I mean, the goal is to make people laugh, so if I'm not doing that, that alone tells me it's imbalanced, right? Like righteous indignation is not why people go to comedy shows. They go because they're going to laugh and they're going to be relieved of whatever stresses they're feeling in that moment, at least for an hour. It's my responsibility at the end of the day to make people laugh. And you know, you know when a joke isn't working, you can hear the silence. I don't mind hearing discomfort, because to me, the discomfort is a challenge. If I hear discomfort, that means the challenge is getting you out of that discomfort into laughter, or making you laugh despite the lack of comfort, the feeling of this is going too far, “I don't know how I feel about this. I've never thought about that idea.” You know, those are not bad things to tackle if it leads to laughs at the end of it. So to me, it's the balance is, is, are they laughing or not? And if they're not, that means I don't have the right balance that I need more punch lines.
DA: I was, again, while doing research, I said, “How is this man, how are you even resting?” Because you have the comedy, you have writing, and then you also are in podcasting.”
HK: Yeah, I mean, the thing that takes up most of my time is having a four-year-old to be perfectly honest – that's the part that makes it interesting. Like, how am I resting with a four-year-old? Is we're in an interesting era where we're able to create our own jobs, right? Like, being able, like, I've created my own job, like, I'm a comedian, I'm a panelist on NPR, on “Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me,” I'm a podcaster. I've made a film. I've done all these different things. What it also means is that there's no central thing. It means that you constantly have to be on your grind, and you have to work on your projects, and you have to be self-directed. And, you know, a lot of this new hour that I'm going to be doing in Wilmington is about the choices to do things for money because I have a child. And the idea of being cute about what I'm picking, “I'm only going to do this kind of thing. I refuse to do that.” That's fun when you don't have a kid. When you have a kid, it's like, “how much are you paying me? Is this enough to pay rent?” And it's such a different way of viewing art.
DA: Well, listen, we want to thank you so much Hari for interviewing with us today, and we're going to let you get to get you a little rest before you get out and do your thing.
HK: Oh, my God, thank you. I'm so excited about this Friday and Saturday night. I cannot tell you. So thank you so much for having me.
