Clifton Prescod/Netflix
Hasan Minhaj has had a very busy five years between the release of his first big stand-up special, Homecoming King, in 2017 and the premiere this week of his new hour, The King’s Jester, on Netflix. The former Daily Show correspondent roasted Donald Trump in absentia at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, launched and ended his weekly Netflix series Patriot Act, and found himself in the crosshairs of the Saudis for his unflinching criticism of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
All of it and more form the heart of his new special, which Minhaj discusses at length in this episode of The Last Laugh podcast. The comedian also opens up about the moment he realized he may have crossed a line with his comedy, reveals an elaborate prank he pitched to Nathan Fielder, addresses the accusations of a toxic work environment at Patriot Act, and a lot more.
If Homecoming King was about introducing not only himself but the very idea of “new Brown America” to the world, The King’s Jester is an “interrogation of why I believe what I believe,” Minhaj explains. It traces his rapid rise in the comedy world from the moment he started accruing cultural power as host of Patriot Act through the controversy that led Netflix to remove that show’s premiere episode from the platform in Saudi Arabia and beyond.