Bio

Hari Kondabolu is a comedian, writer and podcaster based in Brooklyn, NY.

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.

 

SELECTED PRESS QUOTES

“Hari Kondabolu is one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Hari Kondabolu is a brainy comedian who cuts through the polite talk around race and gender.”
NPR
“This incorrigibly smart, rising comic exhibits a duality in his act that doesn’t seem quite plausible: He’s both political and fun…[and] deals in calmly reasoned polemics.”
TIMEOUT NY
“Scary smart and scathingly funny, the charming Hari Kondabolu’s one of the best stand-up comedians working today. He’s also one of the most relevant, with his hilarious comedy closely tied in to today’s not-so-hilarious headlines. You will go to this and you will laugh and you will laugh some more and then you will think about it for days afterward.”
PORTLAND MERCURY
“the comedian is not afraid to be confrontational and aggressive with issues that make people sweat—racism, sexism, classism, colonialism and white privilege—while putting his vulnerabilities onstage through jokes and anecdotes that turn discomfort into laughter.”
NEWSWEEK
“With jokes about racism, Indian stereotypes, and observations of all the mind-numbing things going on in the world right now, Kondabolu somehow manages to wrangle laughs out of some of the most infuriating facets of life.”
MASHABLE

QUOTES FROM OTHER ARTISTs

“Hari Kondabolu is the comedy equivalent of a punk rock concert that breaks out at a human right’s rally. He is a truly inspirational performer who is ahead of his time and is grabbing us by the lapels to catch up with him.”
—W. KAMAU BELL
“Hari Kondabolu is intelligent, insightful and hilarious – a true comic genius.”
—MARGARET CHO
“Of all the comics named Hari, Hari Kondabolu is the best.”
—CHRIS ROCK
“Hari Kondabolu is punk as fuck.”
—KATHLEEN HANNAH