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. He hosted
Stand Up Planet in 2013 and a
web series,
The Truth with Hasan Minhaj, in 2014. 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." 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, in
Washington D.C. in 2016.
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. and won his second Peabody Award for
Patriot Act. 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.
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.
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 contended, "Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth... seventy per cent emotional truth—this happened—and then thirty per cent
hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction", In reality, a middle-aged man, believed by a teenaged Minhaj to be an FBI informant, "made a show of pushing Minhaj to the ground" during a basketball game. Regarding the anthrax story, while Minhaj was indeed mailed such a letter, his daughter was never hospitalized. Also, he has admitted that his wife added some of her own lines into that story. which Minhaj has worked for years to combat. Critics have since argued that his embellishments risk undermining trust in him as a social and political commentator or blurring the line between narrative truth and deception. In his response, Minhaj vowed to be more considerate in future storytelling bits. In the first episode, he interviewed
Senator Elizabeth Warren, and has since interviewed
Stacey Abrams,
Senator Bernie Sanders, and
Ro Khanna. In October 2024, Minhaj released his third standup comedy special on Netflix,
Off With His Head. In the special, he rebukes criticism from
The New Yorker, describing the scandal as "dorky". In June 2025, it was announced that Minhaj would be performing at Belly Laughs, a new comedy and food festival in
Los Angeles. On July 15, 2025, Minhaj and
Ronny Chieng announced
Hasan Hates Ronny | Ronny Hates Hasan, a co-headlining North American tour. ==Influences==