Hasan Minhaj ( HUSS-ən MIN-hahzh, -hahj; born September 23, 1985) is an American comedian and actor. Much of his comedy involves Indian culture and the modern American political landscape through the use of satire, observational comedy and dark 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.
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.
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 second-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.
2017–2022
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. Some researchers for the show felt Minhaj sidelined them during rewrites, claiming he could be dismissive of fact checkers. Multiple women producers complained of workplace mistreatment, a toxic work environment, and discrimination 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. 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 December 2021, Minhaj founded the production company 186K Films, for which he would be the CEO and his frequent collaborator Prashant Venkataramanujam would be Chief Content Officer.
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.
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.
2023 projects
In February 2023, Minhaj returned to The Daily Show as a host. 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. In June 2023, it was reported that he helped stage the sequence involving Pavitr Prabhakar in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse alongside its voice actor Karan Soni. In October 2023, he reprised the role of The Riddler in the 2023 podcast The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark.
2023 New Yorker article
According to the September 2023 issue of The New Yorker, "Minhaj acknowledged, for the first time, that many of the anecdotes he related in his Netflix specials were untrue" and yet, he…