Hasan Minhaj, Elizabeth Warren Talk Age vs. Policy Making, Government Thirst Traps in New Talk Show

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 to see Mitch McConnell’s whale tail?”

In response to what is deemed too old to run for elected office, Warren says capability had more to do with effective policy making than age. “So, I think there is a tool, but I don’t think it’s measured in age, I mean years,” Warren said. “I think it’s measured in, ‘Do I think that laws in government should be all about protecting those that already got it,’ or should it be, ‘We made it, but you got to put a big chunk into investing in the future,’ so the next person who comes along can make it.”

During the 30-minute episode, Minhaj also questioned the morals of presidents past and present, saying the presidency opens up “Puff Daddy Doors,” where one can enter elected office as “a sociopath, and then leave a war criminal.”

“I’m actually kind of glad you did not become president,” Minhaj told Warren during the episode. “Because I don’t know how President Elizabeth Warren could have been able to stay Elizabeth Warren. What I mean by that is, I don’t know if the president can be a good person.”

Warren, who expressed support for Biden throughout the talk, referred to her experience running for the Massachusetts senate against former Republican Senator Scott Brown.

“How would I feel if I didn’t try, and not trying is not OK,” Warren said. “If you think the fight is important, you don’t get to back up and say, ‘You know what? It could cost me a lot to do this. I can make a lot of mistakes. I could get things wrong. I could have a lot of painful moments in this.’ But, damn, there are some things you have to say, ‘I’m just gonna try anyway,’ and I think that’s what happens in elected office.”

Following Trevor Noah’s departure from The Daily Show in 2022, the former Daily Show correspondent was eyed as the likely host of the nearly three-decades-old talk show. Minhaj, however, was likely removed from consideration after The New Yorker published an article detailing his history of fabricating stories during his stand-up routines. Among the contentious stories he told: Minhaj joked about being dumped by his prom date because of his skin tone, told a story about an FBI informant “Brother Eric” joining a Sacramento mosque, and said his daughter was exposed to a white powder and suggested it was anthrax in the mail and led to her subsequent hospitalization, among other falsehoods.

“The emotional truth is first,” Minhaj told The New Yorker. “The factual truth is secondary.”

As Minhaj cracked about his falsified jokes during the Netflix Is a Joke festival in May, he said his career blunder saved the talk show, with its return of longtime host Jon Stewart.

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