Add this hilarious new politics podcast to W. Kamau Bell* and Hari Kondabolu‘s growing resumes.
The two comedians launched "Politically Re-Active With W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu" today (June 29) via First Look Media and Panoply. According to a description on the weekly podcast’s website, "Politically Re-Active" will explore themes in this year’s elections in the context of political history and culture:
With the political circus of the 2016 presidential election heating up, you can laugh or you can cry. Choose to laugh. Comedians and longtime friends W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu have a shared curiosity about our political process and constantly changing electoral landscape. Whether it’s an interest in exposing the unjust or the absurd, you can count on Hari and Kamau to ask the important "why?" Why do we have super delegates? Why are people still having such trouble voting? Why was Joe the Plumber a thing? They’ll try to answer questions like those each and every week throughout the election.
The first episode, "Dog Whistling," investigates "how politicians use coded language to reach and often divide voters on issues like race, religion, gender, insert future problem we’re not aware that we currently have," as Bell says in the first minute.
Bell and Kondabolu previously collaborated on the late-night talk show "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell." Bell currently hosts the CNN docu-series "United Shades of America" and co-hosts the podcast "Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period" with fellow "Totally Biased" writer Kevin Avery. Kondabolu, whose new stand-up comedy record "Mainstream American Comic" drops on July 22, is currently developing a documentary and series pilot for TruTV. He previously co-hosted the "Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Podcast" with his brother Ashok, who performed as "Dapwell" in hip-hop group Das Racist.
Visit the podcast’s website to subscribe across various platforms and listen to an introduction below.
*W. Kamau Bell is a former board member of Race Forward, the organization that publishes Colorlines.