Hasan Minhaj made up parts of his standup act. Some comics say that's common, but trust is also key

American standup comedian Hasan Minhaj was considered the leading candidate to replace Trevor Noah as host of The Daily Show this year. Then The New Yorker published an article detailing how Minhaj overexaggerated or fabricated parts of his standup comedy act.

"To anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my standup, I am sorry. I made artistic choices to express myself and drive home larger issues affecting me and my community. And I feel horrible that I let people down," Minhaj said in an apology video published last week.

"The reason I feel horrible is because I'm not a psycho. But this New Yorker article definitely makes me look like one. It was so needlessly misleading, not just about my standup, but also me as a person," said Minhaj. 

The spat has led to a debate about bending the truth in comedy. While some say that Minhaj's approach to standup is kosher, others say it compromises his integrity and makes him unfit to take over as host of The Daily Show, the satirical news and current affairs program. 

In the video, Minhaj went on to share evidence he said would provide further context to the New Yorker story, including a recording of his interview with the reporter who wrote the story. 

Some of the stories in his standup specials were about his experiences with racism and discrimination as an Indian Muslim man in America. 

Minhaj acknowledged in the article that some of those stories were untrue, but he said they were all based on "emotional truths."

According to Roy Wood Jr., a former correspondent for The Daily Show who left the program early last month, comedians doctor their material all the time.

"That part I don't think we'll ever get around," he said in a conversation on CBC's Commotion. "But there are very few comedians that doctor things for the sake of emotion."

During his 2022 standup special The King's Jester, Minhaj tells a story about opening a letter filled with white powder — which he believed was anthrax — in his apartment.

As he explains in the special, the powder accidentally spills on his infant daughter's shoulder. He and his wife spend an unbearable night in the emergency room, wondering if she'd make it out.

This was during a period where Minhaj says he received death threats after Netflix pulled an episode of his show, Patriot Act, from streaming in Saudi Arabia, allegedly at the request of the country's government.

Minhaj later said that he did get an envelope filled with white powder, but the substance never fell on his daughter and that he quickly realized it wasn't anthrax. 

Comedians generally don't let truth stand in the way of a good story, said Ali Hassan, a Canadian comedian from Fredericton, N.B.