When Your 'Flaw' Becomes Your Edge with Comedian Hasan Minhaj | A Bit of Optimism Podcast

1. 0:00 – 8:20

   Hasan Minhaj's X-Men origin story

   1. HMHasan Minhaj0:00

      Stand-up comedy [chuckles] in the pecking order, you know, you got your actors and your musi- musicians, you have your magicians-

   2. SSSimon Sinek0:07

      [laughs]

   3. HMHasan Minhaj0:09

      ... and, and your clowns.

   4. SSSimon Sinek0:09

      [laughs]

   5. HMHasan Minhaj0:10

      Stand-up comedy's somewhere between magicians and clowns.

   6. SSSimon Sinek0:13

      [laughs]

   7. HMHasan Minhaj0:14

      That's where I kind of place us.

   8. SSSimon Sinek0:17

      Between clown and magician. So somewhere between-

   9. HMHasan Minhaj0:19

      Between clown and magician

   10. SSSimon Sinek0:20

       ... David Copperfield and Bozo-

   11. HMHasan Minhaj0:25

       Yes

   12. SSSimon Sinek0:25

       ... there's a comedian.

   13. HMHasan Minhaj0:26

       Is Hasan Minhaj, yes.

   14. SSSimon Sinek0:27

       [whimsical music] Every single one of us has a teacher or a coach or someone who saw something in us when we were younger and took us under their wing. We are who we are in part because of that person. Now imagine if that discovery, that talent that you learn from that person can actually create an entire career. That's exactly what happened with Hasan Minhaj. He went on to have a wildly successful career in comedy, including being on The Daily Show and host of The Patriot Act, but it was actually his teacher back in high school who saw something in him. And imagine, just imagine if all of us could find that thing and run with it. This is A Bit of Optimism. Oh, and a quick aside, my apologies in advance to Todd. I'm always curious about people's origin stories. Like, uh, how you found yourself on a path of comedian.

   15. HMHasan Minhaj1:37

       Okay. H- what is, what is my X-Men origin story? Okay. Um, I, I grew up in Davis, California, which is a small-ish town next to Sacramento, California, not to brag. And Northern California is kind of the, I would say, the forgotten area of California that I represent very hard, but I went to a, a public school. I went to Davis Senior High School, and I was a energetic but talkative student that had trouble focusing and paying attention and completing tasks and arriving to things that I needed to get to on time, which I still struggle with to this day. But I had a teacher, her name is Ms. Takeuchi, and she was the computers teacher. I mean, this is dating me. Uh, we literally had a thing called computers class where you would take Mavis Beacon typing, and you would learn C++-

   16. SSSimon Sinek2:32

       Sure. Of course

   17. HMHasan Minhaj2:33

       ... as your programming language.

   18. SSSimon Sinek2:34

       I, I, I know, I, I love this-

   19. HMHasan Minhaj2:34

       Um, but at the time... [chuckles]

   20. SSSimon Sinek2:37

       I know.

   21. HMHasan Minhaj2:38

       I, I, it just sounds so insane right now with, like, everything that's happening in AI.

   22. SSSimon Sinek2:41

       I know.

   23. HMHasan Minhaj2:42

       So anyways, I was a bit of a blabbermouth. I would get into trouble at school, and Ms. Takeuchi ended up putting me into a thing called speech and debate and forensics, and I did very good at it. I placed at it, and she was one of the first people in my life that kind of pulled me to the side and she said, "Hey, you have this, you have this gift. You have the gift of gab. It, it's certainly not helpful in class, it's quite annoying, but there is a place for you to do it here, and you should, you should really do it more." And I just thought it was a cool kind of high school activity. I thought it was just a cool way to, to wear oversized suits and go on speech and debate tournaments and, you know, go to hotels and look at other cute people that went to the other school and try to get into shenanigans as a high school student. It was a very nerdy kind of fun thing to do.

   24. SSSimon Sinek3:33

       Yeah.

   25. HMHasan Minhaj3:33

       And then when I got to college, and funny enough, my freshman year of college was the, the, the birth of Napster, Limewire, Kazaa. This was, like, a huge revolutionary breakthrough where kids that had T3 modem lines, which every kind of public university and private university had when you moved into the dorms, were able to download terabytes of media. This is before Netflix, before HBO. You could just download every episode of Seinfeld, every season of South Park, all three of the Godfathers. A buddy of mine downloaded a bunch of stand-up comedy-

   26. SSSimon Sinek4:09

       Mm-hmm

   27. HMHasan Minhaj4:10

       ... specials. I had no idea what those things were, and one day I went to go visit my buddy's roommate, and he was watching Chris Rock's Never Scared. So the year is 2004.

   28. SSSimon Sinek4:23

       Mm-hmm.

   29. HMHasan Minhaj4:24

       And my buddy is just cracking up. His roommate is just, like, cackling. And I'm watching Chris Rock perform in this really beautiful kind of purple velvet suit, and he's at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., and he is talking about money, politics, sex, religion, relationships, pretty much all the third rail issues you are not allowed to talk about-

   30. SSSimon Sinek4:55

       Mm-hmm
2. 8:20 – 11:19

   Why children need recognition for odd talents

   1. HMHasan Minhaj8:20

      Yeah. Do you work with young people? Do you work with, uh... Like, what are the youngest age group of people that you work with in your travels around the world?

   2. SSSimon Sinek8:29

      The youngest people I've done a Why Discovery with were 16.

   3. HMHasan Minhaj8:33

      Wow, that's amazing.

   4. SSSimon Sinek8:34

      But having said that-

   5. HMHasan Minhaj8:35

      I mean, I can-

   6. SSSimon Sinek8:35

      ... I, when my nephew-

   7. HMHasan Minhaj8:36

      Yeah

   8. SSSimon Sinek8:36

      ... was in grade school... How old was he? He was probably nine. I went and gave-

   9. HMHasan Minhaj8:44

      Yeah

   10. SSSimon Sinek8:44

       ... a talk to seven, eight, and nine-year-olds about leadership, and these kids were smarter than any adults I've ever talked to. I said, "Who can tell me what a leader is?"

   11. HMHasan Minhaj8:55

       Wow.

   12. SSSimon Sinek8:55

       And like a whole bunch of hands raise, you know. They're kids.

   13. HMHasan Minhaj8:57

       Yeah.

   14. SSSimon Sinek8:57

       And I, you know, call on one girl, you know, and she says-

   15. HMHasan Minhaj9:01

       Yeah

   16. SSSimon Sinek9:01

       ... "A leader is somebody who looks after the people around them." I'm like, "Correct." You know?

   17. HMHasan Minhaj9:07

       [chuckles] Yeah.

   18. SSSimon Sinek9:07

       And I'm like, "Well, what makes a good leader?"

   19. HMHasan Minhaj9:09

       Yeah, that's so great that you do that.

   20. SSSimon Sinek9:10

       And they're like-

   21. HMHasan Minhaj9:10

       Yeah, you-

   22. SSSimon Sinek9:10

       "... make sure that you're f- a good leader is one that makes their friends, make sure that they're there for them and feel seen and heard." I'm just like, w- w- kids are smarter, and then we get dumb, and I have to go teach people to be like a seven-year-old.

   23. HMHasan Minhaj9:24

       Yeah.

   24. SSSimon Sinek9:24

       But anyway, that's the youngest. [chuckles]

   25. HMHasan Minhaj9:26

       I, well, well, I was about, I was about to tell you that, which is I have two children. I have a seven-year-old daughter. I have a five-year-old son. And one of the things that I... I don't know if you, if you're a believer in this, if you're a believer in kind of destiny or, or kismet or... I, I certainly struggle with this at times, which is regret.

   26. SSSimon Sinek9:43

       Mm-hmm.

   27. HMHasan Minhaj9:44

       I'll go through something in a personal relationship or specifically with a familial relationship. Uh, if you've ever dated someone and you've visited their family, and then you find out how normal they are, and then you just go, "Oh my God, it didn't have to be like this .gov" when you look at your own family.

   28. SSSimon Sinek9:59

       [laughs]

   29. HMHasan Minhaj10:00

       Um, so I've had these moments where I was like, "Oh man, the way I grew up," or, "It did- it didn't have to be this way. If only someone could have gotten to me earlier."

   30. SSSimon Sinek10:06

       Yeah.
3. 11:19 – 20:21

   Why kids are braver than adults

   1. HMHasan Minhaj11:19

      One of the things that's really beautiful about children-

   2. SSSimon Sinek11:22

      Mm-hmm

   3. HMHasan Minhaj11:22

      ... is if you go to a group of kids and you, you ask them, "Who wants to be the leader?" Someone will vocally raise their... Actually, several kids-

   4. SSSimon Sinek11:30

      Mm-hmm

   5. HMHasan Minhaj11:30

      ... might raise their hands. So, so a lot of things are happening. Like number one, there's massive accountability. There's face-driven accountability. Like, "Me. Yeah, pick me. It's my full government name. Like, pick me."

   6. SSSimon Sinek11:42

      [chuckles]

   7. HMHasan Minhaj11:42

      Um, [chuckles] "And here's my Social, Social Security number. I really believe this. I should be the leader in line." And then also, you know, num- num- number three, the, the risk to put yourself out there.

   8. SSSimon Sinek11:53

      Mm-hmm.

   9. HMHasan Minhaj11:54

      And those, the, the, the time that I spent as I was climbing the ranks of stand-up comedy-

   10. SSSimon Sinek12:02

       Mm-hmm

   11. HMHasan Minhaj12:02

       ... and I had day jobs where I'd have to go work in an office, all of those things of whose fault is it?

   12. SSSimon Sinek12:09

       Yeah.

   13. HMHasan Minhaj12:10

       It, it, it was hot potato. Who's in charge? Hot potato. Blame, responsibility-

   14. SSSimon Sinek12:15

       Yeah

   15. HMHasan Minhaj12:15

       ... all of these things become obfuscated through-

   16. SSSimon Sinek12:18

       Yeah

   17. HMHasan Minhaj12:18

       ... Slack, iMessage, email, cell phones, and bureaucracy. Whereas I've seen more courage-

   18. SSSimon Sinek12:24

       Yeah

   19. HMHasan Minhaj12:24

       ... in my daughter's first grade class of likeI'm the one who let the team down, and I am sorry. You know? Or like, "I'm the one that will lead the team to victory. Here I am." And I just, I, I think... I don't know what it is about adulthood that teaches us that, but, you know, it sucks.

   20. SSSimon Sinek12:41

       Yeah.

   21. HMHasan Minhaj12:41

       Adulthood and, and, and modern work-

   22. SSSimon Sinek12:44

       Well, the, the-

   23. HMHasan Minhaj12:44

       ... have become these condoms for conflict, where like, I don't wanna be blamed, I don't wanna put myself out there. Um-

   24. SSSimon Sinek12:51

       I think I see-

   25. HMHasan Minhaj12:51

       And I just see so much... I see the opposite with kids. There's so much courage.

   26. SSSimon Sinek12:54

       A part of it, a part of it-

   27. HMHasan Minhaj12:55

       They're so brave

   28. SSSimon Sinek12:56

       ... is the neocortex, like the part of our brain that is underdeveloped until I think 13 is what Piaget said, right? Fully developed.

   29. HMHasan Minhaj13:02

       Yeah.

   30. SSSimon Sinek13:02

       Like-
4. 20:21 – 24:39

   Simon and Hasan reflect on failures in their career

   1. SSSimon Sinek20:21

      I remember early in my career, my boss asked me to get him a file that I'm responsible for. About two hours later, [laughs] I walked into his office like this, "Ha! Ha! You didn't think I had it, did you?" And it was in that moment-

   2. HMHasan Minhaj20:36

      Oh, wow

   3. SSSimon Sinek20:36

      ... that I realized that when you're that excited that you found a file, you're disorganized.

   4. HMHasan Minhaj20:41

      Yeah. Oh, boy.

   5. SSSimon Sinek20:42

      Um-

   6. HMHasan Minhaj20:42

      Oh, boy

   7. SSSimon Sinek20:43

      ... but my point is, is I didn't change much.

   8. HMHasan Minhaj20:46

      And S- and S- and Si- Simon, when did you get, when did you get fired? At what point-

   9. SSSimon Sinek20:48

      Yeah. [laughs]

   10. HMHasan Minhaj20:51

       ... were you let go?

   11. SSSimon Sinek20:51

       I, I mean, are we really gonna go down that road? I didn't get fired.

   12. HMHasan Minhaj20:53

       [laughs] No, we don't, we're not.

   13. SSSimon Sinek20:54

       I didn't get fired, but I, I got m- my, um, performance reviews-

   14. HMHasan Minhaj20:59

       Yes

   15. SSSimon Sinek20:59

       ... my performance reviews were... They went something like this: "You're doing a, you're doing a great job, but that's not how we do things here," were my average performance reviews, right?

   16. HMHasan Minhaj21:13

       Right. Right, right. Right.

   17. SSSimon Sinek21:15

       Um, but what I realized, going back to the point I was making, which is, which is all the things that made me weird, different, dunno what to do with you when I was young, are now celebrated, asked for, demanded as an, as now that my career moved. Sa- same everything.

   18. HMHasan Minhaj21:36

       Yes.

   19. SSSimon Sinek21:37

       But it was a weakness when I was junior, and it is the strength now that-

   20. HMHasan Minhaj21:41

       Yeah

   21. SSSimon Sinek21:41

       ... it, I'm, I've figured out how to stay on the path.

   22. HMHasan Minhaj21:45

       And, a- and man, I feel for all those kids where their gifts aren't articulated through a standardized test. I feel for those kids, man, 'cause I was one of those kids.

   23. SSSimon Sinek21:53

       Yeah.

   24. HMHasan Minhaj21:54

       You know? I was a very middle-of-the-pack, middling kid that really struggled, and then in my professional life, Del Taco, OfficeMax, Safeway, I worked in tech. Like, every single one of those jobs, I was fired. I was let go.

   25. SSSimon Sinek22:06

       You actually were f-

   26. HMHasan Minhaj22:07

       Every single one.

   27. SSSimon Sinek22:07

       So what, why were they... Wait, was it consistent why you fired, or was it just bad luck? [laughs]

   28. HMHasan Minhaj22:11

       Yeah, it was, it was, it was consistent. It was me.

   29. SSSimon Sinek22:14

       Yeah.

   30. HMHasan Minhaj22:14

       [laughs] It, I was the problem.
5. 24:39 – 32:48

   When should we give up on a dream?

   1. SSSimon Sinek24:39

      Okay?

   2. HMHasan Minhaj24:39

      Okay.

   3. SSSimon Sinek24:39

      I knew, I knew a woman who if you asked her what she did, she said, "I'm an actor."

   4. HMHasan Minhaj24:47

      Okay.

   5. SSSimon Sinek24:48

      Except she had been a bartender for about 20 years.

   6. HMHasan Minhaj24:52

      Okay.

   7. SSSimon Sinek24:52

      And the last, quote-unquote, "acting job" she had was 20 years ago.

   8. HMHasan Minhaj24:58

      Okay.

   9. SSSimon Sinek24:59

      Got the dream, got the survival job, right? At what point-

   10. HMHasan Minhaj25:04

       Right

   11. SSSimon Sinek25:04

       ... and then if you say, I, it, I don't know if it's talent, I don't know if it's effort, I don't know if it's luck, but one of those things is missing.

   12. HMHasan Minhaj25:15

       Right.

   13. SSSimon Sinek25:16

       It's not working out. Maybe it's you, maybe it's not you, I don't know. At what point do you, like, let the dream go? Or at what point do you say, "Maybe I don't have the talent, the effort, the luck"?

   14. HMHasan Minhaj25:30

       You know, you know, I, I, I am always reticent to prescribe, uh, how other people should, should act or live their life.

   15. SSSimon Sinek25:38

       But the point is, is being die hard for the dream is not always the best advice.

   16. HMHasan Minhaj25:42

       Yeah. I would say for me, man, look, I, I, uh, when I first moved to Los Angeles and, and pursued, you know, the dream, it was to be a comedian and be in movies and in TV shows. There was a lot of things that I wanted. There were many shows that I auditioned for that I didn't get. But I, I'll speak for myself, the thing that I'm the most proud of is that no matter what hand I was dealt, I played my hand to the best of my ability.

   17. SSSimon Sinek26:08

       Yeah.

   18. HMHasan Minhaj26:08

       And as information came in, I just iterated. Like, "Hey, I'm auditioning to get into this comedy club. The booker didn't pass me. Cool, I'll go to the comedy club across town."

   19. SSSimon Sinek26:18

       Yeah.

   20. HMHasan Minhaj26:18

       Like, I continue to iterate. And then the second thing that I did is, to the best of my ability, I don't try to litigate the, the past.

   21. SSSimon Sinek26:29

       Yeah.

   22. HMHasan Minhaj26:29

       Meaning what- whatever, whatever grievances or casting directors or, or jobs that didn't go my way, I'm not here to get my pound of flesh-

   23. SSSimon Sinek26:37

       Yeah

   24. HMHasan Minhaj26:37

       ... and try to-

   25. SSSimon Sinek26:38

       Yeah

   26. HMHasan Minhaj26:39

       ... pursue that.

   27. SSSimon Sinek26:40

       Yeah.

   28. HMHasan Minhaj26:40

       Like, I am taking the information and, and just like, you know, my browser, Mozilla Firefox v10.7.1-

   29. SSSimon Sinek26:47

       [laughs]

   30. HMHasan Minhaj26:47

       ... every turn of the road, I'm just updating my path.
6. 32:48 – 35:37

   Hasan asks Simon how he looks at the future

   1. SSSimon Sinek32:48

      Thank you.

   2. HMHasan Minhaj32:48

      Hey, let me ask you this. So this, so this podcast is called A, A Bit of Optimism, right?

   3. SSSimon Sinek32:52

      Just a tad. Just a wee-

   4. HMHasan Minhaj32:54

      Just a tad

   5. SSSimon Sinek32:55

      ... just a hair of optimism.

   6. HMHasan Minhaj32:57

      Okay.

   7. SSSimon Sinek32:57

      A whiff.

   8. HMHasan Minhaj32:58

      So-

   9. SSSimon Sinek32:58

      A whiff of optimism was the runner up

   10. HMHasan Minhaj33:00

       ... I'm sure, I'm sure many people who are fans of your work-

   11. SSSimon Sinek33:02

       Mm-hmm

   12. HMHasan Minhaj33:02

       ... look to you for your, your, your perspective and your, um, framing of the world.

   13. SSSimon Sinek33:08

       Mm-hmm.

   14. HMHasan Minhaj33:08

       So obviously, uh, the news, politics, natural disasters, these things, uh, inundate our, our social feeds and our cell phones every day, and people are really going through it. Life is life-ing. What do you do to... Do you look at the present and the future with optimism-

   15. SSSimon Sinek33:30

       Mm-hmm

   16. HMHasan Minhaj33:30

       ... or are you scared of the future? How do you look at the world and how do you advise other people?

   17. SSSimon Sinek33:35

       No, the, uh, I, I generally-

   18. HMHasan Minhaj33:37

       Basically

   19. SSSimon Sinek33:38

       ... uh, no, the future is, is, I think the future tends toward good.

   20. HMHasan Minhaj33:42

       Mm.

   21. SSSimon Sinek33:43

       Sometimes the road there is bumpy, right?

   22. HMHasan Minhaj33:46

       Mm.

   23. SSSimon Sinek33:46

       And sometimes there's pain and liability getting towards it, but I believe the future-

   24. HMHasan Minhaj33:51

       Yeah

   25. SSSimon Sinek33:51

       ... tends towards good. And I, and I believe that you can maintain confidence in the bright future based on the quality of your relationships, right? Just think of it, just think of it as by yourself, right? Which is-

   26. HMHasan Minhaj34:03

       Mm

   27. SSSimon Sinek34:03

       ... the only, well, not the only, but a massively significant reason why you're able to deal with personal struggle, personal trauma, things that go really badly in your life or career, okay? Is when you have at least one person who can put your h- their hand on your shoulder and say, "I'm with you. Don't worry about it. No matter what happens, no matter what happens-

   28. HMHasan Minhaj34:25

       Yeah

   29. SSSimon Sinek34:25

       ... no matter what happens, I'll be by your side no matter what." If you have one person who has, who, who gives you that, it is remarkable the strength and courage we have to keep going. I mean a real friend who sits in mud with you. If you have one of those, it gives you confidence. And so what I have learned is the more that I have offered that comfort to the people I admire who are fighting, actually in the trenches fighting-

   30. HMHasan Minhaj34:53

       Yeah
7. 35:37 – 45:39

   The comedian's place in modern society

   1. SSSimon Sinek35:38

      20 years? 20-

   2. HMHasan Minhaj35:39

      20 years of my life

   3. SSSimon Sinek35:39

      ... 20 years of your life. Okay.

   4. HMHasan Minhaj35:41

      21 years of my life. 20, 20 years of my-

   5. SSSimon Sinek35:42

      Have you, have you seen the role of the comedian change, where telling joke, like the, the nature of the joke, you know? Like are there more-

   6. HMHasan Minhaj35:51

      Yeah

   7. SSSimon Sinek35:51

      ... social commentary comedians now than there were? What is the importance of those social commentary comedians, if any?

   8. HMHasan Minhaj36:00

      Yeah.

   9. SSSimon Sinek36:00

      You know-

   10. HMHasan Minhaj36:01

       Sure

   11. SSSimon Sinek36:02

       ... the social commentary comedian gets canceled. Uh, Chappelle, one of the great social commentators, right?

   12. HMHasan Minhaj36:11

       Totally.

   13. SSSimon Sinek36:11

       Should comedians be given a wider berth because they play a vital role? I'm just curious on, on the role of the comedian, because they are not the mainstream media.

   14. HMHasan Minhaj36:22

       Sure. Yeah.

   15. SSSimon Sinek36:23

       They play a very different-

   16. HMHasan Minhaj36:24

       It is, so-

   17. SSSimon Sinek36:24

       ... and, and often important role

   18. HMHasan Minhaj36:25

       ... so maybe what I can do is, is, is give you my framework and put it in different buckets. So let me, let me put, let me put it this way. So real quick, let, we can talk about the art form of live stand-up comedy. I think that's what you're talking about, the court jester, the stand-up comedian. So that is a, like historically, it is a-... live art form that was birthed - it is, it is a uniquely American art form, by the way, that was started in the United States of America in the West Village as, as, as local nightclub acts in the West Village. So if you've been to the Comedy Cellar, if you've been to the Blue Note Jazz Club, that was the birthplace-

   19. SSSimon Sinek37:00

       Wow

   20. HMHasan Minhaj37:01

       ... of, of kind of modern stand-up comedy. Jazz musicians, nightclub performers, they were called nightclub performers. You would go into these little smoky basements-

   21. SSSimon Sinek37:09

       Right

   22. HMHasan Minhaj37:09

       ... and performers would sing songs. It-- You would essentially do a variety show. There would be a singer, a piano player, perhaps a jazz musician, and then s- a s- a stand-up comedian. Uh, everyone from Dick Gregory to a young Richard Pryor to l- they would, uh, young Bill Cosby, they would perform at these nightclubs-

   23. SSSimon Sinek37:26

       Right

   24. HMHasan Minhaj37:27

       ... in the West Village. And adults would essentially, grown adults would go into these basements and kind of do, the social expectation was it was like an adult Christmas party. Uh, uh, some performers are going to tell us naughty jokes, uh, while we are slightly induced with alcohol.

   25. SSSimon Sinek37:49

       Mm-hmm.

   26. HMHasan Minhaj37:49

       It really was kind of like a fancier version of your Christmas party, of like, "Hey, let's loosen up a little bit and let's, let's crack some wise ones between each other."

   27. SSSimon Sinek37:57

       Mm-hmm, and let our hair down a little bit-

   28. HMHasan Minhaj37:59

       Right

   29. SSSimon Sinek37:59

       ... and allow the-

   30. HMHasan Minhaj37:59

       Let our, let our, let our hair down a bit
8. 45:39 – 51:32

   How life has changed Hasan's comedy

   1. SSSimon Sinek45:39

      Have your tastes changed? Have your observations changed? Have your point of view changed?

   2. HMHasan Minhaj45:45

      Yes, 100%. Yes.

   3. SSSimon Sinek45:47

      From what to what?

   4. HMHasan Minhaj45:49

      Li- um, life, love, failure, pain, age, they have matured me. They have humbled me. They have matured me.

   5. SSSimon Sinek46:00

      Mm-hmm.

   6. HMHasan Minhaj46:01

      I have seen loved ones pass away.

   7. SSSimon Sinek46:03

      Mm-hmm.

   8. HMHasan Minhaj46:04

      Uh, I have attended funerals. I've seen people that I care about get diagnosed with cancer. I've lost friends to suicide. I have friends going through divorces. These things were not even premises-

   9. SSSimon Sinek46:18

      Mm-hmm

   10. HMHasan Minhaj46:19

       ... that I could entertain when I first started as an open micer when I was 19. That was not even in my imagination.

   11. SSSimon Sinek46:25

       Mm.

   12. HMHasan Minhaj46:25

       You know?

   13. SSSimon Sinek46:26

       That makes sense.

   14. HMHasan Minhaj46:26

       And now, like, I have, I have fucking disc pain-

   15. SSSimon Sinek46:29

       [chuckles]

   16. HMHasan Minhaj46:29

       ... and a buddy of mine is going through a divorce.

   17. SSSimon Sinek46:31

       [chuckles]

   18. HMHasan Minhaj46:31

       And I'm talking him through it while he's, you know, fighting for custody with, for his children.

   19. SSSimon Sinek46:35

       Yeah.

   20. HMHasan Minhaj46:35

       Like, this is life.

   21. SSSimon Sinek46:37

       Yeah.

   22. HMHasan Minhaj46:37

       You know? And that has informed my comedy.

   23. SSSimon Sinek46:40

       Yeah.

   24. HMHasan Minhaj46:40

       I have had dreams. I have had things that work. I have things that don't work.

   25. SSSimon Sinek46:44

       Yeah.

   26. HMHasan Minhaj46:44

       I have been humbled. I have been human. All of those things have informed who I am.

   27. SSSimon Sinek46:47

       Yeah. So let's take this full circle, right? Which is-

   28. HMHasan Minhaj46:51

       Sure

   29. SSSimon Sinek46:52

       ... we, we started by talking about the magic that is a child-

   30. HMHasan Minhaj46:55

       Yeah

Episode duration: 51:35