On Friday evening, comedian, writer and actor Hasan Minhaj visited Stanford for a Q&A hosted by the Stanford Speakers Bureau (SSB). Minhaj was a senior correspondent on The Daily Show, featured speaker at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and has released three Netflix specials: “Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King” (2017), “Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester” (2022) and “Hasan Minhaj: Off With His Head” (2024).
The event, moderated by SSB Director of Socials Rishi Jeyamurthy ’28, took place in a packed Memorial Auditorium. It was preceded by four short stand-up acts by the Stanford sketch comedy group, the Robber Barons.
Throughout the evening, Minhaj repeatedly showed his appreciation for the Bay Area as a cultural hub for comedy and entertainment, citing local venues such as The Purple Onion, Tommy T’s Comedy Club and the San Francisco Punch Line as being crucial to his development as an artist. Minhaj expressed gratitude for the diversity of humor he found local Bay Area acts during his college years, saying he encountered “every type of comedian you can think of.” Progressives, conservatives, drag queens, magicians and all sorts of different viewpoints came together to create a vibrant and inspiring comedy scene, according to Minhaj.
“We were like the misfit broken toys,” he said, referencing the heterogeneous nature of Bay Area comics during the early 2000s.
When asked about the impacts of short-form, algorithm-driven media content on authentic artistry, Minhaj acknowledged the power of social media and short-form content, but emphasized the value of face-to-face interaction.
“I’m not gonna not use the internet, but living in both worlds is really important,” Minhaj said. “Reels and TikToks and YouTube shorts — it’s great, I do all that stuff, but this is the thing that matters. These moments and the way we’re connecting with each other, this is the form.”
“IRL over URL,” he quipped at one point, drawing laughter from the audience.
Jeyamurthy went on to ask Minhaj about starring in and co-writing the screenplay for the upcoming Netflix Original, “Best of the Best.” Currently in post-production, the movie is centered around the world of competitive collegiate Bollywood dance.
“It is my hope and it is my offering to add our story to the genre that is the American musical,” Minhaj said, expressing his excitement at showcasing the intersection of American and South Asian experiences.
Jeyamurthy told The Daily that he respects Minhaj’s ability to use the South Asian American experience “as a bridge to talk about something universal.”
“No longer is comedy this thing that’s like, ‘You have to look like me to relate to me,’” Jeyamurthy said. “It’s like, ‘I’ve lived my life, you’ve lived yours, but we have something in common, even if you didn’t think that we would.’”
Audience member Nandita Talluri ’29 was impressed by Minhaj’s “hustle” in pursuing his passion.
“[Stand-up comedy] is not a traditional path for second-generation immigrants, especially back then [in the early 2000s],” Talluri said. “But I think [Minhaj] has been a pioneer for a lot of other South Asians in comedy and entertainment.”
Attendee Dawn Royster ’26, a current contributor to The Daily, has been a fan of Minhaj’s work since the release of his original 2018 Netflix comedy series, “Patriot Act.” Royster expressed admiration for the Q&A’s on-stage projections, which featured Minhaj’s early stage mock-ups and storyboards for “Homecoming King” and “The King’s Jester.”
“It’s cool to see the way he ideates these things from the ground up, everything from the initial sketches to the artwork, which usually aren’t paid attention to,” Royster said.
As the event came to a close, Minhaj reiterated his appreciation for the Bay as a creative hub: “All these sketches and everything. This all started here.”