Hari Kondabolu
Hari Kondabolu
Hari Kondabolu is an American stand-up comic. He is best known for his politically and socially charged comedy involving jokes about race and class. He has appeared on television on many occasions, and was a writer for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth21 October 1982
CityQueens, NY
CountryUnited States of America
changed comedy politics realized viewed ways
After 9/11, I changed a lot of the ways I viewed the world. I realized my comedy and my politics and my view of the world did not match. I had to start writing from my heart.
brown fear force looked people post pushing
Post 9/11, brown people had this force pushing us together. It's like we're all being looked at with fear and suspicion; we're all being targeted, so how do you support yourself and your communities?
swimming talking america
Telling me that I’m obsessed with talking about racism in America is like telling me I’m obsessed with swimming when I’m drowning.
native-american funny-thanksgiving soy
I have had vegan Thanksgiving of tofurkey and soy gravy. And it's not to say that Thanksgiving will ever justify the genocide of the Native Americans. But vegan Thanksgiving - that's just spitting on the graves, isn't it?
country president female
We've never had a female President in this country, which I find stunning
frozen
I am frozen musically somewhere around 2004.
bit eat fed
I am actually a bit chubby, and I eat everything. I eat in a way - if my parents fed me the way I choose to eat as an adult, they would've lost custody.
anger brown deal dealing people quite saying stage talk threats white
I'm not like most comedians. I don't deal with just heckles - I'm also dealing with threats and anger. Here I am, a brown person on stage being quite blunt. I talk about white privilege; I talk about U.S. imperialistic practices; I talk about colonialism. I'm not saying things that are easy for people to laugh at.
force fresh human organizer sharing
I'm not a politician, I'm not an ideologue, I'm not an organizer anymore. I'm a human being sharing ideas, and those ideas have to feel fresh and from my heart and my head, and I have to feel it. You can't force that feeling.
aspect basically politics sports super
Politics and sports are the same thing in some ways. I like sports; I don't like the sports aspect of politics. The conventions are basically the playoffs, and the election's the Super Bowl. To me, it doesn't feel important.
ethnic fairly flipping indian knew standup stuff using
When I started doing standup when I was 17, I was talking about being Indian and specifically ethnic jokes. Straightforward stuff that was fairly ignorant that I knew would get the laugh. It wasn't flipping stereotypes; it was using them.
reinforce
I try to be as thoughtful as I can about everything that comes out of my mouth and not reinforce sexism.
add cents nature people repeat
Heckles always vary. I mean, some people are just drunk, and it's nonsense, or, you know, some people just want to just repeat something I've said or add their own two cents about an opinion, but because of the nature of what I do and who I am, like, I also get the racist stuff, which is hard.
agree laughed people shows time
I've been approached after shows from people who said, 'I don't agree with anything you said, but I laughed the whole way through.' That's still a little strange to me. Like, nothing, really? But at the same time, that's what happens in a conversation.