Bio

Hari: A "Life" In Pictures

Slideshow

 

On the morning of his first day of school, Hari K. Kondabolu's mother took her son aside and impressed upon him a lesson that, to her, was of great importance. "Always use your middle initial when signing your name, Hari," she implored, "you never know when there might be another Hari Kondabolu. You wouldn't want there to be any confusion." Hari nodded, picked up his “Thundercats” lunch box and bounded out the door.

Six years later he came to two intimately related and equally disturbing conclusions: 1) It was outrageously unlikely that he would ever meet another Hari Kondabolu, especially in the United States. He had been living a lie. 2) In the event that he did meet another Hari Kondabolu, his mother, apparently, lacked any sort of confidence in the fact that it would be her son who would be the better known of the two, thereby forcing the imposter to keep a middle initial.

It was just this sort of suspect parenting that would instill and reinforce the considerable degrees of paranoia and low self-confidence necessary for an individual to take up the art of stand-up comedy.

Hari Kondabolu discovers big laughs with material most comics wouldn't think about exploring:  Racism, Privilege, and Power. In addition, his astute analyses of popular culture, Major League Baseball, and his childhood as the son of Indian immigrants in Queens, NY have established him as one of the fresh young voices on the comedy circuit.

His performance at Seattle ’s Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in August drew rave reviews from the Seattle Times: “Hari Kondabolu , who moved to Seattle from New York a year ago, eviscerated Western hypocrisy with a verbal razor that had overtones of Lenny Bruce.”

Hari has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and was featured in the 2007 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.

He also recently wrote and starred in the short film Manoj, directed by Zia Mohajerjasbi and made with Massline Media. It will hopefully be screened at festivals around the country in late 2007 and throughout 2008.

Hari has performed at colleges, comedy clubs and fundraisers across the country, and is available for booking.

motive:Visual