Hasan Minhaj Talks Guest Hosting ‘The Daily Show’ Ahead of Film Independent Spirit Awards [Exclusive] (2024)

After spending four years as a correspondent on The Daily Show and breaking out into the world of comedy, comedian Hasan Minhaj is marking his return to the late-night news desk following Trevor Noah’s exit this past December with a week’s worth of shows bound to make fans nostalgic. Helping kick off a new batch of hosts on a weekly basis for The Daily Show, the Peabody Award winner is no stranger to the late-night series as he was the senior correspondent from 2014 to 2018. Shortly following his exit, Minhaj went on to star in his own talk show on Netflix called Patriot Act, where the 37-year-old tackled a spectrum of hot-button issues. In an exclusive one-on-one interview with Collider, the California native expresses his excitement for the week ahead, including his first-time hosting the upcoming Film Independent Spirit Awards.

While Minhaj’s career has since catapulted outside The Daily Show and his Netflix series to gaining acclaim with an off-Broadway show in 2015 and being a featured speaker at 2017’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner, the California native will next be hosting The Daily Show from February 27 to March 2, followed by another hosting gig with the Spirit Awards taking place March 4 at the Pier in Santa Monica. While chatting with Collider about his celebratory week ending with the awards on Saturday, Minhaj praised the non-profit arts organization for its festivities honoring artists-driven films and its abolishment of gendered acting categories. As of 2022, the Spirit Awards has created gender-neutral film and TV categories for all 10 of its nominees, something he tells Collider is “really cool” in our exclusive Q&A.

COLLIDER:These are going to be such great awards because they’re so incredibly unique in supporting the fabric of representation but with the gender-inclusive direction, was that something that initially attracted you to hosting?

HASAN MINHAJ: It certainly was really cool, and I’m so glad that they’re now making gender-neutral award categories in that way. I think it’s about time, and I think it was really cool that they’re actively doing that.

And you are the second South Asian to host, which is big ups for our community. The first time it was Kumail Nanjiani, and he was actually co-hosting. So, what does that mean for you that these are the only awards I feel like, that actually break ground in diversity and include people that look like us?

MINHAJ: I’m just thrilled to be a part of the list of amazing comedians and performers that have done it before me. Melissa Villaseñor, who’s amazing; Amber [Ruffin], Kumail, and Kate [McKinnon], [Nick] Kroll, and [John] Mulaney, Aubrey Plaza — all of it’s really, really great. And what I love most about it is, again, obviously the diversity of the comedians themselves, but the types of comedy that they all do. So when Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally did it, their comedy is so different from Aubrey Plaza’s, right? And that’s just really cool and interesting. Everybody got to bring their own unique self to it, so I’m excited about that.

I love that it makes every year so different. Everyone’s view of comedy and what they find funny is going to be a very multifaceted direction for every show and that means with your background in comedy, how are you preparing? What can we expect to see during the Spirit Awards when you host Saturday?

MINHAJ: I think what’s cool about this particular award show is the Film Independent Spirit Awards knows exactly what it is — it’s a week before the Oscars; it’s 11 a.m. on the beach. All of the nominees are day-drinking at 10 o’clock. [laughs] And so everybody’s in on the joke. They know what it is, and they’re not taking it too seriously, which makes the show really fun and silly. It’s a good time, it’s not uptight. Nobody’s clutching their pearls! Sometimes the hosts are doing musical numbers, they’re doing avant-garde experimental theater — it’s great. It’s all of it. So that’s what I’m excited about the most and that’s how I’ve been preparing for it. It’s going to be very different from the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. This is going to be a lot more fun, silly and weird.

So let’s talk about awards season because I love how rich the 2022 catalog was with bringing more culture and diverse voices to the big screen. Did you have a favorite movie or a performance from the past year that you just adored and couldn’t get enough of?

MINHAJ: I think my favorite movie, I would probably say in terms of what it was doing to expand the genre, or genres rather, is Everything Everywhere All at Once. Five years ago, if you were to pitch a film, generally these things were always defined by one type of genre. Is it a family drama? Is it a comedy? Is it a time-travel movie? What the Daniels did, what was so brilliant — it blended almost nine different genres into one movie, and so I think it really represents the pinnacle of what I think the Film Independent Spirit Awards is trying to honor, which is innovative, boundary-pushing, storytelling.

Yeah, for sure, and TV is being honored at these awards as well. Obviously, we’ve all built stronger habits for binging thanks to the pandemic, so is there anything you’re excited to see take home an award this year?

MINHAJ: Yeah, I was actually talking about this earlier, but I’m so proud of Mo [Mohammed] Amer and I’m so thrilled for him, and I’m so glad he recently won, I believe, a Gotham Award. I’m just so glad that he’s getting the props and the recognition that he deserves. He’s just naturally so funny and brilliant, but that story of asylum in Houston [on Netflix] is really powerful and amazing. So it was parts of that show [Mo] I was watching that was obviously laugh-out-loud funny because I love Mo, but there’s lots of it that are just so gripping and touching; where I’ve known so many people that have gotten lost in the immigration process and telling that story is really, really important through a comedy too, which is so incredible.

It’s a great show, and he deserves all the acclaim for it. But speaking of series and movies, we might be seeing you at the Spirit Awards next year, maybe picking up some awards! You’ve just launched your own production company, 186K Films with a movie you are currently producing for Amazon Studios called For the Culture. I love how it’s tied to collegiate Bollywood dance competitions — that’s going to be so funny. Can you tease us about what we can expect and when we’ll be able to watch it finally?

MINHAJ: Yeah, we’re in pre-production right now, and I can’t wait to celebrate this world with so many people around the world and take you into a very funny, rich, and at times — ratchet, universe. [laughs]

Is there a lot of dancing involved? Are you getting into the actual Bollywood dance classes, doing all that?

MINHAJ: People don’t know — the film’s based on painfully true events, so I’m a Bollywood boy deep down, and we’ll get into that in the film, but I promise you I won’t be dancing. It's not happening. I wrote this. We’re making this movie for the — it’s not for my generation, it’s for [the new generation]. I mean, I don’t have Peter Pan syndrome. I don’t need to go back and do that.

Before I let you go, I want to talk to you about hosting The Daily Show, the week of February 27th. You started your career there almost 10 years ago, which I’m sure has been so humbling. What’s it like going back and taking the reins? What can we expect and is there anything that you’re looking forward to?

MINHAJ: For me, it’s going to be like a homecoming, and being around that amazing staff, it really was my college undergrad. It was my comedy college undergrad, so to speak. So getting a chance to go back and work with Jen Flanz and Zhubin Parang and Dan Amira and that entire staff and crew that they got to see me. They literally hired me and got to see me grow and come into my own as a comedian and a performer. That’s what's going to be so cool — getting to be around them again is going to be just awesome. I promise it’s going to be really fun. We have a lot of really fun stuff planned; I can’t wait for you to see all of it.

Hasan Minhaj can be seen hosting The Daily Show from February 27 to March 2 on Comedy Central at 11 p.m. EST. After that, tune into the Film Independent Spirit Awards streaming on Saturday, March 4 at 2 p.m. PST on IMDb YouTube, Film Independent YouTube and Film Independent Twitter.