Of course standup comedians can bend the truth – just not like Hasan Minhaj did | Brian Logan
The US comic made up autobiographical material for his live shows, opening a debate about what audiences can reasonably expect
“Sometimes truth and sometimes total BS.” That’s how Whoopi Goldberg defined standup comedy last week. “That’s what we do, we tell stories and we embellish them.” That’s one way of putting it. Goldberg was speaking in defence of her fellow standup Hasan Minhaj, a campaigning satirist who is among the frontrunners to succeed Trevor Noah as host of The Daily Show.
Minhaj was the subject of a New Yorker exposé that revealed several routines in his acclaimed Netflix specials Homecoming King and The King’s Jester – routines that detail his personal experience of racism and persecution – were based on lies.
Brian Logan is the Guardian’s comedy critic and the artistic director of Camden People’s theatre
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