Hari Kondabolu
Born and raised in Queens, New York, Indian-American comic, actor, filmmaker, and activist Hari Kondabolu got his start as a standup comedian who debuted as one half of the Untitled Kondabolu Brothers, a project/podcast he hosted with his younger brother Ashok Kondabolu (otherwise known as Dap from the electro-hip-hop group Das Racist). Delivering socially and politically charged observational comedy, his message reached a wide audience in the late 2010s, spiking in popularity during the 2016 U.S. elections and in 2017 with his documentary The Problem with Apu.
Raised by progressive Telugu physician parents, he earned a B.A. in comparative politics and a master's degree in human rights studies. Kondabolu applied these degrees on two fronts: first as an immigrant organizer in Seattle, and then by appearing on television shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live and Live at Gotham. In 2011 he landed his first half-hour Comedy Central Presents television special, which was the same year that he and Dap launched The Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Project, an improvised talk show performed live in Brooklyn. The project became a podcast a year later, and in 2014 Kondabolu made his comedy album debut with Waiting for 2042, released by the Kill Rock Stars label. In 2016 he returned with Mainstream American Comic, an album that featured "mainstream" material such as "A Vegan Long Con," "Hilary, Bernie, and the Illuminati," and "White People Don't Like Being Called White People." The set peaked at number two on the Billboard comedy chart.
In 2017, Kondabolu released his documentary The Problem with Apu, about the stereotyped convenience store owner from The Simpsons. The following year, he starred in his own standup special, Warn Your Relatives.
© David Jeffries & Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo
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Discography
8 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Vacation Baby
Humour - Released by 800 Pound Gorilla Records on 18 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mainstream American Comic
Alternative & Indie - Released by Kill Rock Stars on 22 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Waiting for 2042
Alternative & Indie - Released by Kill Rock Stars on 11 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Waiting for 2042 - Digital Preview
Alternative & Indie - Released by Kill Rock Stars on 8 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Mom (Accent Not Included) - Single
Alternative & Indie - Released by Kill Rock Stars on 22 Jun 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hari Kondabolu's New Material Night, Vol. 1
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Hari Kondabolu on 21 Mar 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
All Lives Don't Matter
Alternative & Indie - Released by Kill Rock Stars on 22 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vacation Baby
Humour - Released by 800 Pound Gorilla Records on 18 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo