Hasan Minhaj is an American comedian from California. His parents are from India who emigrated to the United States. He is identified as an Indian-American-Muslim kid. Though, is that what he identifies with?
His Life
Minhaj, who is from Davis, California, might look different than everyone, but he’s very similar. He lived with his father for years while his mother moved back to India to complete medical school.
Despite him being a comedian now, Minhaj went to the University of California, Davis to get his degree in political science.
The one thing he was scared of was not knowing who he was, and then having people not understand him in the way he views himself. In an interview with NPR, Minhaj told them,
“I exist in this hyphen,” he says. “I’m an Indian-American-Muslim kid, but am I more Indian or am I more American? What part of my identity am I?”
He wanted to find himself because without an identity people don’t view as your true identity. Hasan Minhaj started to like comedy after watching a Chris Rock special and soon started to up his career.
His Career
He started performing in San Francisco, California, then he won “Best Comic Standing” competition. Then opened up for famous comedians like Katt Williams and Gabriel Igleasias.
He soon started showing up on various shows and comedy events before he made it to his own one man show debut.
Minhaj then made his first stand up special that aired on Netflix in 2017. Netflix then gave Hasan Minhaj his own show that would happen weekly for all viewers. The show was called Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj.
“It wasn’t until I started exploring the personal stuff, the one-man-show stuff, that I kind of got a chance to be more open to the audience and to my family,” he tells NPR.
Conclusion
He tried hiding it from everyone, but realized it wouldn’t make it better once he became famous. He had to be open with his fan base because that’s who he was with everyday.
His career is continuing to grow as he is only 35 years old. No matter what he experienced before in his life, he has shaped himself to become an excellent comedian and have an identity that nobody can change from him.
