# Politically Re-Active

Politically Re-Active is a political comedy podcast hosted by comedians W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu. The left-leaning show, organized around guest interviews, launched in June 2016 and initially focused on the 2016 United States presidential election, but continued through October 2017. After a hiatus, it resumed in October 2020.

## History

Bell and Kondabolu previously worked together on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, with Bell hosting and Kondabolu serving as writer and correspondent. The show grew out of conversations the two hosts were having by telephone and backstage at shows over the course of their careers as stand-up comedians.
The first two seasons of Politically Re-Active were produced by First Look Media in collaboration with Slate's podcasting division, Panoply. The show was First Look Media's first podcast. The third season was produced by Topic Studios and WarnerMedia Podcast Network.

## Schedule

The podcast debuted in June 2016. Early episodes focused on the U.S. presidential campaign of 2016, with weekly episodes from June through the election in November. Politically Re-Active aired two post-election episodes in November 2016, then went on hiatus. Season 2 began on March 15, 2017, and ended on October 5, 2017. The show's third season debuted on October 5, 2020.

## Format

The show consists of interviews and political comedy. Bell and Kondabolu "host (typically left-leaning) guests each week to try to understand the different ideologies that are shaping this election." Wired described Politically Reactive as "mostly reasonable discussions with guests." Topics of discussion have included dog-whistling, private prisons, presidential debates and the Olympics. Interviews are edited to insert occasional explanations from Bell and Kondabolu (introduced by Kondabolu saying, "Hold up, wait a minute!") to give additional context.

## Reception

ColorLines called it a "hilarious new politics podcast" and The Guardian said of the debut, "Bell and Kondabolu are two of the sharpest, funniest political minds around, and based on the first episode, Politically Re-Active will be a great addition to the podcast roster." In July The A.V. Club said the series had "start[ed] off strong," particularly praising the interview with Kathleen Hanna: "an altogether enjoyable episode that's also a nice primer on both feminism and mansplaining. If the first three episodes are any indication, Bell and Kondabolu are going to be a podcasting force to be reckoned with." AlterNet called it "a seriously great podcast series...easily one of the most binge-worthy things I've listened to in recent memory, and already a runaway hit."
In the first six episodes, Politically Re-Active made iTunes' top 15 chart.

## Episodes
### Season 1

| Date | Title |
| June 9, 2016 | Introducing Politically Re-Active |
| June 28, 2016 | Dog Whistling with Ian Haney López |
| June 30, 2016 | Private Prisons with Shane Bauer |
| July 6, 2016 | Kathleen Hanna on 3rd Wave Feminism & Why She's "With Her" |
| July 13, 2016 | Pastor Michael McBride Says Stop Reaching for Whiteness |
| July 14, 2016 | Robert Reich on Min. Wage, the Bern, & His Date with Hillary |
| July 20, 2016 | Pramila Jayapal on Majority Minority Districts & Teaching Hari How to Dress Himself |
| July 27, 2016 | Democracy Now's Amy Goodman Gives Us the Election Unfiltered |
| August 3, 2016 | How Van Jones Keeps His Cool in the Cable News Circus |
| August 10, 2016 | dream hampton on Black Liberation in the Hour of Chaos |
| August 17, 2016 | David Daley on How Republicans Ratf**ked American Democracy |
| August 24, 2016 | Dave Zirin on Loving and Hating the Olympics |
| August 30, 2016 | Lindy West on Seeing Women as Real People |
| September 7, 2016 | Shaun King on Controversy, Color, and Kaepernick |
| September 14, 2016 | Jasiri X: Hip Hop and the Movement |
| September 15, 2016 | BONUS EPISODE: NoDAPL, Mailbag, & Our Old Pal Adam Mansbach |
| September 21, 2016 | Presidential Debate Tailgate with John Dickerson |
| September 28, 2016 | Rachel Maddow on Donald Trump, Dick Cheney, and River Monsters |
| October 5, 2016 | Rosa Clemente on Third Parties in a Broken System |
| October 12, 2016 | Comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh & Chicano Band Las Cafeteras |
| October 19, 2016 | S. E. Cupp on being an Anti-Trump Conservative |
| October 26, 2016 | Dr. Jill Stein on Investing Your Vote |
| November 2, 2016 | Comedian Hasan Minhaj on New Brown America and His Superpowers |
| November 8, 2016 | Voting Day Update about This Week's Show! |
| November 10, 2016 | Roxane Gay on Anger after the Election |
| November 17, 2016 | Facing the Future with CNN's Jake Tapper |
| November 23, 2016 | Presenting Maeve in America |

### Season 2

| Date | Title |
| March 15, 2017 | Season Two? |
| March 29, 2017 | Patrisse Khan-Cullors on Black Lives Matter & Resistance Under 45 |
| April 5, 2017 | YouTube's Akilah Hughes on #BlackWomenAtWork & Feeding the Buzz |
| April 12, 2017 | Journalist Alia Malik on What We're Missing When We Talk About Syria |
| April 19, 2017 | Michael Skolnik on Being a White Woke Guy |
| April 27, 2017 | Aasif Mandvi on the Gaslighting Presidency |
| May 4, 2017 | Getting Adversarial with Journalist Jeremy Scahill |
| May 11, 2017 | Political Analyst Angela Rye Calls It Like It Is |
| May 18, 2017 | Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl on Rad American Women |
| May 25, 2017 | Rashad Robinson & Color of Change Cancels Bill O'Reilly |
| June 1, 2017 | Jill Filipovic on the Feminist Pursuit of Happiness |
| June 8, 2017 | Comedy in the Trump Era: 3 Comedians, a Professor, and Kamau's Mom |
| June 15, 2017 | Naomi Klein Says "No Is Not Enough" |
| June 22, 2017 | Janet Mock on Surpassing Certainty |
| July 6, 2017 | BONUS! Phoebe Robinson, Lindy West, Shane Bauer-Live at Clusterfest |
| July 13, 2017 | Street Heat w/ Congresswoman Barbara Lee & Linda Sarsour |
| July 20, 2017 | Hold Up, Wait a Minute: Twitter Feuds & Threat Models |
| July 27, 2017 | Killer Mike of Run the Jewels on Allyship, Equity, and Apocalypse Preparation |
| August 3, 2017 | Lewis Black, legendary political comedian is so angry, he won't even talk about 'you know who'. Now THAT'S angry! |
| August 10, 2017 | Is this what democracy looks like? Jake Tapper & Jessica Byrd give their take |
| August 17, 2017 | Charlottesville: Why did this happen and how do we move forward? |
| August 19, 2017 | Bonus! Listeners respond to Charlottesville |
| August 24, 2017 | Smashing the Confederacy in the streets and on the screen |
| August 31, 2017 | Roy Wood Jr. and Franchesca Ramsey fighting trolls with truth and satire |
| September 7, 2017 | Disaster Capitalism and How To Fight It, with Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Mustafa Santiago Ali |
| September 14, 2017 | Speaking with bell hooks and talking DACA |
| September 21. 2017 | Neil de Grasse Tyson brings the universe down to Earth |
| September 28, 2017 | Writing for very smart brothas (including President Obama) |
| October 5, 2017 | What did we learn? With Alicia Garza and Wyatt Cenac |

### Season 3

| Date | Title |
| October 5, 2020 | Catching up with Kamau & Hari |
| October 7, 2020 | The Four-Letter Word for 2020? Hope (with Alexandra Rojas and Desmond Meade) |
| October 14, 2020 | Insiders + Insurgents with Jon Lovett and Cori Bush |
| October 21, 2020 | Maria Hinojosa + The Case for Court-Packing |
| October 28, 2020 | Katie Porter! + Caroline Giuliani + Hari's Dad |
| November 4, 2020 | Election Re-Action with Alicia Garza |
| November 11, 2020 | Phoebe Robinson + The Electoral College's Slaveholder Math |
| November 18, 2020 | Sarah Cooper + Dr. Peter Hotez |
| December 2, 2020 | Ijeoma Oluo + Sarah Silverman |
| December 9, 2020 | The Georgia Episode with LaTosha Brown |
| December 16, 2020 | Daveed Diggs |
| January 6, 2021 | Georgia! + What the hell? |
| January 13, 2021 | Defund the Police 2021 + Trump's Twitter |