The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

Hasan Minhaj brings jokes about election results to UNC

Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show talks about the election results from the Muslim perspective on Saturday night in the Great Hall.The UNC Muslim Students Association worked with the Carolina Union Activities Board to hold the event.
Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show talks about the election results from the Muslim perspective on Saturday night in the Great Hall.The UNC Muslim Students Association worked with the Carolina Union Activities Board to hold the event.

“I hope you guys enjoyed the season finale of America,” Minhaj said at the start of his comedy show on Saturday at the Great Hall in the Student Union.

“I’m just as surprised as you guys. I’m glad to hear that you guys were in shock, because when I flew in I was like, ‘Oh shit, this is a red state,’ but then I was told, like, no it’s this little Carolina Blue section and so I was like, ‘It’s good, we’re good.’”

The show, hosted by the Carolina Union Activities Board and UNC Muslim Student Association, drew a crowd of more than 600.

For the first half of Minhaj’s set, he poked fun at America’s democratic system, calling President-elect Donald Trump America’s new “Orange Mascot” and Hillary Clinton “the broccoli of presidential choices.”

Minhaj then began talking about his family and his experience growing up as a child of immigrants.

“Growing up in an immigrant household, it’s like your parents, especially your father, are the arbiters of truth and justice,” he said.

Minhaj said his family’s car was destroyed in a perceived hate crime after the 9/11 attacks. He used this anecdote to explain his father’s idea of the “American Dream Tax.”

“I look in the middle of the street and my dad is barefoot in his pajamas sweeping glass out of the road,” Minhaj said. “And I go, ‘Dad why aren’t you upset. This is fucking wrong. Why aren’t you upset?’ And he says, ‘This is the price we pay for being here.’”

Many audience members said they could empathize with Minhaj’s experiences.

“I think he really hit home how it feels to be a child of an immigrant,” Naveen Iqbal, a 2016 graduate of UNC, said.

“With his Sept. 12 story, the one with his dad walking back into the house with glass in his feet, putting everything down just so that his son could move forward, it’s a theme that I think a lot of my friends and myself can really relate to.”

Ishrat Hafiz, a senior majoring in business, said she was surprised that Minhaj’s show was different than your average standup comedy show.

“I thought it would be more of, kind of like his regular standup routine,” she said. “And so I was pleasantly surprised by how he just, you know, the political climate and the effects of the election; I think it was just a really good balance.”

Minhaj’s visit to UNC ended with a special presentation from the UNC Muslim Student Association who gave Minhaj — who admitted to being an avid Michael Jordan basketball fan — a UNC basketball jersey.

“Goddamn, your school is so dope,” Minhaj said.

university@dailytarheel.com

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.