Hari Kondabolu

Hari Kondabolu is a comedian, writer and podcaster based in Brooklyn. 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.” The special was
named on many “Best of” lists, including for Time, Paste Magazine, Cosmopolitan, E!
Online, and Mashable. He was also named one of 2018’s “Comics To Watch” by
Variety.
In 2017, his truTV documentary The Problem with Apu was released to critical acclaim
and spurred a global conversation about race and representation. The Nation called it “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 US.
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
such shows as Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman
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 panelist on the NPR game show Wait Wait...
Don’t Tell Me. As a podcaster, he co-hosted the popular Politically Reactive with dear
friend 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 defunct 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.