My dad's from that generation like a lot of immigrants where he feels like if you come to this country, you pay this thing like the American dream tax: like you're going to endure some racism, and if it doesn't cost you your life, well hey, you lucked out. Pay it; there you go, Uncle Sam. I was born here, so I actually had the audacity of equality.
— Hasan Minhaj
In California, you can stretch your arms out and not be touching another person. You get space, sun and, in general, dignity.
When you immerse yourself in a community, you tend to rise in that community.
Trump is inadvertently forcing us to show him how great this country truly is - that we are better together than we are divided.
I like to have straight-up black coffee, but when you get it, sometimes you'll burn your tongue, or it spills on your hands, and you get third degree burns. I happen to be the kind of human being who doesn't want to sue coffee companies for money, so I just say, 'Hey, can you give me some coffee, but can you also give me like, eight ice cubes.'
Racism has a very quick expiration date when exposed to actual contact with people.
I just hope I reach out to people and connect to people in such a way that they continue to support what I do.
I grew up in a pretty strict household in the sense that we just didn't have cable, so I wasn't familiar with what stand-up comedy was. I remember telling my friends that I thought stand-up comedy was like the thing that happened before the episode of 'Seinfeld.'
As satirists, we get to stand on the sidelines of life and comment on what's happening.
The day-to-day microaggressions that we all face, yeah, you have to let some stuff slide, or you go, 'I gotta keep moving; there's bigger fish to fry.' It's something that I still deal with. But I've tried to have the audacity of equality and to follow my heart in those moments where I feel like something is wrong.
I think perspective is a necessary, amazing thing.
I was good at speech and debate and academics. I should've stayed in my lane, but I kept trying out for the basketball team. I thought I would make the N.B.A.
One of the biggest things immigrant kids oftentimes feel is this big disparity between our parents and us. And our parents are staunch pragmatists, and I consider myself to be an optimist.
A lot of times in life, it's personal choices that you're making, actively, and then there's a myriad of forces and circumstances that are out of our control. And without even realizing it, you're riding a wave of events that you have no control of.
I wanted to be Atticus Finch.
There are definitely some set topics I go onstage with and want to talk about, but there's also an element of improvisation and spontaneity that I like to bring to each performance and talk about uniquely in that room.
I'm just an American citizen like everyone else and I'm not sitting at the power table in the room where it all happens.
Beena and I didn't move in together until we got married.
I've experienced Islamophobic stuff. But I don't care - you can say whatever you want to say about me, but I am who I am. I think that what I'm trying to fight for and what I'm performing for is bigger than any religion, race, creed, or class.
'Vice News' is cool because they'll just send your local barista to go talk to the head of ISIS.
I think there are people from every side who are allies for justice and good.
A lot of times, especially when it comes to political debates, people get caught up in esoteric statistics. So the realest thing I can do that has nothing to do with numbers is tell you my personal experience.
When you have friends that are Muslim, Jewish, gay, from any marginalized group, you realize that they are so much more than this esoteric talking point.
If it's just me on stage telling stories for, like, an hour, that's great. That's fine. But like a sandcastle on the beach, it gets washed away at night. It's so much more powerful if we can all share our narratives and doorstep moments and make us feel a little less alone. I'm just trying to use social media and new media as a way to capture that.
The 'Homecoming King' show started off as a storytelling show that I had done; I worked with Greg Walloch to develop it and build it into something bigger.
I was actually a really sort of nervous, shy kid. In high school, it was one of those things where I wasn't popular or a loser; I just don't think many people really knew who I was.
Jokes for jokes' sake are kind of meaningless to me. I understand the value of them, but it doesn't speak to me as much. You can lace your argument with jokes, but tell me why you're presenting this argument. What does it mean?
What I love about comedy is that we're this group of weirdos, and the only language that matters is, 'Are you funny?' And it really is this oddly cool American idea where comedy's the marketplace of ideas. May the best idea win.
My favorite comedians are just presenting an argument, and they're doing it in a funny way.
I exist in this hyphen. I'm an Indian-American-Muslim kid, but am I more Indian, or am I more American? What part of my identity am I?
The story that I'm telling in 'Homecoming King' about falling in love, these are things that happened to me - that actually happen every day in our backyards and in our communities.
Bananas are my go-to breakfast.
America's unique ability to change and be super flexible is pretty dope, man. It's pretty incredible. And that's what I want to contribute to.
Everybody's past and history informs them.
As a single guy, the baseline of what I needed was so low. I just needed an air mattress, food, and rent money.
I just started the way most comics start, doing open mic shows around Sacramento and San Francisco, and eventually, I moved to L.A. After about four or five years in L.A., I got the call to join the 'The Daily Show.'
This first-generation narrative keeps happening over and over and over again, whether it was Irish or Jewish or our community, South Asians, Japanese-Americans, Mexican-Americans. We've all gone through this sort of bridge, and it will continue to happen.
When you grow up as a minority in a majority culture, a lot of times, you're just trying to fit in.
I call my style Classic Americana Swag. I do my vibe, and I'll throw in a cool sneaker here or there, a pair of Js.
We shouldn't get lost in the bombastic tweets of Trump. He provides such great fodder every day. You don't want to lose sight of the other stuff that's going on that's even more important.
My mom works at the VA; she's been working at the VA for 15 plus years, and yet she's helping so many veterans coming back from brown Muslim countries, and my mom treats them. It's this weird - sometimes I feel torn. It's this dual identity. I'm so proud to be American, and at the same time, I disagree with our foreign policy.
I just hope that people get a variety of news sources to keep themselves informed.
My goal is just to continue to find mediums to tell stories that I think need to be told.
Personal narrative is one of the few things where people don't get caught up in fighting over esoteric rhetoric.
I had been cut from the basketball team every year. But I was like, 'I can turn it around! Michael Jordan made it!' You see it a lot of times - you'll have an athlete that you love, and then they'll be like, 'I also want to rap,' and you're like, 'Don't do that.' I was that kid.
In high school, I didn't know what comedy was, but I was involved in speech and debate and public speaking.
On 'The Daily Show,' we get so caught up in the day-to-day news cycle. A story breaks, and then the piranhas in late night, we all jump to the headline, and we dissect it, and then we have to move on to the next day.
I went to college during the Kazaa/Napster era, and we had free Internet, which was a huge deal. People were just downloading all of everything.
When you can tailor your act, you want it to be about yourself but also about the people in the room and the experience you guys are having in that moment; it is really a special thing.
I'm a first-generation kid in this country. I so identify with America and its culture. I'm a citizen, I was born here. I'm American. At the same time, like most first-generation kids, I have this other identity to another country back home, which is India.
