Hasan Minhaj (born 23 September 1985) is an American comedian, writer and television host. The son of immigrants from Uttar Pradesh, he made his name as a correspondent on The Daily Show, with the autobiographical special Homecoming King, and as the host of the Netflix series Patriot Act, which won Emmy and Peabody awards.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Hasan Minhaj |
| Born | 23 September 1985, Davis, California, United States |
| Age | 41 |
| Nationality | American |
| Indian roots | Parents from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh |
| Education | University of California, Davis (B.A. in political science, 2007) |
| Occupation | Comedian, writer, television host, actor |
| Known for | The Daily Show, Homecoming King, Patriot Act, The King’s Jester |
| Awards | Two Peabody Awards; Emmy Award |
| Spouse | Beena Patel (m. 2015) |
| Children | 2 |
Early Life
He was born in Davis, a university town near Sacramento, to a Muslim family from Aligarh. His father, Najme, is a chemist. Soon after Hasan’s birth his mother, Seema, went back to India for eight years to complete her medical degree, and he was brought up by his father; he met his younger sister for the first time when he was eight.
Growing up as one of the few brown children at his school is the subject of much of his comedy, including the story of a white classmate whose parents would not let her be photographed with him at a school dance.
Education
He studied political science at the University of California, Davis. He decided to try stand-up after watching a Chris Rock special, and drove to San Francisco at weekends to perform.
Career
The Daily Show
After years on the comedy circuit and small parts on television, he was hired as a correspondent on The Daily Show in 2014, the last to be taken on by its host Jon Stewart. He stayed until 2018.
White House Correspondents’ Dinner
In April 2017 he was the entertainer at the annual dinner of Washington journalists, which the new President, Donald Trump, declined to attend. His speech brought him wide attention.
Homecoming King
His first special, Homecoming King, released by Netflix in 2017, told the story of his family and his upbringing with slides, home video and a good deal of Hindi. It won a Peabody Award.
Patriot Act
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, a weekly programme that examined a single subject in each episode, ran on Netflix from 2018 to 2020. Subjects ranged from student debt to Indian elections and cricket’s finances. An episode critical of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was withdrawn from Netflix in that country at its government’s request. The series won an Emmy and a second Peabody.
Later work
- The King’s Jester (2022) and Off with His Head (2024), further stand-up specials
- film roles in The Spy Who Dumped Me, Haunted Mansion and It Ends with Us
- an interview series on YouTube, Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know
Controversy
In September 2023 The New Yorker reported that several stories he had told on stage as true, including one about an FBI informant at his mosque and another about a letter containing white powder, had been invented or embellished. He replied that the stories were based on real events and that stand-up deals in “emotional truth”, and published a detailed rebuttal. He had been a leading candidate to become the permanent host of The Daily Show; the job did not come to him.
Personal Life
He married Beena Patel, whom he met at university and who has a doctorate in public health, in 2015. She is from a Gujarati Hindu family, and the reaction of the two families to a Hindu–Muslim marriage is another of his subjects. They have a daughter and a son and live in the New York area.
Featured image: Hasan Minhaj at San Diego Comic-Con, July 2025. Photo by Gage Skidmore, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
