Comedian Hasan Minhaj knows how to get his audience to double over with laughter every time he picks up the mic on stage. Listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time, Hasan Minhaj’s comedy often has a political side to it. Unfortunately for the comedian, his take on comedy ended up costing him a very important job.
Hasan Minhaj was all set to take over Trevor Noah’s position on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show after the latter ended his seven-year-long run as host. However, things didn’t quite work out for Hasan Minhaj who ended up losing the job to returning host, Jon Stewart. According to a fellow Daily Show correspondent, Roy Wood Jr., a certain New Yorker profile on the comedian was to blame for this.
Why Did Hasan Minhaj Lose Out on The Daily Show?
Trevor Noah hosted the satirical news program from 2015-2022, during which he won several awards for his brilliant hosting. After his withdrawal, Comedy Central was apparently eyeing Hasan Minhaj to take over the mantle but it all went South when New Yorker’s Clare Malone published an exposé on Minhaj’s stand-up, calling him out for allegedly embellishing the truth.
During an appearance on Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast, The Daily Show correspondent, Roy Wood Jr. shared his two cents on the whole debacle. After Birbiglia joked that it was Wood who, behind curtains, posted the New Yorker article, Wood stated,
“That’s literally why everything fell apart. As far as I was told, Hasan was going to be the guy… The New Yorker article comes out, and then the buzz is there’s a shift at Comedy Central in whether or not Hasan is still going to be the guy, which eventually turned into he’s not going to be the guy.”
The latest season of The Daily Show is now being hosted by Jon Stewart who has finally returned to the throne he left behind in 2015.
Jon Stewart Talks About His Return
On February 12, Stewart finally sat behind the desk on the set of The Daily Show where he quickly got hold of the show without missing a beat. It was like he never left! After hosting the show for sixteen years, Stewart said goodbye to the position, and now that he has returned after all these years, we wonder what was it that made the comedian 3 want to host again.
Talking to CBS News about his return, Stewart stated,
“I very much want to have some kind of place to unload thoughts as we get into this election season…I don’t know if I’m hoping to have an influence on politics but I’m hoping to have a catharsis and a way to comment on things and a way to express them that hopefully people will enjoy.”
Despite returning after seven long years, Stewart is the least worried about not reaching a wide audience as he believes “people will find their way to” good information and content.
You can stream season 29 of The Daily Show on DirecTV Stream and Paramount+.
