Hari Kondabolu's 'Warn Your Relatives' is the best detox from hate speech

It's been quite a week for TV personalities with a penchant for hate speech and "controversial" opinions that just hurt people. In the wake of Roseanne's cancellation, many are wondering what celebrities can and can't say – or what views they should espouse in the first place.

Hari Kondabolu's Warn Your Relatives premiered on Netflix May 8, a culmination of months and years of the comic's work. In the hourlong special, Kondabolu tackles the rise of white supremacy and both casual and severe racism – but he also reads hilarious texts from his mother and pontificates with gusto about mangoes.

His special is, in every way, an antidote to everything in the news. It's analytical and irreverent. It's not clamoring to make a statement – and in doing so, it's saying what needs to be said more concisely than almost anyone working in news or politics. And yeah, it's damn funny.

As Kondabolu himself notes, you know what you're in for when a comedy special starts with a 9/11 joke (it works). Whether he's joking about Kid Rock or airport security, Kondabolu never fails to bring it home with just the right amount of commentary from his firm perspective.

Kondabolu often gets branded a political comedian because he draws on current social and political events, but his act has no explicit agenda. Like any good comic, he makes observations, but ties them together well enough to merit a mic drop (one joke ends with calling a Nazi a snowflake).

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In a standout bit, Kondabolu expresses his frustration over outdated and offensive stereotypes of Indian people. References to curry, he says, have been around for decades, and they hardly hold up since most people eat it and it's, you know, delicious.

Here's an accurate stereotype about Indian people, Kondabolu says: We love mangoes. The joke works beautifully because for those in the know, it rings insanely true. For others (like much of his audience, he notes), it's a revelation, a fun fact if there ever was one, as Kondabolu pitches a podcast idea where he and other Indian American celebrities wax poetic about mangoes.

Warn Your Relatives demonstrates how deftly he blends the comedic with the serious, making observations and arguments punctuated by robust laughs to actually teach us something – whether it's that the question "Where are you from?" is a nuisance or that Indian people freaking love mangoes.

It's an excellent special – quick to watch, available to download, and easily rewatchable.

Hari Kondabolu: Warn Your Relatives is now streaming on Netflix.