Hasan Minhaj Answers Increasingly Personal Questions | Slow Zoom | Vanity Fair

are you allergic to medical tape am i allergic to medical technology Mike someone yeah it's chris hemsworth allergic to medical difference [Music] awesome Minaj answers increasingly personal questions as the camera gets closer to his face that's the full we're gonna dirty the full title where am I looking Oh directly in the camera okay how does work works good it's stressful but it's it's meaningful and challenging and that and that's what matters where do you live I live in Hell's Kitchen New York why don't you live in LA I hate LA I've truly hate LA with the passion I love New York because it's the one city where it's not defined by one monolithic industry so us all being on top of each other is really beautiful and this is a city that rewards people that put everything they can into their respective art form do people ever confuse you for another celebrity yeah whoever's popping at the time it has melon and I've been confused for them so there was a hot minute when I was deaf Patel and there's another minute what I was rosamma it so yeah what was your most memorable debate from high school debate club I was put into a debate where we had to argue segregation and I was very lucky that I had to argue against segregation because that was video recorded and it's out there somewhere so I'm glad that I had the right position at 15 how do you balance career and family I don't it's not I don't know if it's my place to say to be quite honest I'm doing the best I can but the most challenging thing about having a career in where you're a public figure and having a family is that you make all these decisions and you do these things that are out in the world that other people get to talk about tear apart nitpick like not like and the ramifications are that your family has to live with that for better for worse they don't get a voice or a vote on those things and that's something that I think about a lot and it's challenging have you ever made a mistake in your career that you regret you know when I was starting out there was a lot of things that I was doing in my career where I was hedging I was hedging my expectations of what I could accomplish in show business I was hedging the expectations of what I demanded of others one of the first pilot seasons I went out for there was this scene where I walked into the room and I'm supposed to sleep for the camera and they go just say her name to camera and then we'll slate and I remember I walked in and they go say your name and I go oh I'm Hassan Minaj and the guys like hasn't and I'm like no no it'sit's the husband Minaj and he goes it's fine it doesn't matter and I was like yeah it doesn't and I like kind of believed him so I regret moments like that like taking those little jabs those little asides where I wasn't defining what I was doing and who I was on my own terms cuz my name doesn't matter in who I am does matter even if the audition doesn't mean anything this matters like Who I am as a person in the art that I'm creating it matters so I should have just kept it going until he got it right when do you feel most lonely I think anytime I have to poke a bear that I've been told you probably shouldn't poke this bear a lot of the people that I've talked about on the show have not been poked before in a real significant way and so doing the long division of should I do this should I not I'm delving into territory that a lot of times hasn't been you know gone into just yet so it's it's scary and that can be lonely cool cool man it's getting like it's getting super emo at the end are you doing that on purpose as a family family's great penis gray daughter's beautiful I'm very blessed you set up a gmail for your daughter yes how did you guys know this has anyone emailed the baby uh yeah this is this is actually very scary that you guys know this my wife and I emailed our daughter for her first birthday which is about four months ago and we both sent her messages from us just saying how the past year has been and I signed it dad which to me was really special because she's the only person in the world that calls me Dad really beautiful your parents are in an arranged marriage has that affected how you view romance for sure I mean in desi culture arranged marriage is just the expectation but it definitely got me to really believe in the power of loyalty and putting the collective group over individuality we is more important than me have his fatherhood affected your relationship to your own death oh that's a Simba Mufasa question yeah everything all the cliches are right everything my dad told me was kind of right I'm you all right that yes I am gonna be very pissed if she doesn't text me I'm gonna even very mad how do you and your daughter prefer to spend quality time together mornings is our time so I get up or she gets me up she wakes up around 6:00 in those first two hours we just hang out and it's the best you've talked about gaps of cultural understanding between you and your parents what's a gap you anticipate to have with your own daughter oh it's gonna be terrifying she's gonna be like that I'm gonna join the matrix I'm going in we're gonna be full-on cyborgs like me looking at this camera it's we're all just gonna be one and I'm gonna be like no there should be a separation between human beings and technology and she's like you're such a narc dad let's fully plug in it's gonna be a heated debate what do you hope you'll be different by the time your daughter is 18 I hope that she can unapologetically be herself and she doesn't have to qualify things about her identity or upbringing or who she is max is a weird that I I'm dressed exactly the same as the crew like we could swap places I'm ready to hold the boom like here's what I'm saying how you been lately that's that's the most loaded question that you've asked me max how are you that's pretty that's pretty heavy you ever had one of those with one of your friends you're just like hey how are you and they just like break down you're like okay that's where we're at right now if you had another name what would you name yourself I would go prashanta Venkataramana John I want more letters how some min hi just is already too easy but now that I've been bracing my name let's go pull on South Indian name give me all the letters you used to have a black Toyota Camry is that right yes yeah I haven't looked at a Camry like many immigrants I had a black Toyota Camry yes why did you get rid of it because people kept getting into the car thinking I was there uber driver I am not joking I'd had to get rid of that thing it happened too often you once mentioned the importance of making memories in your shoes yes what is your most notable memory wearing the shoes you're in right now these shoes right here I'm a big advocate of where your shoes make memories in your shoes life is short crease your Jordans I have been to Europe in these shoes and I went to Europe with my wife and these shoes what is the most embarrassing thing you've ever done to fit in the most embarrassing thing that I've done to fit in I remember being a kid my grandparents were living with us my grandma would wear a sari everywhere and I remember being at the grocery store with my grandma and trying to be further away from her because I didn't want people to think that we were together when did you last cry in front of another person the last time I cried was actually June 4th and is when my daughter started walking and it was the happiest moment for me what if this is what therapy was like they're like performers musicians you got like people who work in in the creative arts like therapy is much needed but like the only way we do it is if people were recording us aliens made contact with earth and you were the spokesperson for humanity what would you say to them I apologize about manmade climate change would you rather have a lifetime supply of Jordans or impeach President Trump okay so that's a tough question because I think I have enough Jordans I have enough material goods but I think in order to do the latter you would have to have Congress be functioning so in order to impeach the president Congress has to function properly and so I wish for Congress to function properly because that lasts longer than a president tan that was like max that was a great that's like I should run for public office answer what makes you feel most like an American uh I would say I felt the most like an American at the White House Correspondents Dinner when I was making fun of the most powerful people in the world what's a headline that you can't get out of your mind the my favorite headline right now is the one where a bunch of people stormed area 51 to quote see them aliens actually when I read that headline I felt like an American because that was only in America would that be a headline what have you been trying to do more of I've been trying to do things without being attached to technology what is the scariest thing about being Muslim in America the scary thing about being a Muslim in America is having to always prove your loyalty and have your loyalty be questioned to this country that's the toughest thing about being Muslim after 9/11 it became very clear that the Muslim part of my identity was something that now was indicative of me being an enemy of the state and so ever since then and if you look at even political rhetoric here in this country and around the world there's this idea that if you're Muslim you are an anti-national or you don't belong and I think having to navigate the idea of constantly being in an away game even though you're supposed to be playing a home game that's always been tough for me sounds fun how's the shoot thanks man let's appreciate that

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Id: c8XToZCS7Rc

Length: 10min 50sec (650 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 09 2019