Hasan and the ‘truth in standup’ row

Comics from the city say exaggerating personal stories in standup shows is not unethical if they aren’t blown out of proportion, especially in the context of grave social issues.

They were reacting to the flak Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj is facing for ‘fabricating’ parts of personal anecdotes in his standup routines for Netflix.

The controversy broke out on September 15 when The New Yorker published ‘Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Emotional Truths’’, alleging he ‘embellished’ stories of racism, Islamophobia and threats to his family.

Hasan shot back, his comedy is “70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction”. In a follow-up explanation recently, he said, “I assumed that the lines of truth and fiction were allowed to be a bit more blurry.”

‘Hyberboles are common’

Comic Sonu Venugopal feels this scrutiny on Hasan is uncalled for. “Are we fact-checking jokes now?” she asks. “In comedy, it’s fine to exaggerate experiences that are yours, others’ or fictional. Drawing a line about what you can joke about and can’t will limit your performance,” she explains.

Comedian Aamer Peeran calls this a case of “taking jokes too seriously”. “It’s common to add hyperboles to make the stories relatable and funnier,” he reasons.

According to fellow artiste Shankar Ram Chugani, Hasan is facing the heat probably because of his past work. Hasan is a former correspondent of The Daily Show, a popular satirical news programme in the US. “When you come from a show where you use news and facts, it builds an image of credibility,” he shares, adding, “But in comedy, there are no regulations. As long as he is funny and makes people laugh, we should not question his writing process or if he exaggerated the stories. No comedian takes their material lightly.”

‘Playing the victim card’

Comedian Aditya Shridhar says exaggeration, falsehood or hyperbole is usually accepted in comedy when done to make the joke funnier. “Otherwise it can come off as being done for sympathy or virtue signalling,” he says.

Much of the fabrications in the shows ‘The King’s Jester’ and ‘Homecoming King’, which Hasan is being chastised for, is not in service of the joke but playing the ‘victim card’, Aditya argues. “It is particularly problematic when you pass off others’ experiences as your own,” he adds.

Comedian Ahmed Shariff concurs and says, “There is sexism, casteism and religious (discrimination) in the world but the problem arises when you make the issues look a lot worse than they actually are.”

These comics also use personal stories on stage — Aditya draws on his job as a forensic doctor; Shankar talks of being born with a hole in the heart; Aamer shares the struggles of renting a house as a Muslim.

But they don’t use news clips, statistics, and personal photos to make their stories look believable as Hasan often does. They flag this as a grey area.

What happened

Three of Hasan Minhaj’s narratives have come under the scanner. One, he was rejected for a prom date because he was a brown boy. Two, an FBI informant infiltrated his childhood mosque and had dinner at his house. Three, he rushed his daughter to the hospital after he received a letter containing ‘anthrax’ powder at home.

In a long video released last week, Hasan says the premise of these stories is true though he embellished them “to make a point”. He accused The New Yorker of misleading their readers. The American magazine stands by their article.