Gun In Your Mouth/Talk

My friend and uber-patriot Hari Kondabolu is set to spit some deadly venom at Comix come April 8. Like really, really funny deadly venom.

What: An evening with Baron Vaughn & Hari Kondabolu

Where: Comix NY (353 West 14th Street)

When: Thursday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Cost: $20 door, $15 advance ($10 with discount)

Advance tix: http://comixny.com/event.aspx?eid=747

(Special discount code: EWHB)

Not His Daughter

One half of the Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Project running a seminar on method acting. You should be taking notes right now.

Untitled Blog Entry

Hari Kondabolu’s comedy functions along the same lines as that of the best social or cultural criticism–trenchant observation paired with impeccable delivery. But beyond all of that, dude is just fucking funny. I guess one of the worst things someone can do to a joke is analyze it, but my discovery of Hari’s work represents the first time I saw an Indian comedian who didn’t rely on the cliches of stereotypes about brown people/Indians to get an audience to laugh at them *cough*Russell Peters*cough*. It’s disheartening to see Indian artists subjugate themselves to the expectations of a white worldview-dominated media structure in order to advance their careers *cough*Kal Penn*choke*. The constant analogue I can’t help but think of when exposed to horrific things like the trailer to Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, is minstrelsy. Brown minstrelsy^©. (I just Googled that shit and got nothing, so I’m pretty sure I’ve just coined the phrase.) The thing I really love about Hari is his fearlessness in challenging the audience, and his willingness to play in the comedic space that might make them uncomfortable.

Last week I helped Hari out by taping the performance of a new project he’s working on, the Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Project. The exercise is an experiment in freeform comedy in which Hari and his younger brother, Ashok, hold an unrehearsed conversation based loosely around topics they’ve included in a slideshow. (They have a few other shows scheduled in November and December, which I highly recommend.) At the performance I documented, Hari and Ashok had WBAI deejay and video blogger Jay Smooth on. I wasn’t familiar with his work, but the samples shown during the performance made me an instant fan. I really love the way he cuts his monologues together, the action lends a dynamism to the pieces that makes them really engaging to watch. I got a chance to talk to him a little after the performance, and learned that he was the interview subject in the NPR piece on Mr. Magic’s death.

Remember, all debates have ended once someone has blamed everything on hip-hop.
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