Current Events > What do you think of the new yorker trying to ruin a stand up comics career?

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/arts/hasan-minhaj-the-new-yorker.html

TLDR: The New Yorker wrote a hit piece on comic Hasan Minhaj cuz a writer "fact checked his stories" and said none of it was true. Other comedians like Whoopi goldberg stood up for him and said that comedians exaggerate or sometimes make stories up for their shows and its not out of the ordinary. Hasan then showed proof for some of his stories he told in his stand up and the new yorker hasn't responded.

i also don't know if ce already talked about this but it was brought to my attention and i used the search bar. lol

KanWan posted...

The comics job is to highlight things and exaggerate instances.. I dont really care if the scenario is probable, Im just there to laugh at the punchline and absurdity

True.
Its just weird for the new yorker to pick on one specific comic for "fake stories". They also already cost this guy a job as a host of another show because of their story.

What a weird, asshole move. I've always assumed little-to-none of a stand-up comic's stories are true, they're doing a bit. Why would it matter if he's making it up? He's not testifying in court, he's making people laugh at a club.

Edit: Okay, I looked up a little more and apparently they're both shitty. The New Yorker didn't properly vet things (I assume that's what he brought receipts for), but he's also making up shit that's used for serious beats and not jokes. Like having to take his daughter to the hospital because she was exposed to anthrax that someone sent to them as a hate crime. Like he wasn't just making up stories for jokes, he was victimizing himself for sympathy.

pegusus123456 posted...

What a weird, asshole move. I've always assumed little-to-none of a stand-up comic's stories are true, they're doing a bit. Why would it matter if he's making it up? He's not testifying in court, he's making people laugh at a club.

Edit: Okay, I looked up a little more and apparently they're both shitty. The New Yorker didn't properly vet things (I assume that's what he brought receipts for), but he's also making up shit that's used for serious beats and not jokes. Like having to take his daughter to the hospital because she was exposed to anthrax that someone sent to them as a hate crime. Like he wasn't just making up stories for jokes, he was victimizing himself for sympathy.

yeah i think he only defended the stuff the new yorker called him out on, but iirc he made an apology video for everything he could have been called out for, didnt watch the apology video tho.

Who the fuck cares if a stand up comic who tells stories as part of their act made up the story? If it's funny then they're doing a good job. It's completely irrelevant if what they say is true or not.

Enclave posted...

Who the fuck cares if a stand up comic who tells stories as part of their act made up the story? If it's funny then they're doing a good job. It's completely irrelevant if what they say is true or not.

Because according to the allegations he was giving out identifiable information of people who never did the racist acts he said he did, leading to the harassment of them and their families by the internet.

But apparently the New Yorker's allegations were fudged.

The New Yorker had an agenda, that minorities were "making up racism" and decided that years old comedy bits were the perfect example.

Minhaj alleges that he didn't make anything up, but he did change details to make certain things hit harder.

As, you know, comedians do.

Fact checking a comedy routine seems like a non sequitur thing to do.

Is nothing sacred anymore?!?!

I don't really care but it seems the initial hit piece came out of nowhere and then The New Yorker was exposed as misconstruing or outright lying about stuff anyways.

Weird thing to blow your credibility on, trying to take down a b-list comic, but I guess everyone has their thing.

What really pisses me off about this whole story, is shit lib centrists like Bill Maher trying to push a both sides between this and Donald Trump as if one was elected to the highest office, controls an entire political party, and plans to run again - and the other is a stand up comic I never heard if before this.

wait what
comics are supposed to be telling the truth up there?
i thought it was all just clever bullshit to make you laugh
yer telling me a navy seal really swam up the toilet into dave attel's butthole and made him do things?

You mean to tell me that comics sometimes fib for comedic effect?!?!

*flips table*

I'm pretty sure none of you read the original story either now or when it was being discussed. It wasn't just about "telling some fibs" and the fact you're treating it like that indicates you don't know what the topic is about

Doe posted...

I'm pretty sure none of you read the original story either now or when it was being discussed. It wasn't just about "telling some fibs" and the fact you're treating it like that indicates you don't know what the topic is about

Happens in almost every topic posted.

Yeah, people assuming this is just pointing out holes in his jokes shows how little they know. Comedy isn't just comedy anymore and hasn't been for years.

I don't think it's necessarily wrong what he did in a vacuum, but it isn't in a vacuum. A lot of people were hurt when they found out he made up racist incidents that happened to him and that his daughter's life was in danger.

That said, bad pub is good pub and I'm sure he'll come out of this richer and more popular than ever. The New Yorker just gave him fuel for years because people love the narrative of someone standing up to the "fictitious liberal media."