Hasan Minhaj will do whatever it takes to get to the punchline — and that includes lying.
The 37-year-old comedian and “The Daily Show” alum admitted to fabricating details to embellish his stand-up sets, including his 2022 Netflix special “The King’s Jester.”
“Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth,” Minhaj told The New Yorker in a profile published Friday. “My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”
One popular story Minhaj told in “The King’s Jester” was the chaos that ensued among his family when an envelope with white powder was sent to his house.
Minhaj recalled thinking the powder was anthrax and rushing his daughter to the hospital when it spilled onto her. Luckily, as the story goes, the doctor determined the powder was not anthrax, and the only thing harmed in the incident was Minhaj’s pride.
“You get to say whatever you want onstage, and we have to live with the consequences,” Minhaj recalled his wife telling him later that night. “I don’t give a s–t that Time magazine thinks you’re an ‘influencer.’ If you ever put my kids in danger again, I will leave you in a second.’”
While he swears an envelope containing white powder did arrive at his house, Minhaj revealed to The New Yorker that his daughter was never exposed to it or even hospitalized.
Minhaj also admitted to fabricating the Brother Eric story in “The King’s Jester,” in which he claimed that a white FBI informant infiltrated his family’s mosque in the Sacramento area.
The funnyman claimed he joked to the informant about him getting his pilot’s license which resulted in the police showing up and slamming Minhaj onto the hood of his car.
The idea for the story apparently stemmed from a time when Minhaj and other teenage Muslims were playing pickup games with middle-aged men they thought were cops — one of whom apparently pushed Minhaj to the ground.
The comedian wrote off his white lies as characters he creates for himself n his comedy.
“No, I don’t think I’m manipulating [the audience],” Minhaj told the outlet. “I think they are coming for the emotional roller-coaster ride…To the people that are, like, ‘Yo, that is way too crazy to happen,’ I don’t care because yes, fuck yes — that’s the point.”
The Post has contacted a rep for Minhaj for comment.
Meanwhile, Minhaj defended his tactics in a statement to Variety.
“All my standup stories are based on events that happened to me. Yes, I was rejected from going to prom because of my race. Yes, a letter with powder was sent to my apartment that almost harmed my daughter,” he claimed.
“Yes, I had an interaction with law enforcement during the war on terror. Yes, I had varicocele repair surgery so we could get pregnant. Yes, I roasted Jared Kushner to his face.”
Minhaj continued: “I use the tools of standup comedy—hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories. That’s inherent to the art form,” he added. “You wouldn’t go to a Haunted House and say ‘Why are these people lying to me?’—The point is the ride. Standup is the same.”
