Hasan Minhaj is crediting Jon Stewart for understanding his “painful” experience after his now-infamous New Yorker interview.
The feature, which was published in September 2023, alleged the comedian embellished his stand-up act, including fabricating or exaggerating racist encounters with the FBI and an anthrax scare involving his young daughter.
Minhaj claimed that the New Yorker article cost him “The Daily Show” hosting gig. Former “Daily Show” host Stewart instead returned to the Comedy Central series after Trevor Noah exited.
Minhaj recently told Esquire that it was Stewart who actually “encouraged him to make something hilarious from the experience, telling him, ‘This is great for you,’” according to the publication.
“When Jon told me that, I felt really seen,” Minhaj said.
The “It Ends with Us” actor recalled the moment he realized the New Yorker piece was going sideways.
“Halfway through the interview…I was saying, you put this here and do that. I could see the journalist was not interested. I remember thinking, ’Oh, this might not be great,’” he said.
As for the aftermath, Minhaj added, “It was painful, there’s no doubt about it. It was the first time I saw the speed and velocity of the internet, how quickly a story can take off. That part of it was very new to me and disorienting.”
The comedian claimed that the New Yorker article essentially squashed his hosting deal.
“We were in talks, and I had the gig, and we were pretty much good to go,” he said, with Esquire citing that “after the story came out, he got a call telling him the job was no longer his.”
Minhaj confirmed, “It went away. That’s part of showbiz.”
Yet Minhaj explained that losing the ”Daily Show” opportunity was more detrimental to his family.
“The most painful thing is my wife and my parents. To see them hurt, to see them engage with ‘So I’m reading on the Internet…’ — that is so painful,” he said. “I’m the eldest. I feel really, really sad that I let my parents down. I’m very lucky that they got to see many beautiful highs of my career. Watching them experience a painful moment, an embarrassing moment in your career, I wish I didn’t put them through that. That’s the tough part.”
Now, Minhaj is focusing on his next act — literally.
“I’ve already written my next stand-up show,” he said. “It involves the stage and another comedian in an interesting way. A line producer looked at it and said, ‘I don’t want to budget this, but I’m excited.’ I’ve felt this before and it’s exciting, because it feels new and weird.”