Zitat des Tages von Hasan Minhaj:
Political culture has become popular culture.
I was good at speech and debate and academics. I should've stayed in my lane, but I kept trying out for the basketball team. I thought I would make the N.B.A.
'Shantaram' is fantastic. An Australian prisoner escapes & joins the mafia in India? Sign me up. I love stuff that is based on true stories.
I grew up in a pretty strict household in the sense that we just didn't have cable, so I wasn't familiar with what stand-up comedy was. I remember telling my friends that I thought stand-up comedy was like the thing that happened before the episode of 'Seinfeld.'
I had a huge Indian wedding, and I did it for my wife, and I did it for my white friends.
One thing I found very interesting about comedians around the world was their knowledge of stuff outside of their own culture and comfort zone. That's not very common in the States. We produce our own soft power, which is pop culture, but we rarely try to absorb and learn information from other cultures and countries.
Sean Spicer gives press briefings like someone is going through his browser history while he watches.
My dad was the only son from his entire family to come to America, and I was his only son. We had come to the States to achieve security and success for our family. Rules were simple: No fun, no friends, no girls. Go to school, come home, and study.
When you immerse yourself in a community, you tend to rise in that community.
I'd rather be an angry optimist than an angry nihilist.
I'm a first-generation kid in this country. I so identify with America and its culture. I'm a citizen, I was born here. I'm American. At the same time, like most first-generation kids, I have this other identity to another country back home, which is India.
Trump is inadvertently forcing us to show him how great this country truly is - that we are better together than we are divided.
I just hope that people get a variety of news sources to keep themselves informed.
My dad's from that generation like a lot of immigrants where he feels like if you come to this country, you pay this thing like the American dream tax: like you're going to endure some racism, and if it doesn't cost you your life, well hey, you lucked out. Pay it; there you go, Uncle Sam. I was born here, so I actually had the audacity of equality.
When you grow up as a minority in a majority culture, a lot of times, you're just trying to fit in.
On 'The Daily Show,' we get so caught up in the day-to-day news cycle. A story breaks, and then the piranhas in late night, we all jump to the headline, and we dissect it, and then we have to move on to the next day.
I can't emphasize how important free speech is to a liberal and free democracy.
I just hope I reach out to people and connect to people in such a way that they continue to support what I do.
Donald Trump does not touch alcohol, which is really respectable. But think about that. That means every statement, every interview, every tweet - completely sober.
Every time I watch CNN, it feels like you're assigning me homework. Is Trump a Russian spy? I don't know. You tell me - I'm watching the news. It feels like I'm watching CNN watch the news. Just take an hour, figure out what you want to say, then go on the air.
Beena and I didn't move in together until we got married.
Everything isn't breaking news. You can't go to DEFCON One just because Sanjay Gupta found a new moisturizer.
If it's just me on stage telling stories for, like, an hour, that's great. That's fine. But like a sandcastle on the beach, it gets washed away at night. It's so much more powerful if we can all share our narratives and doorstep moments and make us feel a little less alone. I'm just trying to use social media and new media as a way to capture that.
When you have friends that are Muslim, Jewish, gay, from any marginalized group, you realize that they are so much more than this esoteric talking point.
As a single guy, the baseline of what I needed was so low. I just needed an air mattress, food, and rent money.
I think the best comedians have that bravery and courage to say, 'This is what it is. This is unfair; that's not cool.'
Personal narrative is one of the few things where people don't get caught up in fighting over esoteric rhetoric.
In California, you can stretch your arms out and not be touching another person. You get space, sun and, in general, dignity.
Jokes for jokes' sake are kind of meaningless to me. I understand the value of them, but it doesn't speak to me as much. You can lace your argument with jokes, but tell me why you're presenting this argument. What does it mean?
I'm not a Larry David. I don't have a 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and a 'Seinfeld' in me.
I feel like every conversation with my father is like an M. Night Shyamalan movie; 90 minutes of build-up to no payoff.
When you can tailor your act, you want it to be about yourself but also about the people in the room and the experience you guys are having in that moment; it is really a special thing.
U.S.A. Today is what happens when the coupon section takes over the newspaper.
Donald Trump is not a 71-year-old white man. He is an Indian uncle. He wears suits that don't fit; he can't speak English properly. He works with his idiotic sons; he hates women but loves his daughter. He makes up words when he gets angry. He is an Indian uncle.
Funny and sad are two sides of the same coin. I think that most comedians are able to tap into deep subject matter.
I feel like we have so much to add to this book called the American Dream, and I want to add our chapter to it. I want to talk about what it means to be brown American and this concept of what I feel is the New Brown America.
