Hasan Minhaj - Comedy, Netflix, Haters, & Money

1. 0:00 – 13:30

   Shaan and Hasan's daily routines

   1. HMHasan Minhaj0:00

      [cheering] Netflix was like, "Where do you wanna do the special? LA, Chicago, New York?" I was like, "Nah, son. Davis, California." [cheering] [upbeat music] What's a day for you like?

   2. SPShaan Puri0:25

      Uh, cur-

   3. HMHasan Minhaj0:26

      'Cause, 'cause you're, you're f- completely free now, right?

   4. SPShaan Puri0:28

      I'm completely free. Well, you're never really free. You always, I, you know, you build a prison of your own-

   5. HMHasan Minhaj0:33

      Uh-huh

   6. SPShaan Puri0:33

      ... making now. [laughs]

   7. HMHasan Minhaj0:34

      Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

   8. SPShaan Puri0:35

      So, you know, two little kids. A day starts with morning shift dad duty.

   9. HMHasan Minhaj0:38

      Yeah.

   10. SPShaan Puri0:39

       So I take the mornings. Uh, I got a two-year-old and a eight-month-old.

   11. HMHasan Minhaj0:42

       Yeah.

   12. SPShaan Puri0:42

       And so, uh-

   13. HMHasan Minhaj0:43

       We're like s- we're the same. Like three, three, one.

   14. SPShaan Puri0:44

       Yeah, when you were talking about it yesterday, I was like, "I feel you." Uh-

   15. HMHasan Minhaj0:46

       Yeah.

   16. SPShaan Puri0:47

       And we, so I do the morning shift. That's just straight dad time. Then I basically pick between w- I got three kinda major projects.

   17. HMHasan Minhaj0:55

       Yeah.

   18. SPShaan Puri0:56

       So I got, um, investing, so sometimes we'll be looking at deals. Then it's, um, could be content, but content is really kind of on a, a specific s- niche schedule.

   19. HMHasan Minhaj1:06

       Yeah.

   20. SPShaan Puri1:07

       It's like Monday, Wednesday for an hour, we sit down, we do the show, and then that's kind of it. I don't do too much more than that. I write sometimes, eh, like Twitter, emails, or whatever. And then I'll, I have a business. So me and my wife started an e-commerce business. Uh-

   21. HMHasan Minhaj1:18

       Oh, cool

   22. SPShaan Puri1:19

       ... and so that, that scaled up. So basically in the last year, that went from zero, like just an idea-

   23. HMHasan Minhaj1:25

       Yeah

   24. SPShaan Puri1:26

       ... to now we do, like over a million dollars a month of revenue on that business. I was looking for something new-

   25. HMHasan Minhaj1:31

       Yeah

   26. SPShaan Puri1:31

       ... that I could do as a side hustle, something that wasn't like-

   27. HMHasan Minhaj1:34

       Yeah

   28. SPShaan Puri1:35

       ... gonna take up all my time-

   29. HMHasan Minhaj1:36

       Yeah

   30. SPShaan Puri1:36

       ... but could still be a valuable business that was, uh, you know, like some, part, part-time, basically.
2. 13:30 – 18:30

   Is entrepreneurship inborn or learned? Is comedy?

   1. SPShaan Puri13:30

      I got, was like you, it's like, it's ironic. It's like, this is kinda like the Indian kid who, like, w- does, like, hard work and practice-

   2. HMHasan Minhaj13:36

      [laughs] Yeah

   3. SPShaan Puri13:37

      ... and is, like, really good at the thing-

   4. HMHasan Minhaj13:38

      Yeah, yeah, yeah

   5. SPShaan Puri13:38

      ... that he put his, he set his mind to.

   6. HMHasan Minhaj13:39

      Yeah.

   7. SPShaan Puri13:40

      That's the vibe I got. Is that accurate, or is that, like, my own-

   8. HMHasan Minhaj13:43

      Yeah, no, no, no

   9. SPShaan Puri13:43

      ... projection of shit?

   10. HMHasan Minhaj13:44

       I think, I think that is definitely accurate. Like, I, I really do care. Like, I, I love it. I love this thing.

   11. SPShaan Puri13:51

       But, okay, do the thing... Uh, do you agree with my first start, thing, which is amongst 100 comedians that are, like, at the s- similar level-

   12. HMHasan Minhaj13:56

       Yeah, I'm

   13. SPShaan Puri13:56

       ... are you the na- naturally, are you the average, above average, below average? Where would you say?

   14. HMHasan Minhaj14:00

       Yeah, so what you're talking about is just, like, natural, um... There's people that look funny, talk funny, say things in a funny way.

   15. SPShaan Puri14:09

       Right.

   16. HMHasan Minhaj14:09

       So their voice sounds funny. They look funny. You're already in the top heap. Think about those guys.

   17. SPShaan Puri14:16

       Right.

   18. HMHasan Minhaj14:16

       Chris Farley.

   19. SPShaan Puri14:17

       Yes.

   20. HMHasan Minhaj14:18

       Uh, another comic I love, Felipe Esparza. Felipe Esparza just looks funny.

   21. SPShaan Puri14:22

       Right.

   22. HMHasan Minhaj14:22

       Hannibal Buress has an, has an amazing voice. Chappelle has an amazing voice.

   23. SPShaan Puri14:26

       Right.

   24. HMHasan Minhaj14:26

       Do you know what I mean?

   25. SPShaan Puri14:26

       Yes, exactly.

   26. HMHasan Minhaj14:27

       He just, like, sounds funny.

   27. SPShaan Puri14:29

       Right.

   28. HMHasan Minhaj14:29

       He's brilliant. He also sounds really funny. Chris Rock has a great voice, right?

   29. SPShaan Puri14:32

       Right.

   30. HMHasan Minhaj14:33

       He sounds funny. Um, yeah, I look like a news anchor, you know what I mean?
3. 18:30 – 21:00

   Hasan's process for preparing for a show

   1. SPShaan Puri18:30

      I'm sure. I don't know.

   2. HMHasan Minhaj18:30

      Really?

   3. SPShaan Puri18:31

      I, my, my-

   4. HMHasan Minhaj18:31

      This is real personal curiosity

   5. SPShaan Puri18:32

      ... I wanna know it, and I-

   6. HMHasan Minhaj18:34

      Yeah

   7. SPShaan Puri18:34

      ... j- uh, my, my trainer has this great phrase.

   8. HMHasan Minhaj18:36

      Mm-hmm.

   9. SPShaan Puri18:36

      He goes, "Who are my customers? The people that love what I do." Like, 'cause he's, he's like-

   10. HMHasan Minhaj18:41

       Right

   11. SPShaan Puri18:41

       ... people always ask, "Oh, who are your customers?" It's some demographic.

   12. HMHasan Minhaj18:44

       Right.

   13. SPShaan Puri18:44

       Some, like, some, like, marketing intellectual answer. He's like-

   14. HMHasan Minhaj18:47

       Yeah

   15. SPShaan Puri18:47

       ... "Easiest way in the world is the people who lo- who, who... Your customers are the people who love what you do."

   16. HMHasan Minhaj18:51

       Yeah.

   17. SPShaan Puri18:52

       So just do what you do-

   18. HMHasan Minhaj18:53

       Yeah

   19. SPShaan Puri18:54

       ... and you will naturally attract the people who love that-

   20. HMHasan Minhaj18:56

       Yeah

   21. SPShaan Puri18:56

       ... and you will repel the people who aren't interested.

   22. HMHasan Minhaj18:58

       Yeah.

   23. SPShaan Puri18:58

       And you will never have to guess what the heck people want, 'cause you'll just do what you want.

   24. HMHasan Minhaj19:01

       Yeah.

   25. SPShaan Puri19:01

       And so that's the approach I take to the pod.

   26. HMHasan Minhaj19:03

       Yeah. Um, no, I love it, man. I love to, I love talking shop like this. For me, it's actually l- it's a, it's the three hours before.

   27. SPShaan Puri19:10

       Mm-hmm.

   28. HMHasan Minhaj19:11

       So what I try to do before any show, I try to make sure that, like, I exercise in some capacity, because... And I don't know if you feel this way. Uh, maybe it's within our community. It's so funny to go back to what you were talking about where you're like, "Oh, he seems like a guy who works really hard." This is funny, Mar- I was doing Marc Maron's podcast, and Maron said the same thing about me. He's like, "Yeah, you seem, like, really put together."

   29. SPShaan Puri19:34

       [laughs] Right.

   30. HMHasan Minhaj19:34

       And he's like, "Why aren't you unraveling like the o- the way other comics are," right?
4. 21:00 – 31:00

   Why comedians need to work out

   1. HMHasan Minhaj21:00

      to do this. You didn't." But only you can answer that.

   2. SPShaan Puri21:02

      Right.

   3. HMHasan Minhaj21:02

      So you can signal all you want. For me, what that stage represents is, like, no, I'm putting myself in a high level o- of accountability in front of 3,400 people.

   4. SPShaan Puri21:11

      Right.

   5. HMHasan Minhaj21:12

      I'm putting it all out here.

   6. SPShaan Puri21:13

      Right.

   7. HMHasan Minhaj21:13

      Even, and if you don't think I'm good, if you think I'm corny, if you think I'm whatever, hey, it is what it is. But I stood here-

   8. SPShaan Puri21:18

      Right

   9. HMHasan Minhaj21:18

      ... and I did it.

   10. SPShaan Puri21:19

       I did me.

   11. HMHasan Minhaj21:19

       And on my terms, and I did my best.

   12. SPShaan Puri21:21

       So you're saying th- so you're saying three hours before you do-

   13. HMHasan Minhaj21:22

       Three hours before, what I do is I like to do the, the, uh, some form of exercise, and I try to get out of my head.

   14. SPShaan Puri21:29

       Like it's a workout, workout? Or you're just trying to break a sweat? What do you, what's the, the-

   15. HMHasan Minhaj21:31

       Yeah. Trying to do... On tour, it's just about body maintenance.

   16. SPShaan Puri21:36

       Yeah.

   17. HMHasan Minhaj21:36

       So I'll do running. I'll do some pull-ups, some core stuff. Just stuff to get my body going-

   18. SPShaan Puri21:42

       Right

   19. HMHasan Minhaj21:43

       ... and, and start breaking a sweat. And what I love about, like, right around minute 30 to 45, is I'll get out of my head and into my body. And so much of life right now-

   20. SPShaan Puri21:54

       Getting out of your head

   21. HMHasan Minhaj21:54

       ... getting outta your head. And it's funny, I, I, I called you randomly. I was appreci- I appreciate you picking up the phone the other day.

   22. SPShaan Puri22:00

       Mm-hmm.

   23. HMHasan Minhaj22:00

       We had a long conversation. We can get into that later. But so much of, I think, what you do and what you put out in the world, and I call it, like, tech Twitter talk, it's all in your head.

   24. SPShaan Puri22:10

       Intellectual.

   25. HMHasan Minhaj22:11

       It's all just heady-

   26. SPShaan Puri22:13

       Yeah

   27. HMHasan Minhaj22:13

       ... anxiety-inducing stuff.

   28. SPShaan Puri22:14

       [laughs] Right.

   29. HMHasan Minhaj22:15

       Oh, Ethereum's up. Oh, this and that, Solana's this.

   30. SPShaan Puri22:18

       [laughs]
5. 31:00 – 55:00

   How to deal with feedback/haters

   1. HMHasan Minhaj31:00

      schemes. You're part of this really... It, it, it's actually quite similar to Hollywood and politics in that way.

   2. SPShaan Puri31:05

      Yeah.

   3. HMHasan Minhaj31:05

      'Cause if you work in show business, you'll quickly see that too.

   4. SPShaan Puri31:09

      Yeah.

   5. HMHasan Minhaj31:09

      You know, like, shit can run from people that are, like, really about it, artist artists, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, all the way to Logan Paul and Jake Paul-

   6. SPShaan Puri31:17

      Right

   7. HMHasan Minhaj31:17

      ... like, that are just about, like, the WWF circus show of it all.

   8. SPShaan Puri31:20

      Right. [laughs]

   9. HMHasan Minhaj31:22

      Right? This world that you run in, and people are now talking about money and business in a-

   10. SPShaan Puri31:27

       Right

   11. HMHasan Minhaj31:27

       ... in a really interesting way. When people come out and they comment about you and your businesses, and they quote tweet you, and they're dunking on you, and that's a part of now the social currency. This is all, this is social currency-

   12. SPShaan Puri31:38

       Right

   13. HMHasan Minhaj31:38

       ... that you're a part of. Oh, the more subscribers I get, then I can-

   14. SPShaan Puri31:41

       Yep

   15. HMHasan Minhaj31:41

       ... do MeUndies commercials, and we can sell the pod.

   16. SPShaan Puri31:43

       [laughs]

   17. HMHasan Minhaj31:43

       And you're a business guy, right?

   18. SPShaan Puri31:44

       Yeah.

   19. HMHasan Minhaj31:44

       How do you deal with those, uh, negative critiques? Does it bother you? Does it... What's-

   20. SPShaan Puri31:50

       Um, so the honest answer is yeah, every negative comment-

   21. HMHasan Minhaj31:55

       Yeah

   22. SPShaan Puri31:55

       ... is, is like 10 times 10-

   23. HMHasan Minhaj31:57

       Yeah

   24. SPShaan Puri31:57

       ... for every positive comment, you know?

   25. HMHasan Minhaj31:59

       Yeah.

   26. SPShaan Puri31:59

       And so that is the initial reaction, but there's also a difference between response and reaction. So then the initial, if I'm not in the right state of mind, that initial reaction will be, "I'm cl- I'm gonna clap back."

   27. HMHasan Minhaj32:10

       Uh-huh.

   28. SPShaan Puri32:10

       Or, "They're so dumb because of this, this, and this."

   29. HMHasan Minhaj32:13

       Uh-huh.

   30. SPShaan Puri32:13

       "I'll go look at their profile. Oh, you only got 11 followers and you're saying this shit? Maybe-"
6. 55:00 – 1:21:00

   Creating instead of consuming

   1. SPShaan Puri55:00

      I, he's, he's like, "Yeah, we're making music." I was like, "So you're trying to, like, make a band?" He's like, "No, we just, like, we make music together 'cause it's more fun than listening to music." I go, "What?" And he goes, he goes, "Yeah, we make videos." I'm like, "You're trying to be a YouTuber?" He's like, "No, it's just better than sitting there and watching YouTube." He goes, "I have this rule which is good friends consume together, great friends create together."

   2. HMHasan Minhaj55:20

      Ah, that's dope.

   3. SPShaan Puri55:20

      He goes, "So, you know, you can look at all your relationships and say what percentage of the time are we just consuming? We go to a restaurant, we just consume shit versus cooking something together."

   4. HMHasan Minhaj55:28

      Yeah.

   5. SPShaan Puri55:28

      "When we go to the movies, we just consume something or binge-watch a show versus, like, try to make something together."

   6. HMHasan Minhaj55:33

      Yeah.

   7. SPShaan Puri55:33

      "Make some art, do a project together, build, build a gingerbread house."

   8. HMHasan Minhaj55:36

      Yeah, build, yeah.

   9. SPShaan Puri55:36

      "It doesn't matter-"

   10. HMHasan Minhaj55:37

       Yeah.

   11. SPShaan Puri55:37

       "... what the thing is."

   12. HMHasan Minhaj55:38

       Yeah.

   13. SPShaan Puri55:38

       He goes, "My gr- the great relationships in my life, I, the, I recognize they're great because we create, and the ones I want to be great, I st- create more than we consume."

   14. HMHasan Minhaj55:46

       Right.

   15. SPShaan Puri55:46

       So similarly, whether it's even with work, I try to create. I think most people are consuming, like, 99% of the time. I think they're literally just mouth open ingesting, like-

   16. HMHasan Minhaj55:56

       Yeah

   17. SPShaan Puri55:57

       ... whatever the hell everybody else is, you know, the few-

   18. HMHasan Minhaj55:58

       Yeah

   19. SPShaan Puri55:58

       ... content creators are creating.

   20. HMHasan Minhaj56:00

       Yeah.

   21. SPShaan Puri56:00

       They're just taking it all in, and then they're hoping that their brain doesn't get, like, you know, turned into, like, peanut butter.

   22. HMHasan Minhaj56:04

       Yeah. [laughs]

   23. SPShaan Puri56:05

       And what I do is, like, I know it's very addictive to just sit there and scroll the feeds.

   24. HMHasan Minhaj56:09

       Yeah.

   25. SPShaan Puri56:10

       I do it from time to time, but-

   26. HMHasan Minhaj56:11

       Yeah

   27. SPShaan Puri56:11

       ... I try to say, "All right. I need to be creating 80% of the content. I'll consume 20%."

   28. HMHasan Minhaj56:16

       Yeah.

   29. SPShaan Puri56:16

       "But of my time that I'm thinking about content, that, that's, like, that's, like, doing this inter- I'm not with my family, I'm not in the gym, I'm not whatever-"

   30. HMHasan Minhaj56:23

       Yeah.
7. 1:21:00 – 1:57:50

   How creators can get leverage back from corporate interests

   1. SPShaan Puri1:21:00

      allocate your budget to that."

   2. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:01

      Yeah.

   3. SPShaan Puri1:21:01

      "They do." And he was like, he's like, he was like, "You know, this guy must be doing amazing because he's, he did e- eight shows or whatever in Bay Area."

   4. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:09

      Yeah.

   5. SPShaan Puri1:21:09

      "He's got a Netflix show." I, I say, "Yeah, he's doing gr- I'm sure he's doing great."

   6. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:12

      Yeah.

   7. SPShaan Puri1:21:12

      I said, "But also think about, like, I don't know what your Netflix deal is, but I know that if I was offered a Netflix deal, I'd have to do it for zero, essentially." Right? Like, Netflix kinda knows that I have to say yes to have a Netflix show.

   8. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:24

      Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

   9. SPShaan Puri1:21:24

      So my bargaining power is probably very low.

   10. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:27

       Yeah.

   11. SPShaan Puri1:21:27

       So even though it's a big deal and it might do well-

   12. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:29

       Yeah

   13. SPShaan Puri1:21:29

       ... my negotiating power in that situation, my leverage is low-

   14. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:32

       Right

   15. SPShaan Puri1:21:33

       ... versus this show that you own, your leverage is higher, right?

   16. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:36

       Yeah.

   17. SPShaan Puri1:21:36

       And so it's like I say, "You know, just 'cause somebody has... Certain things you do for distribution and fame-"

   18. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:42

       Totally

   19. SPShaan Puri1:21:42

       ... and certain things you do to monetize."

   20. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:43

       And that was the Comedy Central deal. Like, you're on The Daily Show, you're on SNL-

   21. SPShaan Puri1:21:46

       Right

   22. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:46

       ... to be on a cultural institution.

   23. SPShaan Puri1:21:48

       Exactly, to get your name built.

   24. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:50

       Yeah.

   25. SPShaan Puri1:21:50

       They know, like, you can, they can pay you whatever.

   26. HMHasan Minhaj1:21:52

       Yeah.

   27. SPShaan Puri1:21:52

       And so how do you get the leverage back? And so that's where there's this idea, by the way, that, like, forgot who s- who said this. Somebody said this. I'm stealing it, but why wouldn't comedians create... Like, oh, so everybody's getting big, big, big checks from Netflix and others to go do a special now.

   28. HMHasan Minhaj1:22:05

       Yeah.

   29. SPShaan Puri1:22:07

       And okay, here's t- you know, I think Chappelle whatever, this, something like 30 million bucks, 20 million bucks. I don't know what the numbers are.

   30. HMHasan Minhaj1:22:11

       Yeah, yeah.

Episode duration: 1:57:50