The South Asian Comedy Showcase
Hari Kondabolu (Jimmy Kimmel Live and Comedy Central Presents...) is confirmed as the headliner for The South Asian Comedy Showcase
The South Asian Comedy Showcase, featuring North America’s hottest South Asian comedians, announced Hari Kondabolu as its headliner.
According to the Seattle Times, Hari Kondabolu is “a young man reaching for the hand-scalding torch of confrontational comics like Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor.” Like his comedic heroes, Hari Kondabolu wants to speak truth to power with confrontational and personal material. Hari has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham and John Oliver’s New York Standup Show and the 2007 HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. His Comedy Central Presents half-hour television special debuted on the network in February 2011. Hari is also a video blogger for WORLD COMPASS, a joint initiative between WGBH Boston, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Hari’s short film MANOJ, which he wrote, starred in, and co-produced with director Zia Mohajerjasbi, was selected to play at the 2009 Just for Laughs Festival in Chicago, 2008 Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and was a Finalist in the 2007-2008 Boston Motion Picture Awards. Unbelievably, the film was also licensed by “Showtime Arabia” in Dubai.
The show will also feature the following comedians:
Raj Desai
Raj Desai lives in Los Angeles where he is a writer and stand-up comedian. Raj has been featured on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham, and NBC’s Last Comic Standing. Raj was runner up in Comedy Central’s Open Mic Fight and has performed at The Hollywood Improv, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and Largo. He is a regular at the hotest comedy clubs, casinos, and colleges in North America.
Rajiv Satyal
Rajiv Satyal is the fun-size Indian comedian from Ohio whose witty, universal, and TV-clean act resonates with audiences by covering everything from racial issues to soap bottles to his favorite topic – himself. This former engineer and P&G marketer has repeatedly opened for Dave Chappelle, Kevin Nealon, Tim Allen, Daniel Tosh, and also for Russell Peters in sold-out theaters across the U.S.A. He has performed everywhere from Boston to Bangalore and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times. You can find Rajiv regularly performing at the Laugh Factory and Improvs in Los Angeles, acting in commercials, doing improv, on TV, on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. Rajiv has opened for Russell Peters in sold-out theaters across the U.S.A. In fact, in December 2006, an Indian newspaper asked Russell to name “comics to watch” – he named only two in the States; Rajiv was one of them.
Suneet Luthra
A relative newcomer to the scene, Suneet Luthra is Toronto’s hottest new comedic commodity. His charm and presence on stage and his ability to turn everyday nuances to into a hilarious set of comedy has his fan base growing daily. Suneet has been featured on The Food Network and can be found honing his comedic chops at Toronto’s hottest comedy clubs.
Canada’s own Ben Mathai (Just For Laughs Comedy Festival and the St. John Comedy Festival) will host and MC the showcase.
Ben has been featured at the Just For Laugh’s Festival, perfomered at the St. John Comedy festival and was part of the gala at the Sudbury Comedy festival. Ben has been featured on The Toronto Show and was the subject of the televison documentary “The Changing Faces of Comedy”. Ben has also performed at the New York Improv in New York City.
In his first time onstage Ben won the first round in a Yuk Yuk's amateur competition against 12 other experienced comics. He went on to win the Hamilton chapter of the Just For Laughs Homegrown Competition and performed at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal.
The event details are as follows:
When: Friday, June 10th, 2011
Where:The Isabel Bader Theatre
93 Charles Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Time: Doors Open: 6:30pm Show Begins: 7:30pm
Tickets: $25.00 each or 4 tickets for $80.00
Click HERE for more information.
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