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“Tron: Ares” blew the roof off of San Diego Comic-Con at its panel on Friday evening, with an eye-popping, ear-blasting laser-light show set to the pulsing original score by Nine Inch Nails. The panel also included two extended clips from the film, and ended with a Nin music video of the original song “As Alive as You Need Me to Be.”

The movie is third film in one of the more improbable movie franchises in modern Hollywood, which Disney tacitly acknowledged with how it opened its panel, with an extended trailer that covered the events of the previous two films. The first, 1982’s “Tron,” stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer who gets sucked into the computer mainframe know as the Grid. The movie is best known for its groundbreaking use of computer generated imagery for its visual effects, to capture a purely digital world. But “Tron” was far from a blockbuster,...

No, Dr. Doom didn’t show up at this year’s Comic-Con. But Disney sure as hell brought the dazzle with a laser light show that one-upped what they pulled off at CinemaCon, complete with a Tron: Ares logo in full neon red and two Tron-like warriors marching to the front of the stage.

“Did you see that entrance?” asked moderator Kevin Smith, “That cost more than Clerks!“

At the panel were director Joachim Rønning with stars Jared Leto, Evan Peters, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson, Cameron Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Greta Lee, and Jeff Bridges who reprises his role as Kevin Flynn, the programmer from the original 1982 movie who gets caught in his own videogame. Leto drew big cheers from the crowd, as did Bridges.

In the third Tron movie, a highly sophisticated program, Ares (played by Oscar winner Leto) is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission.

After dodging Blake Lively’s most controversial movie, It Ends With Us, Hasan Minhaj is making his next big move. The comedian and actor has joined the cast of Best of the Best. It’s an upcoming Netflix Bollywood dance comedy that celebrates friendship, identity, and South Asian culture. The news has grabbed attention with the movie’s colorful plot and popular cast.

The movie marks another fresh chapter for Minhaj, who recently appeared in It Ends With Us. The romance turned controversy magnet made more headlines for behind-the-scenes tension than box office buzz. Maintaining his calm composure, the comedian has also shared his opinion on the backstage controversy.

Blake Lively Co-Star Hasan Minhaj Is Starring in Netflix’s Best of the Best Hasan Minhaj in a still | Credits: @hasanminhaj via Instagram

Netflix’s Best of the Best brings together some of the biggest rising talents in a celebration of...

Let’s dance! Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia (“Everything To Me”) have joined Hasan Minhaj (“Patriot Act”) in the Netflix Bollywood comedy feature “Best of the Best.”

Lena Khan (“Flora & Ulysses”) will direct the film from a script by Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam. Khan also previously directed several episodes of the Ramakrishnan-led series “Never Have I Ever” for the streamer.

The film follows two childhood best friends, Maya and Anjali, who join their college’s competitive Bollywood dance team only to discover that the road to winning the national championship is far more raucous and cutthroat than they ever imagined.

On many college campuses, dance teams have emerged as spaces for South Asian community building and cultural connection. The dance competition circuit brings teams from different parts of the country together to showcase their talents and perform to determine who is, as the film’s title puts it,...

Exclusive: Writer-director Ellie Sachs has set an impressive cast for her debut feature Lucy Schulman, an indie rom-com in which she plays the title role. Recently wrapping production in New York City, the film also stars David Cross (Arrested Development), who exec produces, as well as Thomas Mann (Sovereign), Sandrine Holt (Your Friends & Neighbors), playwright and actress Eisa Davis (Mare of Easttown), actress and filmmaker Annabelle Attanasio (Bull), and actor-comedian Hasan MInhaj (It Ends with Us).

The logline for Lucy Schulman is being kept under wraps. Fernando Loureiro (Frances Ha) and Guilherme Coelho (the upcoming Oceânico) are producing via their company, Tigresa, along with Morwin Schmookler (The Apprentice). Executive producers include Cross, Gabriel Faria do Amaral, Jay Burnley, Will Frank Day, Sam Evoy, Will Janowitz, Carissa Knol, Clay Prietsch, Zachary Rice, Kelly Schwartz, Sascha Seinfeld, and Chelsea Tieu.

UTA Independent Film Group is repping worldwide rights.

Previously, Sachs has...

Exclusive: Comedian friends (or archenemies?) Hasan Minhaj and Ronny Chieng on Tuesday morning announced Hasan Hates Ronny | Ronny Hates Hasan, their first joint tour, which will see them traversing North America this fall.

A description of the tour notes that during these divided times, many people believe that open dialogue and discourse are the only tools to mend a wounded nation… Minhaj and Chieng, however, believe the opposite.

Kicking off this October, the two comedians will embark on a nationwide tour where they will air their grievances — onstage, at the same time — for a paying audience. The format? A Debate to the Death. Imagine a version of CNN’s Presidential Townhall that’s somehow more demented and with less decorum. This will be a race to the bottom.

On stage, Minhaj and Chieng will face off about America’s most urgent issues: Presidents, War, the Economy, Immigration, Infrastructure, Food, Dating,...

Disney is officially bringing Tron: Ares to Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, making this a rare non-Marvel appearance by Walt Disney Studios at the fan-favorite venue of Hall H. It was also 15 years ago that Tron Legacy took the stage at Hall H. The futuristic sci-fi sequel has already made its presence known around the Gaslamp District with promotional banners, but this announcement cements its flagship Sdcc status. Check out the banners on the light posts down below:

Who Will Be At The Event?

While Leto headlines the movie, it remains uncertain whether he will be attending this years San Diego Comic-Con due to ongoing controversy. A recent exposé from Air Mail detailed allegations from nine women accusing the actor of inappropriate behavior, claims which unnamed representatives have strongly denied. However we can make the assumption that many if not all of the main cast and key staff for the film will be there.

Disney is officially bringing Tron: Ares to Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, making this a rare non-Marvel appearance by Walt Disney Studios at the fan-favorite venue of Hall H. It was also 15 years ago that Tron Legacy took the stage at Hall H. The futuristic sci-fi sequel has already made its presence known around the Gaslamp District with promotional banners, but this announcement cements its flagship Sdcc status. Check out the banners on the light posts down below:

Who Will Be At The Event?

While Leto headlines the movie, it remains uncertain whether he will be attending this years San Diego Comic-Con due to ongoing controversy. A recent exposé from Air Mail detailed allegations from nine women accusing the actor of inappropriate behavior, claims which unnamed representatives have strongly denied. However we can make the assumption that many if not all of the main cast and key staff for the film will be there.

American Psycho director Mary Harron admitted that the cult classic film is just as relevant today as it was when it was released in 2000 while celebrating its 25th anniversary during a conversation with Hasan Minhaj at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on June 7.

The horror film, which takes place between 1987 and 1989, follows investment banker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) as he deals with murderous fantasies. Harron told Minhaj she believed that Wall Street employees were “dinosaurs” at the time of filming and that we would “never see” men like that in the future.

“Not that there wouldn’t be rapacious Wall Street behavior and greed,” she continued. “It was true, actually, for a few years after the film came out. It was much better hidden.” However, Harron pointed out that people are still “reveling in bad behavior” and “the joy of being overly racist” today. She continued, “I would never have thought you would see that.

Their specials may wade into bleaker territory but the six top comics gathered for THR’s Stand-Up Emmy Roundtable spent most of their time together in stitches.

Over the course of an hour, Jamie Foxx, Chelsea Handler, Seth Meyers, Hasan Minhaj, Sarah Silverman and Roy Wood Jr. regaled each other with intimate and often hilarious tales of bombing on the world’s biggest stages, finding comedy in their darkest moments and, in the case of Minhaj, losing his dream job at Comedy Central.

While discussing the latter, Wood, who had been at The Daily Show, where he, too, had been in contention for the host gig, revealed what it was like to still be at the show when Minhaj’s offer was rescinded. “Nobody would give any details and we were all trying to figure out, ‘Well, if it’s not going to be Hasan, who’s it going to be?...

Their latest specials tackle themes of death (Sarah Silverman), loneliness (Roy Wood Jr.) and a stroke that nearly ended Jamie Foxx’s life. But gather this sextet — which also includes Chelsea Handler, Hasan Minhaj and Seth Meyers — around a table with a few old-fashioneds, and the mood is anything but bleak. Over the course of an hour, the Stand-Up Emmy Roundtable covered everything from clones to cocaine to cancellation.

Looking back, what was your most combative or hilarious post-joke encounter?

Jamie Foxx (Netflix’S What Had Happened Was …) I did an Oprah joke …

Chelsea Handler (Netflix’S The Feeling) That didn’t go well?

Photographed by Beau Grealy

Foxx No, it was great. When we did Ray, my management, they’re from Oakland, but those motherfuckers started talking in English accents, like, “Well, we’ve won the Oscar now …” But I wanted to go back to doing stand-up, and there...

A lot of shows don't have theme songs with lyrics. One of those shows is The Office. Now, if you asked someone to sing along, they probably can but it'd just be a lot of noises. But if you're a fan of the show and you've been longing for lyrics to sing along with, star Rainn Wilsonhas you covered. Wilson played Dwight K. Schrute on the show and when he wasn't starring opposite John Krasinski, Wilson was busy making his own lyrics up to the theme song. Lyrics that Hasan Minhaj got out of him on a new episode of his podcast, Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know.

The two were talking about the show and Minhaj pointed out that the show doesn't have lyrics and revealed that he knew that Wilson had made up lyrics to the theme. Minhaj then said he was reall nice so Wilson should share the lyrics with him,...

In Chapter 15 of Rainn Wilson’s memoir, The Bassoon King, he reveals that he penned lyrics to the famously lyric-less theme song for The Office. But in an epic tease, he didn’t include the words in his book. Maybe, he wrote, he’d reveal them later.

Well, later is now. On this week’s episode of the Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know podcast, the host twisted Wilson’s arm. In his book, Minhaj noted, the guy who played Dwight Shrute wrote, "Perhaps I’ll sing them to you one day if you’re nice.”

“You haven’t been very nice,” countered Wilson.

Minhaj protested. “I’m a pretty nice guy!”

The Office theme song has a complicated history. Producer Greg Daniels considered several options to open the show, including Modest Mouse’s “Float On” and Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky.” The Elo song was the top choice,...

Jimmy Kimmel thinks there’s a connection between policing comedy and Donald Trump being reelected. According to the late night host, the same “liberals” who have been “viciously attacking comedians” and the freedom of speech in comedy are the ones to blame for Trump’s return to power.

Kimmel told Rolling Stone that there is a “manufactured” emphasis from the left on what comedy should or shouldn’t be about. “I think a lot of the outrage is completely manufactured, and it’s like, a lot of these people who are angry aren’t really angry,” Kimmel said. “I think these liberals who’ve done such a good job of viciously attacking comedians are a big part of the reason why Trump is the president right now.”

Kimmel added of cancel culture in comedy as a whole, “There’s no black and white when it comes to comedy. There is no line.

Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know, the podcast from the popular comedian, is moving over to Lemonada Media.

As part of a new partnership, Lemonada Media will oversee advertising sales and distribution for the series, which is produced by 186K Films. The podcast will continue to be distributed on all audio platforms, as well as YouTube.

In the show, Minhaj, a two-time Peabody Award winner, known for his Netflix series The Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, sits down with politicians, celebrities and entrepreneurs for free-wheeling and thought-provoking discussions about their topic areas and culture at large.

The show, which launched about nine months ago, will continue its current season under Lemonada starting April 16, with an episode featuring Rainn Wilson.

The podcast joins the lineup of shows at Lemonada including Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Fail Better with David Duchovny, Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and more.

This is one commotion you can’t blame on that Nellie Oleson.

Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle and Alison Arngrim are among nearly 20 Little House on the Prairie stars who have called out a recently terminated promoter of fan gatherings for the beloved TV series for “taking advantage” of people by continuing to market cancelled events.

More from TVLineJason Ritter's Uncanny Jack Tripper Impression Will Make You Miss His Dad, John, All Over Again - Watch7th Heaven Stars Discuss Stephen Collins' History of Sexual Abuse in New Rewatch Podcast - Watch VideoHasan Minhaj: 'I Had the Daily Show Gig,...

Comedian Hasan Minhaj confirmed his joke scandal from 2023 cost him the job of hosting Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

Minaj recalled the significant backlash he received from his infamous 2023 New Yorker profile in a new cover story with Esquire magazine.

“We were in talks, and I had the gig, and we were pretty much good to go,” he said. “It went away – that’s part of showbiz.”

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When a New Yorker profile on Minhaj was published in September 2003, one of his standup quotes ignited huge debate among critics: “My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth – this happened – and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”

This comment caused people to question the sincerity of various of his jokes and stories and posed the moral question of how much creative license artists (in all different forms...

After the raging controversy around Blake Lively over one too many reasons – all of which, notably, seems to have stemmed and ignited from her exclusive box-office sleeper hit It Ends with Us – it sounds like not everything the media has been claiming may have been true. For instance, the actress’ feud with Justin Baldoni may have been just another untrue word on the street.

Blake Lively in It Ends with Us. | Credits: Sony Pictures.

While Lively getting under the fire for her wrongful promotion of the domestic-abuse-themed movie was one thing, rumors also had it that she had a distasteful spat with Baldoni on the sets. But the latter seems to have been a false alarm after their co-star Hasan Minhaj recently brushed off these reports as something that might as well have been yet another Hollywood rumor.

Hasan Minhaj Addresses the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni Feud Rumor

Even though It Ends with Us...

Hasan Minhaj is looking back at the gig that almost was.

In an interview with Esquire published Wednesday, the comedian reflected on once being the front-runner to succeed Trevor Noah as the host of The Daily Show. But after The New Yorker published a profile last year alleging that Minhaj embellished and made up his onstage anecdotes for his comedy, the offer for the gig was taken away. Jon Stewart went on to replace Noah, appearing on the show once a week.

“We were in talks, and I had the gig, and we were pretty much good to go,” he told Esquire. After the story was published, Minhaj was called and told the job was no longer his.

“It went away,” he said. “That’s part of showbiz.”

In addition to losing the hosting job, Minhaj explained that the “most painful thing” about the public scrutiny that followed was how it impacted his family.

Hasan Minhaj is crediting Jon Stewart for understanding his “painful” experience after his now-infamous New Yorker interview.

The feature, which was published in September 2023, alleged the comedian embellished his stand-up act, including fabricating or exaggerating racist encounters with the FBI and an anthrax scare involving his young daughter.

Minhaj claimed that the New Yorker article cost him “The Daily Show” hosting gig. Former “Daily Show” host Stewart instead returned to the Comedy Central series after Trevor Noah exited.

Minhaj recently told Esquire that it was Stewart who actually “encouraged him to make something hilarious from the experience, telling him, ‘This is great for you,'” according to the publication.

“When Jon told me that, I felt really seen,” Minhaj said.

The “It Ends with Us” actor recalled the moment he realized the New Yorker piece was going sideways.

“Halfway through the interview…I was saying, you put this here and do that.

Hasan Minhaj has confirmed that he was was going to be named The Daily Show‘s new full-time host last year, but the controversy about his stand-up comedy act — namely, embellished tales told therein — cost him the job.

“We were in talks, and I had the gig, and we were pretty much good to go,” Minhaj says in a new Esquire profile. But in the wake of a now-infamous New Yorker article, published in September 2023, “It went away,” he affirmed. “That’s part of showbiz.”

More from TVLine7th Heaven Stars Discuss Stephen Collins' History of Sexual Abuse in New...

Hasan Minhaj spoke to Esquire magazine for a new cover story and remembered having a long conversation with Jon Stewart amid the jokes scandal that cost Minhaj one of his dream jobs: hosting Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” It’s a gig Stewart knows well considering he served as the show’s host from 1999 until 2015 and is currently back behind the desk once a week through the 2024 presidential election.

Minhaj confirmed to Esquire that “The Daily Show” job was his, saying: “We were in talks, and I had the gig, and we were pretty much good to go.” Then controversy erupted after The New Yorker published a profile of Minhaj and fact-checked some of his jokes. It was revealed that Minhaj had embellished several stories for his stand-up acts and in the resulting backlash “The Daily Show” hosting gig “went away. That’s part of showbiz.”

Per Esquire: “In the aftermath of the story,...

Exclusive: Actor-comedians Ramy Youssef (Ramy) and Hasan Minhaj (Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj) have boarded Mustache, the 2023 SXSW Audience Award winner from first-time feature filmmaker Imran J. Khan, as executive producers.

The pair join a stellar producing team, which also includes Academy Award winner Riz Ahmed and Allie Moore exec producing for Left-Handed Films (The Long Goodbye), Good Movies Inc., and producers Christina Won (Birdman) and Jessica Sittig, among others.

Minhaj is now involved in a dual capacity, as he also has a comedic supporting role in the film.

An homage to John Hughes coming-of-age films, ’90s nostalgia, and awkward teenage transitions, Mustache is a Northern California story revolving around 13-year-old Ilyas, a Pakistani American portrayed by new discovery Atharv Verma, whose world is turned upside down when his parents abruptly transfer him from his familiar Islamic private school to the challenges of public education.

Struggling with the mash-up of...

Hasan Minhaj‘s latest career move is taking him to YouTube. The comedian and political commentator is the star of Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know, a series that will see its titular host interview politicians ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Minhaj’s guest in the premiere episode of Doesn’t Know is Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Senator who entered the president race in 2020. After describing Warren as an “intellectual athlete” and likening her anti-corporate vigilance to the sports stars of House of Highlights, Minhaj pressed her on several key issues, including the advanced age of President Joe Biden.

“With the 2024 election just months away, the Dems are in big trouble and it’s prompted some tough questions from voters like ‘How old is too old to be President?’, ‘How dumb is too dumb to be a democracy?’ and ‘How the fuck are members of Congress still allowed to trade stock?...

Hasan Minhaj released a new online talk show Monday, close to a year after the comedian was reportedly one of three finalists to host The Daily Show. The YouTube series Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know’s first episode features an interview with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. They discussed a wide range of topics, including whether President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are too old to run, a free IRS website to file taxes, whether people in Congress should own stocks and governmental thirst traps, including “Do you want...

Throughout the six-episode run of Netflix’s Everybody’s in L.A., John Mulaney’s comedian guests kept trying to find ways to describe the live talk show’s chaotic-bordering-on-surreal atmosphere. “I feel like this entire show is a Banksy!” a confused Jon Stewart suggested. Nikki Glaser perhaps explained it best, by telling Mulaney, “It’s like an inside joke that only you are in on.”

That line applies just as well to Mulaney’s delightful 2019 Netflix special John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch. Both then and now, the...

“We’ve all failed in our lives, but have you ever failed so bad, you bring back Jon Stewart?” Minhaj mused yesterday at the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival.

“I saved a dying institution,” Minhaj added. “You’re welcome.”

For those not following along, after an extended on-air audition process, Comedy Central had reportedly chosen Minhaj to be Trevor Noah’s successor at The Daily Show last summer and planned to make the announcement at the conclusion of the Writers Strike.

Before that could happen, The New Yorker published a widely-shared article that accused Minhaj of embellishing his confessional-style standup material with exaggerations and falsehoods. Although Minhaj later responded with his side of the story and a fact-check of the New Yorker’s fact-check, by then Comedy Central had reportedly backed away from Minhaj amid the controversy.

The Daily Show never did lock down a permanent host.

Continue reading...

Hasan Minhaj turned a career downturn into a comic bit last night a the Netflix Is a Joke festival in Los Angeles, saying that his lost opportunity to host The Daily Show actually saved the long-running institution.

“We’ve all failed in our lives,” Minhaj said, “but have you ever failed so bad, you bring back Jon Stewart?” I saved a dying institution. You’re welcome.”

The reference came during a joking exchange between Minhaj, who was serving as emcee of a festival showcase, and current Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng, who had just taken the stage.

“I’m surprised that Hasan’s able to do this show,” Chieng cracked, according to Deadline’s sister publication Variety. “I guess canceling is not what it used to be.”

Last September, Minhaj conceded during a New Yorker magazine interview that he had fabricated parts of his seemingly fact-based stand-up routine, most damningly...

Hasan Minhaj joked about losing the opportunity to host The Daily Show following a scandal involving fabricated stand-up stories Thursday at an appearance at the Netflix Is a Joke festival.

According to Variety, Minhaj served as the emcee of one of the fest’s stand-up showcases, with current Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng also on the bill. Upon taking the stage, Chieng quipped, “I’m surprised that Hasan’s able to do this show. I guess ‘canceling’ is not what it used to be,” a nod to Minhaj’s ordeal...

Hasan Minhaj is ready to laugh about it all.

At the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival on Thursday, Minhaj hosted a showcase highlighting various comedians. At the end of the lineup was Ronny Chieng, who joked, “I’m surprised that Hasan’s able to do this show. I guess ‘cancelling’ is not what it used to be.”

He was referring to a controversy sparked by a September story in the New Yorker that aimed to fact-check Minhaj’s stand-up comedy. The month before, Variety had exclusively reported that he was the frontrunner to replace Trevor Noah as host of “The Daily Show,” but he lost the job after the scandal arose. Instead, famed host Jon Stewart returned for Monday night episodes, while other correspondents anchor for the rest of the week.

On Thursday, Minhaj pretended to heckle Chieng from the crowd, calling out, “You planted that story about me!

SeriesFest is gearing up for its tenth iteration and has set the first names for its lineup.

The event, which is in Denver between May 1 and 5, has added Hasan Minhaj, who will headline a performance at Red Rocks, Minnie Driver and Grey’s Anatomy stars James Pickens Jr, Kevin McKidd and Caterina Scorsone as well as exec producer Betsy Beers.

Minhaj, who was the host of Netflix’s Patriot Act, will close out the event with the show at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Sunday May 5.

There will also be the SeriesFest Soiree, marking the event’s 10th anniversary. The gala will take place on Friday May 3 and will honor Shondaland & Betsy Beers, SAG-AFTRA and Minnie Driver.

National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, SAG-AFTRA, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland will return to SeriesFest to accept the award, which won a landmark deal with the studios last year to end the actors strike. SAG-AFTRA will...

A female colleague once said that all movies about pregnancy fall under the category “body horror,” regardless of whether they’re a horror film or not. When I naively asked if that was true, she replied: Dude, have you ever been pregnant? Check, and mate. Pop culture’s overall view regarding bringing new life into the world as a simple, follow-the-manual miracle has stuck even into the 21st century: You get an adorable baby bump, gotta rush to the hospital, labor can be hard, and then [pop] out comes a newborn.

Stand-up comedian Hasan Minhaj was close to being the new host for “The Daily Show” if only his scandal didn’t reemerge.

After it’s announced that Jon Stewart will make a surprising return to the talk show, a new report suggested that Minhaj lost out on the hosting gig due to a controversy, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Citing multiple sources, The Hollywood Reporter stated that Minhaj’s deal to take over as Trevor Noah’s replacement was all but done by late summer.

Around the same time, The New Yorker published a damning article claiming that the show’s former correspondent fabricated autobiographical details of his comedy.

In 2022, in a stand up Minhaj claimed that he once opened a letter filled with white powder that fell on his daughter. Fearing that it was anthrax, he and his wife Beena Patel took their daughter to the hospital before they learned hours...

Shortly after Trevor Noah abruptly announced he’d be leaving The Daily Show in late 2022, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios CEO Chris McCarthy knew he needed allies.

There was “a lot of pressure to just choose someone,” he told The Hollywood Reporter early last year, though he resisted naming an immediate replacement. Instead, the team, led by longtime showrunner Jen Flanz, lined up a stable of guest hosts, a mix of bold-faced names like Sarah Silverman and Chelsea Handler as well as correspondents from the show. McCarthy also sought the counsel of James “Babydoll” Dixon, manager of late-night hosts Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, and a previous Daily Show executive producer himself. In fact, in those early transition months, McCarthy spent “a lot of time with Babydoll getting his advice,” he said, “and we called Jon a couple times.”

Of course, Stewart was still hosting The Problem with Jon...

Jon Stewart is heading back to “The Daily Show.”

More than 25 years after starting on the Emmy Award-winning late-night show and nearly nine years after his exit, Stewart will host Monday episodes of “The Daily Show” through the 2024 presidential election. The Emmy Award-winning host will also serve as an executive producer on “The Daily Show” during this run.

“Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season,” said Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, in a statement. “In our age of staggering hypocrisy and performative politics, Jon is the perfect person to puncture the empty rhetoric and provide much-needed clarity with his brilliant wit.”

While Stewart will host the show on Mondays...

Jon Stewart is back at The Daily Show. After a yearlong search for Trevor Noah’s replacement, the longtime host and Noah’s predecessor has agreed to return on Monday nights through the 2024 election.

The new setup, a major coup for the show and for parent company Paramount, is set to begin Feb. 12. For the remainder of the week, the Comedy Central series will rely on a team of correspondents, which are likely to include Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta and Dulcé Sloan. Stewart, who spent 16 years at the show, the majority of them Emmy-winning, will be heavily involved as an executive producer on the other nights as well. The move comes after Stewart prematurely exited his Apple TV+ show, The Problem, following creative differences between the iPhone maker and its host over potential topics and guests.

“Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we...

Trevor Noah is entering his next act as a podcast host. The former host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” launches his deep-dive interview show, a Spotify original podcast, next week.

In each episode of the new podcast, Noah will have an extended discussion with a single guest. For now, he’s keeping mum on who will be joining him on “What Now?” but said the guests run the gamut from the famous to the obscure.

“We are very lucky,” he said in an interview with Variety. “We have a mix of massive stars as guests, and some people who nobody knows… Not everybody you speak to has to be a superstar. Someone will be No. 1 at the box office, someone will be a scientist who will change how we live for the rest of our lives.”

He added, “The main thing I can say to you: expect to be in some way,...

A New Yorker article published last month suggested that comedian Hasan Minhaj had fabricated experiences of racism.

On Thursday, Minhaj responded with a 20-minute video explanation on social media.

In the article, Minhaj admitted he had embellished stories in the past to achieve a deeper “emotional truth.”

As The New Yorker puts it, “Minhaj has elided or concocted other details in his stories, often to place himself more squarely at the center of the action.”

“With everything that’s happening in the world, I’m aware even talking about this now feels so trivial,” he said. “But being accused of ‘faking racism’ is not trivial. It’s very serious, and it demands an explanation.”

“I want to answer the biggest question that’s probably on your mind: Is Hasan Minhaj secretly a psycho?” he continued. “Underneath all that pomp, is Hasan Minhaj just a con artist who uses fake racism...

Last month, comedian Hasan Minhaj was the target of a New Yorker exposé that claimed he had a habit of embellishing stories in the name of laughs, with the piece saying he concocted instances of racism that were ultimately damaging to his subjects. Now, Minhaj – who previously said that his stories tend to be 70% truth and 30% hyperbole – is doubling down on his response, saying, “With everything that’s happening in the world, I’m aware even talking about this now feels so trivial…But being accused of ‘faking racism’ is not trivial. It’s very serious, and it demands an explanation.”

In a 21-minute video sent to The Hollywood Reporter, Hasan Minhaj lays out his defense, claiming that the piece in question has far too many errors to ignore. But this isn’t just the comedian shooting a video on his computer and trying to save face; Minhaj has a set,...

Weeks after a New Yorker article alleged fabrications in his comedy standup, Hasan Minhaj is speaking out. In a 20-minute video posted on his Instagram account Thursday, Minhaj rejects allegations in the article, saying “it was so needlessly misleading.” You can watch the video below.

“With everything that’s happening in the world, I’m aware even talking about this now feels so trivial,” Minhaj says in the video. “But being accused of ‘faking racism’ is not trivial. It’s very serious, and it demands an explanation.

“To everyone who read that article,” he continued, “I want to answer the biggest question that’s probably on your mind: Is Hasan Minhaj secretly a psycho? Underneath all that pomp, is Hasan Minhaj just a con artist who uses fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career? Because after reading that article, I would also think that.”

He continued, “I just want...

Hasan Minhaj is speaking out.

The 38-year-old comedian and TV host shared a video on Thursday (October 26), in which he addressed allegations that he lied and/or embellished stories told in past comedy stand-up specials, as explored in a New Yorker article.

“Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth. My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction,” he’s quoted as saying in the article.

Keep reading to find out more…In the new video, he says the profile, written by Clare Malone, has “omissions and factual errors” that “misrepresented my life story, so I wanted to give people the context and materials I provided The New Yorker with full transparency.”

The New Yorker issued a response, which the author shared on X: “Hasan Minhaj confirms in this video that he selectively presents information and embellishes to make a point: exactly what we reported.

Just over a month after The New Yorker published a story in which it was revealed that Hasan Minhaj embellished some of his stand-up routines, the comedian has responded in a 20-minute video in which he calls the New Yorker’s exposé “needlessly misleading.”

“With everything that’s happening in the world, I’m aware even talking about this now feels so trivial,” Minhaj says in the video. “But being accused of ‘faking racism’ is not trivial. It’s very serious, and it demands an explanation … To everyone who read that article, I want to answer the biggest question that’s probably on your mind: Is Hasan Minhaj secretly a psycho? Underneath all that pomp, is Hasan Minhaj just a con artist who uses fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career? Because after reading that article, I would also think that.”

“I just want to say to anyone who...

Hasan Minhaj would like you to hear his side of things.

So the Patriot Act host produced a “deep dive” video, which our sister site The Hollywood Reporter published Thursday, that addresses his embellishment of stories told in his past stand-up comedy specials. Those stories came to the fore in a New Yorker article, published in September, in which he was quoted as saying, “My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.”

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Hasan Minhaj is addressing his now-infamous New Yorker interview from September 2023 that alleged the comedian embellished his stand-up act.

Minhaj in the article denied “manipulating” audiences with his fabricated or exaggerated life stories, including racist encounters with the FBI, police officers, and an anthrax scare involving his young daughter at their personal residence.

The “Patriot Act” comedian released a 20-minute video to The Hollywood Reporter to call out the “factual errors” in The New Yorker article, as well as play an audio clip of his conversation with the reporter to provide his full quotes.

“There were omissions and factual errors in The New Yorker article that misrepresented my life story, so I wanted to give people the context and materials I provided The New Yorker with full transparency,” Minhaj said. “With everything that’s happening in the world, I’m aware even talking about this now feels so trivial. But...

Over a month after the New Yorker’s profile on him, Hasan Minhaj has responded to the piece in which he admitted to fabricating parts of his standup act. His response comes in the form of a 20-minute video that contains recordings from the original New Yorker profile.

“To everyone who read that article,” Minhaj said in the video, “I want to answer the biggest question that’s probably on your mind: Is Hasan Minhaj secretly a psycho?”

“I’m not a psycho. But this New Yorker article definitely made me look like one,” the comedian continued. “It was so needlessly misleading, not just about my stand-up, but also about me as a person. The truth is, racism, FBI surveillance and the threats to my family happened. And I said this on the record.”

The comedian also explained why he “took a beat before responding,” saying that “like you I...

Hasan Minhaj has mostly stayed quiet about a September New Yorker profile that alleges he fabricated or exaggerated elements of stories he tells in his stand-up comedy, a bombshell story that raised questions about his public persona.

Although he gave a statement Sept. 15 after the article’s publication that said, in part, “All my standup stories are based on events that happened to me,” Minhaj hasn’t responded in detail — until now, and in, as the comedian puts it, “the most Hasan Minhaj way possible: a 20-minute deep dive with graphics and excessive hand motions.”

“There were omissions and factual errors in The New Yorker article that misrepresented my life story, so I wanted to give people the context and materials I provided The New Yorker with full transparency,” Minhaj said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

In the video — which you can see in full below — Minhaj provides...

Throughout his rise as a stand-up comic and TV presenter, Hasan Minhaj established himself a trustworthy voice of reason. Years after Jon Stewart stepped down, The Daily Show alumnus cultivated his resume as a possible heir apparent. His Netflix comedy-news show The Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj (heavily modeled on his prior TV correspondent gig) positioned the California-born satirist at the forefront of the comedy community, speaking on behalf of marginalized voices.

Unfortunately, Minhaj’s harrowing journey was not real. He fabricated his life story to win sympathy and project his own perception of America and himself upon the world. When called out, he laughed it off as inconsequential, the ends justifying the means. Sadly, the lies he told for years, and in public, implicated completely-innocent people caught up in his charade, those same parties receiving death threats.

Regardless if the workplace harassment rumors are true, Minhaj has already ruined...

Martin Scorsese’s new movie Killers of the Flower Moon is getting serious Oscar buzz — but Reservation Dogs star Devery Jacobs is not a fan.

The Native actress spelled out her criticisms of the film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, in a lengthy thread on social media on Monday. The film centers on a series of murders among the Osage tribe in Oklahoma in the 1920s, and Jacobs called it “painful, grueling, unrelenting and unnecessarily graphic… Imagine the worst atrocities committed against [your] ancestors, then having to sit [through] a movie explicitly filled [with] them, [with] the only respite being 30 [minute] long...

Hasan Minhaj is no longer a contender for the next host of The Daily Show, according to a new report. Puck News’ Matthew Belloni told newsletter subscribers that Minhaj — who was a Daily Show correspondent before hosting Patriot Act on Netflix — was once the No. 1 choice to succeed Trevor Noah as Daily Show host. “Minhaj would have been announced as the new Tds host this summer had the strike not intervened,” Belloni wrote, per TVLine. “Instead, both sides sat on the announcement, and then… disaster.” In a New Yorker profile this September, Minhaj admitted to embellishing stories in his standup comedy, telling the magazine that his routines are “70 percent emotional truth — this happened — and then 30 percent hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction.” He added, “The emotional truth is first. The factual truth is secondary.” Amid the ensuing controversy, former Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. — who was reportedly eyed for the hosting job,...

The short list of potential successors to Trevor Noah’s Daily Show throne has narrowed by one.

Puck News reports that embattled frontrunner Hasan Minhaj has been informed by Daily Show parent Paramount Global that he is not getting the coveted hosting gig. The news comes roughly one month after the former Patriot Act headliner found himself at the center of controversy after a damning New Yorker exposé revealed that he had embellished elements of his standup act.

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