Hari Kondabolu: Stand-up Comic, Host of the Podcast Politically Reactive

Hari Kondabolu is a stand-up comic and co-host of the weekly podcast, “Politically Reactive.” Kondabolu graduated from Bowdoin College in 2004 and pursued a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics in 2007. Hari is also an alum of the Washington Leadership Program.

Can you tell us about the experiences that brought you to your current career?

I’d always done comedy. It’s something I’ve actually done since I was 16 or 17 years old before I became more politically aware. I just love stand up, I saw Margaret Cho do stand up when I was 16 on television, and it kind of cemented my love for it, and it actually felt like this is a thing I could do. Though not necessarily as a career, especially at that time, cause at that time there really weren’t any other notable Indian-Americans really in the entertainment world. The most visible was Apu, so I didn’t think it was real.

I did stand up through college, and then I went to Seattle to become an immigrants rights organizer. 9/11 really changed my outlook of the world and made me wanna contribute a lot more to it, and so I went to Seattle to work with refugees and immigrants, people who were victims of hate crimes, people whose families were being deported, you know, a lot of work within the community. I think comedy at night, again as a hobby, was something I loved. While I was in Seattle, I got discovered by the HBO comedy festival, which at the time was a major festival that discovered new talent in the country, and then I was on Jimmy Kimmel live.

But I also got into grad school at the London School of Economics to get a Masters in Human Rights, which was my original plan. I finished the masters, yet still I had the desire to do stand up; it was something I missed. I knew that the window was open, and I didn’t know how long it was open for. For whatever reason, there were people that were excited about the work I was doing, so, that kind of lead me to a stand up career. I had a hobby, and I stumbled into a career.

Would you say your background in immigrant rights work contributed to your style of comedy?

Not really, I think there’s a reason I write the jokes I write, and there’s a reason I did the work I did. Standup is very direct. As you change as a human being, your act changes. Especially with the great comics. You see development that reflects what’s happening in their lives and in the world at large, and so my comedy and who am I as a person were both were developing at the same time. Simultaneously, I wanted to write things that were from the heart and I wanted to do work. There’s a reason I was doing that, and there’s a reason I was saying what I was saying.

You’ve mentioned your struggles growing up South-Asian in your stand up sets. What challenges in your career have you faced as a result of your identity?

Broadly, there’s more South-Asian representation nowadays, but let’s say you have a show with all South Asians as the lead cast — can you imagine that? We’re still seen as something different or othered. If you see an all white cast on television, no one bats an eye, but if you see South-Asians, we’re still more of an added flavor to the story than the story being uniquely ours.

Your stories are also seen as not being uniquely American. There’s a false narrative going around of what it means to be American. With Brown people now, it’s more like there’s only allowed to be one of each of us, while totally ignoring that there’s actually a range of us.

People would often compare and ask me about Russell Peters, and all I could say is — that’s a dude who grew up in a different time period with different parents in Canada. Can you imagine if I compared a white comedian who was 15 years older with a totally different style to some of the younger ones? It’s that kind of absurdity.

Who are your role models, South-Asian or otherwise?

My mom certainly. I wish I’d acknowledged it more when I was younger, but she’s extremely funny. I learned from her experiences how to deal with pain through humor, and I got really lucky with her. She’s not funny like “immigrant parents are so funny,” but she’s funny. She’s witty, she’s quick.

Also Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, Margaret Cho, Dave Chappelle, Paul Mooney. I actually saw Paul Mooney when I was doing the WLP Program. I got a free pass to a show at the DC Improv club. I’d heard of Mooney, but I didn’t know too much about him. I never laughed so hard that my ribs hurt the next day and the day after. I’d never seen a comedian talk about race as aggressively as he did, to the point of making people uncomfortable and being okay with that, because he was writing his truths.

How has your comedy changed following the election?

With the election and Trump, certainly, you have to address it. For me as a comic, people know when you’re being phony. People know when you’re not addressing them clearly as they’re in the room — and you can’t ignore Trump. You can’t ignore what it happening in the world and that things are different. And at that Wilbur show just a week after the election — how the hell can you ignore that?

But you know, my act before all of this was about major issues in the U.S. like racism, sexism, homophobia. What Trump does is he points to all these things; he’s a news peg. If you’re somebody who didn’t follow the news and the world closely before the election, you do now with Trump. I don’t think my material has drastically changed in terms of its topic and focus, but in some ways it makes it easier to illustrate.

How have your parents reacted when they realized you’d be pursuing comedy full time?

They’re very positive. I think they worry to make sure I’m financially, physically, and emotionally secure and to make sure I’m healthy, but you know, that’s just good parenting. The fact that my brother and I are the way we are as creative people just speaks to the our parents. They’re worried sometimes, but they’re supportive and I’m very lucky, especially since that’s not the experience of a lot of people.

Lastly, is there anything you want to tell us?

I would say your personal identity as South-Asians and within your individual communities is important, but also make sure you see the larger picture. Make sure you realize that all of the struggles from racism, sexism, and poverty faced by all people of color are also your struggles.

It becomes very easy to fall into the trap of just a narrow way of thinking. When I went through the WLP, it wasn’t South-Asian in focus, it was Indian in focus; this meant we met with a lot of people who were talking about India’s defense and anti-Pakistani sentiments, and that never sat well with me either.

It’s important to have a broader sense of representation and to recognize while you can acknowledge your differences and your culture, you’re involved in your community and the struggles we all share as people.