Hari Kondabolu's Oklahoma City show has been postponed due to concerns about the coronavirus. A new date is in the works and all tickets will be honored on that new date. More info here.
Hari Kondabolu comes to Oklahoma City on Thursday, March 12th. Besides being a regular on public radio show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, Kondabolu released his Netflix special "Warn Your Relatives" in 2018 and is now on tour.
He has been called by The New York Times as "one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today." But despite current politics, Kondabolu has found himself wanting to go more personal in his material.
Listen to him talk with Matthew Viriyapah about why, his ongoing criticism of how the U.S. Census is reported, and more above. Read some highlights below.
On traveling to different parts of America
To me, it's important to be able to play more of the country and Oklahoma is one of the few states I haven't done, so I really wanted to play there. Plus, I kept getting messages from Tulsa and Oklahoma City that people can't keep driving to Dallas to see me. They'd like it if I showed up.
On the U.S. Census
The way we talk about Census figures and the way it's construed, it's very much an 'us versus them.' And I hate that. It says a lot that we broadcast those numbers constantly and that we fear those statistics. And so much of the last election, people talked about their fear of demographic shifts.
"It almost feels like they're reporting on Coronavirus."
There's a difference between the statistic existing and it being widely reported constantly. It almost feels like when they report Census numbers... and like the increase of people of color, it almost feels like they're reporting on Coronavirus. It's the same kind of feeling— the idea that this outbreak is happening.
It has that same weird level of intensity and I don't like that.
On becoming mainstream
I think when you see so many people of color in the mainstream now more than ever before, and that their experiences are seen as American experiences... I think that normalizes our lives, and it makes the idea that I am somehow this mainstream figure less ridiculous.
We're actually being seen as valid. The first step seemed to be included in the story of others but now, we're able to tell our own stories.
Hari Kondabolu comes to the Paramount Room in Oklahoma City on Thursday, March 12th. Tickets are available here.
