Hasan Minhaj fact-checks his new comedy special to spoof controversy

Hasan Minhaj is now better prepared to handle any potential controversies following the release of his new comedy special.

In a nod to his recent stand-up controversy, the comedian took it upon himself to fact-check his new Netflix special Hasan Minhaj: Off With His Head, which takes on the controversy itself along with other musings on the political divide and race relations.

Brief clips from the special are shown in the spoof shared on social media, accompanied by corrections or confirmations by a fact-checker by the name of Katie.

“I would rather have you see my nude photos than see my mortgage payment,” Minhaj says in one segment of the special.

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“This is misleading,” says Katie. “Hasan uses any excuse he can find to show his nude photos. Sick f—.”

In another joke that touched on a discussion with his father about therapy, Minhaj says, “My dad’s like, ‘Hasan I’m not paying someone $200 when we can argue in this kitchen for free.”

This is true, according to Katie. “Indian fathers refuse to go to therapy, believing it is a scam akin to astrology or extended warranties,” says Katie.

Another joke, “I’m a heterosexual man. I lie all the time.” Katie determines this to be true, calling Minhaj a “race-baiting, grifting, irredeemable liar.”

Minhaj made headlines last year when he confirmed that he embellished anecdotes in his comedic material after The New Yorker fact-checked a series of his jokes in past stand-up specials, including one about a white FBI informant who infiltrated his family’s mosque and another about his daughter being exposed to anthrax. He stood by his work, stating that the embellishments were rooted in “emotional truth.”

“My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70 percent emotional truth — this happened — and then 30 percent hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction,” Minhaj told the magazine, noting that he doesn’t believe he’s manipulating audiences. “I think they are coming for the emotional rollercoaster ride. To the people that are, like, ‘Yo, that is way too crazy to happen,’ I don’t care because yes, f— yes — that’s the point.”

A frontrunner to succeed Trevor Noah as host of The Daily Show, Minhaj lost the coveted job in the wake of the debacle. He addressed the controversy head-on in Off With His Head, calling it an incredibly “dorky” one.

“I have to be factually accurate, because — I don’t know if you saw this last year — The New Yorker fact-checked my standup comedy,” Minhaj says in the special. “They were just like ‘Ah! Breaking news: Magicians aren’t wizards.’ And now I have a controversies tab on my Wikipedia.”

Appalled by the audience applause that came in response, Minhaj quips, “It’s not even a good one! I didn’t f— a pοrn star. I didn’t diddle a boy. I got caught embellishing for dramatic effect. Same crime your aunt is guilty of over Thanksgiving.”