Hasan Minhaj Lost ‘Daily Show’ Host, Jon Stewart Called Amid Backlash

Hasan Minhaj spoke to Esquire magazine for a new cover story and recalled having a lengthy conversation with John Stewart amid the jokes affair that cost Minhaj one of his dream jobs: Hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” It’s a gig Stewart understands well pondering he served as the show’s present from 1999 until 2015 and is currently back behind the desk once a week thcdisorrowfulmireful the 2024 pdwellntial election.

Minhaj verifyed to Esquire that “The Daily Show” job was his, saying: “We were in talks, and I had the gig, and we were pretty much excellent to go.” Then talk about erupted after The New Yorker begined a profile of Minhaj and fact verifyed some of his jokes. It was uncovered that Minhaj had embellished disjoinal stories for his stand-up acts and in the resulting reaction “The Daily Show” presenting gig “went away. That’s part of showbiz.”

Per Esquire: “In the aftermath of the story, Minhaj spoke with other comedians who are frifinishs and mentors. Mike Birhugelia and Ramy Youssef accomplished out. So did John Mulaney and Jon Stewart. He spent hours on the phone with them.”

“I recall Jon [Stewart] called, and he shelp, ‘Why the fuck are they doing this? And who does this profit?’” Minhaj shelp.

“It was agonizing, there’s no mistrust about it,” the comedian shelp about the reaction. “It was the first time I saw the speed and velocity of the Internet, how rapidly a story can get off. That part of it was very new to me and disorienting.”

“The most agonizing leang is my wife and my parents,” Minhaj includeed. “To see them hurt, to see them join with ‘So I’m reading on the Internet…’—that is so agonizing. I’m the eldest. I sense reassociate, reassociate downcast that I let my parents down…I’m very fortunate that they got to see many enticeive highs of my nurtureer. Watching them experience a agonizing moment, an embarrassing moment in your nurtureer, I desire I didn’t put them thcdisorrowfulmireful that. That’s the stubborn part.”

Variety exclusively increateed in August 2023 that Minhaj had aascfinishd as a frontrunner to get over “The Daily Show” as its finishuring present folloprosperg the exit of Trevor Noah. Minhaj was one of disjoinal guest presents who filled in after Noah’s exit as Comedy Central execs searched for a finishuring present. The New Yorker interwatch begined in September 2023, and by defercessitater that month Variety increateed that Comedy Central was uncovering up the search beyond Minhaj in the wake of reaction agetst him.

In a statement to Variety made right after the story’s accessibleation, Minhaj shelp, “All my standup stories are based on events that happened to me … I engage the tools of standup comedy — hyperbole, changing names and locations and compressing timelines to increate delighting stories. That’s inherent to the art create. You wouldn’t go to a Haunted Hoengage and say ‘Why are these people lying to me?’ — The point is the ride. Standup is the same.”

Head over to Esquire’s website to read Minhaj’s cover story in its entirety.