This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal we welcome host of the Netflix series Patriot Act, Hasan Minhaj, to the Upper West Side! Hasan discusses growing up in Davis, California, a kid into basketball and rap, how he flourished on his high school debate team and found performative similarities to stand-up comedy, his decision to not attend his dream college, the nights he snuck out of his parents' house to do open mic nights, and how his dad ultimately found out. We discuss winning stand-up competitions in the Bay, moving to Los Angeles and experiencing the dark years of fighting to find his voice and his place, living off of small acting parts and TV commercials, and starting a video series that caught the eyes of producers from The Daily Show. Hasan details his Daily Show audition, his field pieces across the United States, what it was like having Jon Stewart as a boss, and what it was like when Jon broke the news to the correspondents that he was leaving the program. We talk about the extremely well-received special he did in his hometown, the best phone call he received after hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner, making a home in New York City, his admiration of Trevor Noah, the emotion surrounding his own departure from The Daily Show, and his experiences in hosting his own program on Netflix. All that, plus Jerry Seinfeld, Benjamin Kickz, Samantha Bee, Saudi Arabia, Sneaker Shopping, Michael Jordan, Steve Kerr and much more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.