Hasan Minhaj (Redirected from Hassan Minhaj)

Hasan Minhaj
Minhaj in 2023
Native nameحسن منہاج
Born (1985-09-23) September 23, 1985 (age 38)
Davis, California, U.S.
Medium
  • Stand-up
  • television
  • film
Alma materUniversity of California, Davis (BA)
Years active2008–present
Genres
Subject(s)
Spouse
Beena Patel
(m. 2015)
Children2
Websitehasanminhaj.com Edit this at Wikidata

Hasan Minhaj (Urdu: حسن منہاج; /ˈhʌsən ˈmɪnhɑː(d)ʒ/ HUSS-ən MIN-hahzh, -⁠hahj; born September 23, 1985) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor and television host. Much of his comedy involves South Asian culture and the modern American political landscape through the use of satire, observational comedy and black comedy. His Netflix series Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj won an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and two Webby Awards. In 2019, he was listed in Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

After working as a stand-up comedian and appearing in minor television roles, Minhaj came to prominence for his work on The Daily Show as its senior correspondent from 2014 to 2018. He was the featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. His first stand-up comedy special, Homecoming King, released on Netflix in May 2017, received positive reviews from critics and won him his first Peabody Award in 2018.

Minhaj left The Daily Show in August 2018 to host a weekly comedy show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, which debuted on Netflix in October 2018. In April 2019, he won his second Peabody Award for Patriot Act. Minhaj released his second Netflix special, Hasan Minhaj: The King's Jester, in 2022, and appeared in season two of the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show in a recurring role.

In September 2023, The New Yorker detailed instances of Minhaj fabricating or embellishing stories that were used in his comedy specials and repeated in interviews. Minhaj responded to the reporting, stating that it was "needlessly misleading" while admitting to the fabrications.

Early life

Hasan Minhaj was born on September 23, 1985, in Davis, California, to Indian Muslim parents from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. His parents, Najme and Seema Minhaj (née Usmani) immigrated to the United States from India. After his birth, he and his father, an organic chemist, remained in the U.S. His mother returned to India for eight years to complete medical school, visiting the U.S. after three years to give birth to his sister in 1989. Minhaj attended Davis Senior High School, graduating in 2003. He graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 2007.

Career

2004–2013

While in college, he became interested in comedy after seeing Chris Rock's Never Scared (2004), the first stand-up special he watched. He began traveling to San Francisco to perform. In 2008, he won Wild 94.9's "Best Comic Standing" competition, which resulted in his working as an opening act for Katt Williams, Pablo Francisco and Gabriel Iglesias. He also worked part-time for the website Ning, an experience he used to write comedy. Minhaj lists Kevin Shea, W. Kamau Bell and Arj Barker as inspirations.

Minhaj in 2013

In 2009, Minhaj moved to Los Angeles to perform on NBC's Stand-up for Diversity, on which he was a finalist. In 2011, he was recurring on the TV sitcom State of Georgia and starred in various roles on the MTV hidden camera show Disaster Date. Through posting on YouTube, he was cast as the host of Failosophy on MTV. In 2013, Minhaj appeared in guest roles on Arrested Development and Getting On. He hosted Stand Up Planet in 2013 and a web series, The Truth with Hasan Minhaj, in 2014. In 2014, he voiced Rabi Ray Rana in the video game Far Cry 4.

2014–2016

On November 19, 2014, Minhaj joined The Daily Show as a correspondent, the last one hired by then-host Jon Stewart. Minhaj was asked to come in for an audition with new material after he sent in a tape of him performing an idea for a Daily Show segment, but he initially panicked as he had no other material prepared. The Friday before Minhaj's audition, Ben Affleck and Bill Maher got into a heated exchange about Islam on Maher's show, and Minhaj used this for a new sketch he called "Batman vs. Bill Maher".

On June 18, 2016, Minhaj performed a set as the host of the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner. The set gained attention for his condemnation of the United States Congress' inaction in passing gun control legislation. On April 29, 2017, Minhaj was the featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, where he took on the traditional role of roasting Washington, D.C. society, national politics, current events, the current president, the Washington press corps and the American media. He criticized U.S. President Donald Trump, who was boycotting the dinner, calling him the "liar in chief," and stating: "Only in America can a first-generation, Indian American Muslim kid get on the stage and make fun of the president." He also reminded the press to do their job, and added: "I want to thank all of you. I want to thank Woodward and Bernstein for inspiring a generation of journalists, and I would like to thank Donald Trump for inspiring the next."

Minhaj's one-man show, Homecoming King, debuted Off-Broadway in October 2015. The show featured a central theme of the immigrant experience in the United States today, illustrated with stories from Minhaj's life as a second-generation Indian-American Muslim. He later turned the show into his first stand-up special, Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King, which premiered on Netflix on May 23, 2017. The special was filmed at the Mondavi Center at Minhaj's alma mater, UC Davis, in January 2017, and won a television Peabody Award.

Minhaj performing in 2016

2017–present

In March 2018, Netflix announced that Minhaj would host his own weekly show on the platform. The new show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, premiered on October 28, 2018. It received an initial order of 32 episodes. Patriot Act explores the modern cultural, political and economic landscape. When writing episodes about the show, Minhaj frequently excluded or limited the role that researchers played in developing content and could be dismissive of fact checkers. Multiple female producers complained of abuse, mistreatment and harassment while on the set, and threatened legal action, which was ultimately settled out of court. In April 2019, Minhaj was listed among TIME's 100 most influential people in the world, and won his second Peabody Award for Patriot Act. Some months after Minhaj's episode on the student loan crisis aired, he was called to testify regarding the issue before the US Congress in September 2019. In August 2020, Minhaj announced the series would not be renewed after 40 episodes. On November 27, 2018, Comedy Central aired a special titled Goatface, featuring Minhaj, Fahim Anwar, Asif Ali and Aristotle Athari. In February 2019, Minhaj played on the "Away" roster during the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at the Bojangles' Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In September 2019, he testified during a U.S. House Committee on Financial Services hearing on student loan debt.

On November 13, 2020, it was announced that Minhaj would join season two of the Apple TV+ drama The Morning Show in a recurring role. In 2021-2022, Minhaj performed a comedy tour across the United States that culminated in the release of a Netflix special The King's Jester in October 2022. In 2022, Minhaj voiced The Riddler in the first Warner Bros.–Spotify Batman podcast, Batman Unburied. He is scheduled to reprise the role in the 2023 podcast The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark.

On October 30, 2022, Minhaj appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Jeopardy!, where his animated and over-the-top reactions earned him the dubious accolade "most annoying contestant ever" by the show's longtime fans. In February 2023, Minhaj returned to The Daily Show to host it. He was among many prominent individuals to serve short stints hosting the show upon the departure of host Trevor Noah. Other hosts include Wanda Sykes, Jordan Klepper, Roy Wood Jr., John Leguizamo and Al Franken. In March 2023, Minhaj hosted the 38th Independent Spirit Awards. The same year, he had a supporting role in the Jennifer Lawrence comedy film No Hard Feelings (2023).

Influences

Minhaj has said his comedy influences include Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, Trevor Noah, Junot Diaz, Jon Stewart, Chris Rock and Stephen Colbert.

Personal life and family

Minhaj is Muslim. He considers himself "non-dogmatic" and has expressed liberal Islamic beliefs.

In January 2015, Minhaj married his longtime partner Beena Patel, whom he met in college. Patel received a Doctor of Public Health in 2013, and has since worked with homeless patients and is a management consultant for MedAmerica. According to Minhaj in his comedy special, The King's Jester, he and his wife dated for ten years before he proposed to her. Minhaj and Patel are both second-generation Indian Americans; she is a Hindu of Gujarati descent, and he is a Muslim of Uttar Pradeshi descent, something he discussed in his comedy special Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King.

Minhaj and Patel lived in New York City until the pandemic, but have since moved to Greenwich, Connecticut. They have a daughter (born April 2018) and a son (born February 2020).

Minhaj has spoken about his and his wife's struggle to conceive. After his wife convinced him to go to a fertility clinic, it was determined the issue was with his fertility rather than hers. Minhaj underwent a varicocele repair procedure, after discovering there was too much blood in his scrotum. The couple was able to have two children.

In addition to English, Minhaj is fluent in Hindustani. He is a fan of the Sacramento Kings, having grown up nearby. His son had a Kings-themed first birthday party, and he has considered becoming part-owner of the team.

2023 The New Yorker article

Initial reporting

In the September 2023 issue of The New Yorker, journalist Clare Malone detailed instances of Minhaj embellishing stories that had been parts of his acts. Hasan told Malone: "My comedy 'Arnold Palmer' is seventy percent emotional truth—this happened—and then thirty percent hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction." The reporting accused Minhaj of allegedly fabricating other stories of Islamophobia and threats made against him and his family.

In the article it cites three examples as mistruths:

  • A story from Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King (2017) in which Minhaj originally described being in a relationship with a white girl in high school and then suffering a hurtful breakup with her parents rejecting him because of his race. Key details, such as the validity of their relationship and alleged doxxing of her and her family, were called into question.
  • The second was a story used in his special The King's Jester (2022), in which he was sent anthrax, which fell on his daughter and she was later hospitalized. Minhaj in the article clarified that, while he was sent white powder, it wasn't anthrax and it didn't spread to his daughter, who was nearby, but it could have, which his wife pointed out to him. Hasan clarified that he added the hospital scene in his special because he wanted the audience to feel the "shock and fear" that he and his wife felt.
  • The final story, also in The King's Jester, centers around an FBI informant named "Brother Eric", a white man who converted to Islam, and gained the trust of the mosque community. The validity of the event in the special was called into question, and Hasan stated the basis of the story was inspired by his experience and altercations with undercover law enforcement.

Minhaj admitted that he had cast fictional events as fact, but said his lies were "emotional truths" meant to convey the difficulties Muslim Americans face, not real events from in his personal life. The New York Times discussed Minhaj in the context of increasing public scrutiny on fact-checking in comedic acts, particularly when real people are involved, versus the norm of being able to tell general emotional stories without formal review processes.

Response from Minhaj

In his first show since the controversy, Minhaj did not address the issue and avoided personal stories in his brief set. On October 26, 2023, Hasan Minhaj addressed the reporting by Clare Malone of The New Yorker in a 20-minute video where he described the reporting was "needlessly misleading". In the video, he used evidence such as audio recordings of the The New Yorker interview, and text messages that he claims disproved the initial reporting. He also released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, writing: "There were omissions and factual errors in The New Yorker article that misrepresented my life story, so I wanted to give people the context and materials I provided The New Yorker with full transparency".

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2010 True Stories from My Crappy Childhood Himself Short film
2011 Moving Takahashi Grant
2012 Indian Spider-Man Hasan Peter Patel
2013 Good Son Doctor's son
2017 Rough Night Joe
2018 Most Likely to Murder Amir
The Spy Who Dumped Me Topher Duffer
2019 Dads Himself Documentary film
2023 No Hard Feelings Doug Khan
Haunted Mansion Police sketch artist
2024 It Ends with Us Marshall Completed
Babes Completed

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2010 The Wanda Sykes Show WMZ Staffer Episode: "1.8"
The Legend of Neil Lynel 2 / Lynel 2 episodes
2011 Disaster Date Himself 18 episodes
State of Georgia Seth 5 episodes
2013 Arrested Development Indian Medical Student Episode: "A New Start"
Getting On Raul Episode: "Nightshift"
Failosophy Himself (host) 12 episodes
2014–18 The Daily Show Himself (correspondent) 103 episodes
2016 Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner Himself (host) TV special
2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner
Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King Himself Stand-up special
2018 Champions Ro Episode: "My Fair Uncle"
The Final Table Guest judge Episode: "India"
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Himself (guest) Episode: "Nobody Cries At A Joke"
Goatface Himself Comedy Central special
2018–20 Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj Himself (host) 40 episodes; also co-creator, writer, executive producer
2021 The Morning Show Eric Recurring role (season 2)
2022 Hasan Minhaj: The King's Jester Himself Stand-up special
Celebrity Jeopardy! Himself Contestant
2023 The Daily Show Himself (guest host) 4 episodes (week of Feb 27)
38th Independent Spirit Awards Himself (host) Television special

Podcasts

Year Title Role
2022 Batman Unburied Edward Nygma / Riddler
2023 The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark Edward Nygma / Riddler

Video games

Year Title Voice
2014 Far Cry 4 Rabi Ray Rana (voice)

Awards and nominations

Year Association Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2016 Chhaya CDC Award Architects Of Change Honoree Won
2017 Teen Choice Award Choice Comedian Nominated
2018 Shorty Award Best in Comedy The Daily Show Nominated
Peabody Awards Entertainment honoree Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King Won
2019 Entertainment honoree Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj Won
Time 100 Most Influential People Won
Webby Awards Video Entertainment "Deep Cuts" (Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj) Won
Special Achievement Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj Won
Social Campaign for Television & Film Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj Nominated

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The pronunciation /həˈsɑːn mɪˈnɑːdʒ/ hə-SAHN min-AHJ is one variant Minhaj himself has used, for example during his comedy speech at the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner. However, in his public life, he has more recently adopted the pronunciation /ˈhʌsən ˈmɪnhɑːdʒ/ HUSS-ən MIN-hahj or /ˈmɪnhɑːʒ/ MIN-hahzh, for example, on his Netflix show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, including in the second season ("Volume 2") episode "Censorship in China" at 0:25-0:35 and 4:05-4:15, and on the Ellen Show in 2019, correcting the host and repeating the pronunciation /ˈmɪnhɑːʒ/ MIN-hahzh multiple times.

This page was last updated at 2024-02-12 22:03 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari