SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Hasan Minhaj, a correspondent on the hit Comedy Central program “The Daily Show,” is coming to a town near you with his solo act titled, “Homecoming King.”
The comedian will kick off his 19-city North American tour this summer, beginning Aug. 19 in Portland, Oregon. His act will then move to stages in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Iowa City, New Orleans, Boston and Toronto, among others.
The show is about a first-generation Indian-American making his way through these two worlds but never completely at ease in either of them. The show debuted last year at New York’s Cherry Lane Theatre.
In his show, Minhaj talks about the explorations he made growing up in northern California, the bullies that made his life more difficult, discovering a sister he never knew existed and his long walks home from school everyday after being excluded from student carpools. As a young boy, Minaj embraced everything about the American culture — from drinking Capri Sun, to watching “Ghostbusters” and riding BMX bikes — however, American often times did not embrace him back.
During his tenure on “The Daily Show,” Minhaj has mocked everything from the pope to robot journalists, he was also charged with transitioning the show from hosts Jon Stewart to Trevor Noah. His speech at this year’s Radio and Television Correspondents’ Dinner about gun control has been seen by millions.
Minhaj says his biggest influences were the writer Junot Diaz and the storytelling of hip-hop. His comedic idols include Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and his former boss, Jon Stewart.
His one-man show came into clearer focus after dealing with the struggles of his own cultural and religious divides — he is a Muslim Indian-American and his wife a Hindu. Minhaj spent countless hours trying to win the affection of his wife, that when it happened, he was forced to recollect on the entire process.
“To me, it represented this huge mental and emotional shift in my life,” he said. “There was a lot of growing up and now I feel like there’s a lot of, ‘OK, what are we fighting for and where are we going?'”